By Ambrose Idongesit
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has announced the resignation of its co-founder and Executive Director, Patrisse Cullors.
The foundation which was founded by three black women; Patrisse Cullor, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, and started as a hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter in 2013, has grown into a global entity with influence in the US, UK and Canada.
Black Lives Matter
The BLMGNF has noted that its mission is to stamp out white domination and put up local power to mediate in violence inflicted on Black communities by the government and crime-fighting communities.
The movement was started when a vigilante coordinator of mixed race, George Zimmerman was acquitted after shooting a Black-American high school student, Trayvon Martin who was visiting his relatives in Sanford, on February 26, 2012.
A shot which Zimmerman claimed to have taken in self defense.
Patrisse, who will now be replaced by Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele who are senior executives of the organisation, maintains that her resolution to step down is not linked to actions by rightists seeking to damage her reputation.
She has debunked criticisms that her resignation is as a result of controversies over the foundation’s questionable finances and her suspiciously acquired wealth.
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The 39 year old, self-declared Marxist who owns a luxury home in Malibu among other estates affirms she has created the network and support necessary for the foundation to stand prior to her exit, as she feels it the right time.
Critics feel the families of police brutality who have not been able to access funds are being exploited, reason being that they are supposed to benefit more from the donations made to the foundation, which will go a long way in helping to deal with their ordeal.
The foundation has said they do sustain families without making public show of it. It also claims that as a non-profit organization, no donation is made towards the acquisition of individual property by an employee or volunteer of the foundation.
In 2018 Ms Cullor’s first book “When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir”, which became a New York Times bestseller was released,
She is also a consultant on a number projects related to racial justice asides BLM, a job which she takes payment for.
In summary, she pointed out that as a leader; one has to understand that no true movement has one single leader
