Black Lives Matter (BLM) moved millions of dollars to a charity in Canada run by the wife of co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors to purchase a mansion that used to be the headquarters of the Communist Party of Canada, according to public records reviewed by the New York Post.
M4BJ, which is a non-profit based in Toronto that was set up in part by Janaya Khan, bought the 10,000-square foot mansion for $6.3 million in July 2021. Khan is the wife of Khan-Cullors, a self-professed Marxist who helped found Black Lives Matter Global Foundation Network.
Last year, Khan-Cullors resigned from the organization after an investigation revealed that she spent $3.2 million on homes in Georgia and Los Angeles. She reportedly denied that the homes were purchased with donations to BLM.
The purchase of the Toronto mansion, which is also called Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism, drew criticism from within the organization.
“For BLM Canada to take money from BLM Global Network [Foundation] for a building without consulting the community was unethical,” Canadian BLM activists Sarah Jama and Sahra Soudi recently said. “For BLM Canada to refuse to answer questions from young Black organizers goes against the spirit of movement-building.”
According to a recent investigation by the Washington Examiner, two activists who were supposed to assume leadership after Khan-Cullors’ resignation left abruptly in September.
Cullors stepped down from her role as executive director of the activist group’s central foundation last year amid questions about her finances. Cullors was questioned intensely on a series of real estate investments and property purchases, leading to criticism for her perceived opulence while claiming to be a Marxist.
After Cullors resigned, BLM told the media that two new leaders would hold co-executive positions of leadership moving forward, which never happened.
“Although a media advisory was released indicating that we were tapped to play the role of Senior Co-Executives at BLMGNF, we were not able to come to an agreement with the acting Leadership Council about the scope of our work and authority,” wrote Makani Themba, one of the announced executives who never assumed office. The statement alleged to also represent Monifa Bandele, the other proposed BLM senior executive.
“As a result, we did not have the opportunity to serve in this capacity. We wanted to be sure to inform our community of this fact as we move on to serve our movement in other ways,” Themba wrote.
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