Mothers who accused Black Lives Matter (BLM) of profiting off the deaths of their sons are reportedly condemning its cofounder, Patrisse Cullors, following her announcement she was stepping down.
The New York Post reported Saturday:
“I don’t believe she is going anywhere,” Samaria Rice, the mother of a 12-year-old boy shot by Cleveland police while playing with a toy gun, told The Post. “It’s all a facade. She’s only saying that to get the heat off her right now.”
Lisa Simpson, a Los Angeles-based mother whose son was slain by police in 2016, also blasted Cullors. “Now she doesn’t have to show her accountability,” Simpson, 52, told The Post. “She can just take the money and run.”
Cullors resigned Thursday after controversy over her personal wealth, although she and the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) denied that had anything to do with the decision, according to Breitbart News.
Rice told the Post she sought out Cullors to get the group’s help in re-opening a federal investigation into her son’s death. She said the two exchanged emails over the years but never met face to face.
“They are benefiting off the blood of our loved ones, and they won’t even talk to us,” Rice stated.
In April, the families of Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor, two iconic victims in the BLM movement, questioned the movement’s funding, and Taylor’s family described the Louisville, Kentucky, BLM branch as a “fraud,” according to Breitbart News:
Earlier this month, when the New York Post reported Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors had bought four homes since 2016, New York City area Black Lives Matter leader Hawk Newsome called for “an independent investigation.” Those concerns are now being amplified by other figures within the movement, after Khan-Cullors defended her real estate purchases last week as part of her effort to support her family, and claimed her wealth was not due to the organization itself.
In March, Rice came together with Simpson, who is the mother of Richard Risher, to criticize BLM for what Simpson described as “raising money in our dead sons’ names and giving us nothing in return.”
The BLM Los Angeles chapter raised $5,000 for her son’s funeral. However, Simpson claimed she did not receive any of the funds.
“We never hired them to be the representatives in the fight for justice for our dead loved ones murdered by the police,” Rice and Simpson reportedly said in a statement.
“The ‘activists’ have events in our cities and have not given us anything substantial for using our loved ones’ images and names on their flyers,” they added.
“We don’t want or need y’all parading in the streets accumulating donations, platforms, movie deals, etc. off the death of our loved ones, while the families and communities are left clueless and broken,” the statement concluded.
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