Black Lives Matter doesn’t want Americans looking too closely at their leadership’s personal spending — and neither does Big Tech.
Following the news that BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors bought four homes worth $3 million — a scandal kicked off after the New York Post reported on her purchase of a $1.2 million home in an exclusive area of Los Angeles — the organization denounced scrutiny of her real estate as “terror by white supremacists” while Facebook tries to kill the story by preventing it from being shared on their platform.
In a statement, BLM defended Cullors, executive director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF). The group said she serves in that capacity as a volunteer and does not receive a salary.
Declaring that they are responding to “a false and defamatory article being amplified by right-wing media,” BLM stated:
This right-wing offensive not only puts Patrisse, her child and her loved ones in harm’s way, it also continues a tradition of terror by white supremacists against Black activists. All Black activists know the fear these malicious and serious actions are meant to instill; the fear of being silenced, the trauma of being targeted, the torture of feeling one’s family is exposed just for speaking out against unjust systems.
BLM’s rant against “terror by white supremacists” comes even though one of the most prominent voices doing the scrutinizing is Hawk Newsome, the head of Black Lives Matter Greater New York City, who calls for an independent probe into Cullors’ finances.
Newsome noted the Cullors, whose new Los Angeles neighborhood is only 1.8-percent black, has called herself a “trained Marxist.”
“If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes,” Newsome said, adding that “It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement.”
Pending a probe, it is not conclusive whether the claims of BLM and Cullors are true. However, the Black Lives Matter co-founder has a sizable amount of money at her disposal. Variety reported: “The co-founder of Black Lives Matter has signed her first … overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group. Characterized as multi-year and wide-ranging, the pact will see Cullors develop and produce original programming across all platforms, including broadcast, cable and streaming.”
The dollar amount of the deal is not known, although considering its scope of projects and the purchases Cullors has made, it is likely a major sum. Cullors detractors’ question how an avowed Marxist could be so comfortable working with and accepting money from large corporations such as Warner Bros.
Yet the discrepancy between ideology and financial benefit do not appear to be stopping Cullors. According to the New York Post, she “also eyed property in the Bahamas at an ultra-exclusive resort where Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods both have homes.… Luxury apartments and townhouses at the beachfront Albany resort outside Nassau are priced between $5 million and $20 million, according to a local agent.”
Social-media platforms have helped suppress the story of Cullors’ finances. When users and news outlets attempted to share the New York Post article, the action could not be completed, and they were faced with an error message that read: “Your post couldn’t be shared, because this link goes against our Community Standards. If you think this doesn’t go against our Community Standards let us know.”
In a statement to Tucker Carlson Tonight, Facebook said, “This content was removed for violating our privacy and personal information policy.” New York Times media columnist Ben Smith tweeted a longer explanation.
Sports journalist Jason Whitlock also found himself blocked from being able to comment when he attempted to criticize Cullors’ $1.2 million home purchase on Twitter.
Big Tech’s efforts to bury this news story reminded observers of Twitter and Facebook’s similar censorship of the New York Post’s reporting on the scandal involving Hunter Biden’s laptop.
As The New American reported, that censorship took place while Anna Makanju, who advised Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Ukraine policy while he served as vice president, was working as Facebook’s global policy manager for content regulation.
Did that give Makanju the opportunity to censor content critical of her old boss’ son? Such relationships fuel criticism that Big Tech and the Democrat Party are playing on the same team.
