Black Lives Matter Co-Founders
The three women who take credit for starting Black Lives
Matter openly state that this movement is about ‘reviving Black Liberation
Theology’. We also examined how Black Lives Matter has inserted their own
platform of elevating illegal aliens, black women and in particular gay and
transgender blacks.
The founders of a hashtag that set a country on fire are
Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors. But who are these women and
what do they stand for?
Three Co-Founders of Black Lives Matter movement, Opal
Tometi (Left) Alicia Garza (Center) and Patrisse Cullors (Right).
These three women who founded Black Lives Matter are not
your average Americans.
All of them are radicals of varying degrees, all three share a Marxist ideology and all three appear to be taking their hashtag and their activism to the bank.
All of them are radicals of varying degrees, all three share a Marxist ideology and all three appear to be taking their hashtag and their activism to the bank.
About Alicia Garza
Alicia Garza was born in 1981 and currently resides in
Oakland, California and has described herself as a ‘queer Social Justice
activist’ and an editorial writer. One of her heroes is Assata Shakur. Garza
lauds Shakur’s contributions to the ‘Black Liberation Movement’.
For those unfamiliar with that name, Shakur is a Marxist revolutionary,
a member of the Black Liberation Army, and a former Black Panther. In 1972,
Shakur and an associate shot and killed a New Jersey State Trooper and injured
another. In 1977, Shakur was convicted of seven felonies, including the murder
of the State Trooper. In 1979, Shakur escaped prison and fled to Cuba in 1984,
where she sought political asylum. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called
for her extradition earlier in 2016.
Garza’s view is that Black Lives Matter is about reviving
the Black Liberation Movement and subsequent theology. Garza sees Black Lives
Matter as a vehicle for the promotion of “Black queer and trans folks”. Garza’s
rationale is that these groups, “bear a unique burden in a hetero-patriarchal
society that disposes of us like garbage and simultaneously fetishizes us and
profits off of us.”
Speaking of profits, Garza directs the Special Project at
the National Domestic Workers
Alliance, which is a coalition of, “nannies, housekeepers and care
workers”. This organization is a 501(c)3 which has received over $50,000 from
George Soros’ Tides Foundation, who has also been a major funding source for
Black Lives Matter. The group received $10,000 in 2013 and
$40,804 in 2014.
Garza is also noted to be the on the Board for People
Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER),
a Board member of the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) and she was the
Board Chair in 2011 for the Right to the City Alliance (RTCA). All of these organizations are
well-funded and appear have over-lapping partnerships, funding sources, and
alliances.
About Opal Tometi
Born in 1984 and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Opal Tometi is
the daughter of two Nigerian immigrants who are alleged to have entered the
United States illegally. She attended the University of Arizona, where she
graduated with a BA in history and an MA in communications & advocacy.
Tometi now resides in Brooklyn, New York. While her two other co-founding partners
are gay, Tometi is straight.
Tometi currently is the Executive Director a Black Alliance
for Just Immigration (BAJI),
which is a 501(c)3
non-profit based in Oakland, California. Tometi has been involved with
BAJI since 2011. Tometi’s bio at BAJI says she is a “Black feminist writer,
communications strategist and cultural organizer.”
BAJI is a documented front
group for the socialist and Marxist-Leninist group, the Freedom Road Socialist
Organization (FRSO).
BAJI has received funding from George Soros’ Tides
Foundation and from NEO Philanthropy, a
Left-leaning group whose mission is, “to increase funding for cutting-edge strategies
that advance social change.”
Supplementing her role at BAJI, Tometi is also involved with
a network called Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD). This
organization primarily teaches black activists how to build a “social justice
infrastructure.” and “organize black communities more effectively”.
BOLD appears to be aligned with The Praxis Project, which is
a, “a nonprofit movement support intermediary that helps to build power in
communities to improve health justice across the United States.” According to
2013 IRS filings, The Praxis Project pulled in $2,175,451 in total revenue with
only just over $67,000 of that being from grants.
About Patrisse Cullors
Cullors was born in Los Angeles, California in 1984
describes herself on her website as
an “artist, organizer, and freedom fighter” and also a “self-described wife of
Harriet Tubman.” She holds a degree in Philosophy and Religion from UCLA and
was a Fulbright Scholar. Cullors also says she is a performance artist.
Cullors is also extremely pro-Palestine, signing the “2015
Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine“, which portrayed Palestine as a
victim while demonizing any actions taken by Israel and likened the detention
of Palestinians to the incarceration of blacks in the United States. Cullors
also traveled to Palestine under the Black Lives Matter banner to meeting
in ‘solidarity’ with those that Cullors says are ‘under occupation’ by Israel.
Cullors is gay and in an MSNBC
documentary recounted a story of leaving her home at the age of
sixteen when she came out to her family. Cullors repeats this information on
her website as well as a long list of awards, grants, and accomplishments such
as being named a “Civil Rights Leader for the 21st Century” by the Los Angeles
Times.
Cullors has the distinction of being trained as an activist
by Eric Mann of the domestic terrorist group, Weather Underground
Organization which bombed a building in Greenwich, NY, the U.S.
Capitol building, The U.S. State Department building and the Pentagon during
the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Mann also runs the Labor/ Community
Strategies Center.
Sometime in or around 2012, Cullors formed a group called
Dignity and Power Now (DPN). Their
website states DPN is a “grassroots organization based in Los Angeles that
fights for the dignity and power of incarcerated people, their families, and
communities.” Cullors has made statements over time that show her main driver
is the ‘decriminalization of black lives’.
DPN, like BAJI, is also a front group for the Freedom Road
Socialist Organization (FRSO).
DPN’s website says they are a “Community Partners Project”,
which is a 501(c)3 with over $35 million in assets. Community Partners
basically acts as a business manager for non-profit organizations and handles
donations and grants. It’s an easy and legal way for outfits like DPN to
obscure their donation levels from the public.
This has been a basic overview of these women, with key
points about who they are and what drives them.
All three of these women work for groups that are fronts for
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization, one of the largest radical Left
organizations in the country. In fact, it is this organization that likely
guides Black Lives Matter as evidenced by inserting
itself into the situation in Ferguson.
Ray Gruszecki
June 23, 2020
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