The head of Black Lives Matter’s New York City chapter is calling for an investigation into BLM’s co-founder over a series of real estate purchases totaling $3.2 million.
BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors reportedly purchased four high-end homes, including a $1.4 million property in the mostly White area of Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles County. Considering the purchases and BLM reportedly bringing in $90 million in donations last year, Hawk Newsome has called for a probe into Cullors’ finances.
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. “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.
According to reports, Cullors and her wife, Janaya Khan, own a “custom ranch” on 3.2 acres in Georgia which also features an airplane hangar. In addition, Cullors paid $510,000 for a three-bedroom home in Inglewood, California, and $590,000 for a four-bedroom home in South L.A.
The Georgia ranch was purchased last year for $415,000, two years after Cullors’ best-selling book, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, was published. The BLM co-founder also agreed to “a multi-platform” deal with Warner Bros. Television Group to help produce content for “black voices who have been historically marginalized.
According to the New York Post, she also eyed property at a Bahamas resort, where Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods both have homes. Luxury apartments and townhouses at the resort are priced between $5 million and $20 million. After reports of Cullors’ real estate purchases went public, both BLM supporters and critics questioned her lifestyle as she’s previously described herself as a Marxist.
She had a lot of options on where to live. She chose one of the whitest places in California,” tweeted sports journalist Jason Whitlock. “She’ll have her pick of white cops and white people to complain about. That’s a choice, bro.” Cullors founded Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi in 2013. Questions against Cullors come amid Ferguson organizers and Mike Brown’s father’s demands for $20 million from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. Both have accused the organization of short-changing their groups. Patrisse Cullors has not responded to the media’s request for comment.
