Claim: BLM rose to fame in 2014 after Michael Brown was killed by police after peacefully surrendering.
False – forensics show that Brown attacked and then charged the officer, forcing him to use self-defense.
Also…
– The founders of BLM drew inspiration from Assata Shakur, a convicted cop killer and fugitive connected to a series of bombings, robberies, and murders in the 1970s.
– The BLM protests and riots of 2020 led to nearly $2 billion in property damages, over 25 deaths, and almost 2000 injured police officers.
– Patrisse Cullors, as well as the other co-founders, are self-proclaimed Marxists, and deleted website data states that one of BLM’s principles is to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.”
– The organization’s spending habits have come into question as it has been revealed that millions in donations have gone towards purchasing luxury homes and increasing the founders’ personal profits.
While many witnesses claim that Michael Brown peacefully surrendered with his hands up before he was shot (popularizing the BLM rally cry “hands up, don’t shoot) forensic evidence and other eyewitness accounts demonstrate that the exchange was much different than it was initially perceived – DNA samples and residual gunpowder on the officer’s weapon demonstrates that there was a struggle between him and Brown while he was still in his cruiser, leading to accidental discharges within the vehicle. Further, blood tests and an autopsy demonstrated that the officer fired off the gun 6 times into Brown’s head and left arm from 1-2 feet away, wounds that would not have been possible if Brown was surrendering with his head and arms up.
Grand Jury Documents
https://documents.latimes.com/ferguson-grand-jury/
Video Analysis
Assata Shakur, an individual that greatly influenced the formation and ideology behind BLM, is a convicted fugitive who was granted asylum by the Castro organization after she shot and killed a State Trooper in 1973. Assata was an active member of the Marxist militant organization Black Liberation Army (BLA), which was the unofficial successor to the Black Panther Party. The organization was involved in a number of cases of political violence that ranged from bombings, robberies, as well as the murders of 13 police officers.
Assata Shakur article
Black Liberation Army
https://www.sources.com/SSR/Docs/SSRW-Black_Liberation_Army.htm
Axios report regarding the damage caused as the result of BLM-related protests and riots during the Summer of 2020 – it’s estimated that around $2 billion worth in damage was caused by violent and illegal activity at these events.
Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) report on the 2020 protests and civil unrest – details several metrics regarding the nature of the unlawful activity and what effects it had within the policing districts.
Article referencing BLM’s removal of their “what we believe” page that included goals to disrupt the American nuclear family structure and impose Marxist sociopolitical norms within the affected nations.
An informational page that still has the removed principles listed and available.
https://libguides.mendocino.edu/BLM
BLM has been caught in a variety of financial scandals in regards to how and where their collected money is being spent:
- The organization came under fire for using their funds to purchase a $6 million dollar California mansion that they intended to use for a fellowship that “provides recording resources and dedicated space for Black creatives to launch content online and in real life” – interestingly, the fellowship was only announced a day after the organization addressed the situation in a public statement.
- BLM came under fire in the summer of 2021 as a result of the purchase of a $6 million dollar piece of property in Toronto Canada – many Canadian activists expressed their outrage at that time, remarking that the members were not consulted before the purchase and were not given.
- Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of the organization, came under fire and eventually left her position in the organization in May of 2021 after it was revealed that she had amassed $3.2 million worth in real estate in Georgia and Los Angeles.
- In BLM’s 2020-2021 tax filings, it was revealed that the organization had paid $1.4 million to companies owned by Patrisse Cullors’ relatives – most notably, the organization paid over $840,000 to a security company owned by Patrisse’s brother for “professional security services.”
BLM’s official tax filings for Jul 2020 to June 2021
https://blacklivesmatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/blmgnf-tc-form-990-2020-2021-01.pdf
Article on funding sent to Patrisse’s relatives
Article on the purchase of $6 million California mansion
Article on purchase of $6 million Toronto as well as Patrisse’s real estate holdings
