‘I see my money as not my own’: BLM co-founder defends growing hoard of fancy homes in mostly-white neighborhoods

“The way that I live my life is in direct support to black people, including my black family members,” Cullors defiantly told former CNN journalist Marc Lamont-Hill on Thursday as outcry over the gap between her stated ideals and her life reached a boiling point.

I see my money as not my own. I see it as my family’s money as well.

Cullors also sent out a stream of defensive Instagram posts, insisting she did not receive a salary or benefits from Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation – while mentioning nothing about her handsome remuneration for her work as one of the figureheads of the Black Lives Matter movement, the healthy paychecks she has received from book and TV deals, or the speech fees she has pocketed over the last few years. She did not attempt to deny any of the allegations regarding her profligate spending, acknowledging she had “definitely made mistakes” without explaining what those mistakes were.

Cullors insisted her splashy spending was normal for “so many black folks who are able to invest in themselves and their community,” pointing out that “they choose to invest [their earnings] in their family and that’s what I’ve chosen to do.”

Cullors did not explain (and was not asked by Hill) why she had reportedly chosen to buy a $1.4 million home in Topanga Canyon, a tony enclave of Los Angeles where the population is 1.4% black – or why she apparently opted to buy it through a corporate entity instead of purchasing it directly. This is not Cullors’ only such purchase in LA, according to the media reports into her multi-million dollar purchases. In 2016, she snapped up a three-bedroom house in Inglewood, followed two years later with a four-bedroom pad in South Los Angeles. Along with spouse Janaya Khan, Cullors flew to Georgia last year to purchase a 3.2 acre “custom ranch” bursting with improbable amenities, including a private airplane hangar with a community runway and an ‘RV shop.’

Cullors and her spouse were also spotted last year in the Bahamas by an employee who reported they were eyeing a unit in The Albany, a 600-acre oceanside paradise that included a private marina and “designer golf course.” The snoop described it as a “fourth or fifth home,” extremely “high-end,” where “people are coming here for complete and total privacy.”

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While Cullors couldn’t keep her spending private, she had some assistance from social media, which have been blocking the URL of a New York Post article about her real-estate binge posted on Tuesday. Attempts to link to the story on Facebook returned error messages “because this link goes against our Community Standards,” Newsweek confirmed. Black journalist Jason Whitlock was locked out of Twitter on Friday for similar reasons, deeming BLM “one of Big Tech’s sacred cows” and – in the offending tweet – joking that Cullors was “with her people” in lily-white Topanga Canyon.

Many on social media were sad but not surprised to see reports into Cullors’ riches, urging those in search of real change to keep separate the person and Black Lives Matter’s principles.

Others, however, pointed out that the movement leader was directly contravening the goals of her organization, which included – among other things – the abolition of the nuclear family.

Many didn’t have time for Cullors’ excuses.

The deep-pocketed activist signed her TV deal with Warner Brothers in October, with BLM at the peak of its popularity (and purchasing power). She will be creating original programming, including scripted and unscripted series, along with animation, kids’ programming, and digital content. Her book “When They Call You a Terrorist” came out in 2016, though it’s unclear if the advance she received was large enough to buy a house.

Money and its distribution have proved to be a sticking point within the national BLM organization, as regional heads complain about seeming inequities and the co-founders’ disproportionate role in guiding the direction of the movement. Participants have not been shy about voicing their skepticism about the cash Cullors is throwing around – BLM Greater New York head Hawk Newsome has called for an investigation, pointing out the hypocrisy apparent between Cullors’ self-description as a socialist or Marxist and noting that her apparent conflicts of interest siphon trust away from the movement.

Also on rt.com BLM has been plagued by grifters for years, so it should surprise no one that a co-founder now has a $3mn real estate empire

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