A growing number of BLM chapters are calling for accountability from the BLM Global Network amid reports of co-founder Patrisse Cullors' lavish spending, including purchases of multiple homes totaling upward of $3 million, reports Fox News.
Cullors last month stepped down as BLM foundation executive director amid questions about her finances, though she denied that was the reason she was leaving.
The New York Post in April reported on Cullors’ purchase of four homes for $3.2 million, an article that prompted Hawk Newsome, head of BLM Greater New York City, to call for an independent investigation into the foundation’s finances.
Cullors at the time said she didn’t take any money from donations meant for BLM and denied receiving a salary from the foundation. BLM that month disclosed that Cullors had received a total of $120,000 in compensation from 2013 to 2019.
The BLM 10 Plus, the name for the ten original BLM signatories, a new group, still wants answers from BLM Global Network Foundation and Cullors.
"The number of chapters that have aligned in support of our statement has nearly doubled. Some of these chapters have made their own statements echoing not only our call to accountability but also our experiences as we sought transparency, democracy, and internal transformation for years," a statement released by the BLM 10 Plus on Friday reads.
"The BLM 10 Plus continues the call for transparency and most importantly, for principled accountability in movement infrastructures. The issues we've highlighted within the Black Lives Matter movement are not unique to this group or to people of color. Grassroots movements have been co-opted across the globe and it is our intention to be a part of the collective creating processes based on integrity so that we, nor any other activist or advocate, encounters these avoidable issues in the future," the statement continues.
BLM Global Network didn't respond to Fox News, but days ago in a statement reiterated its commitment to the "on-the-ground grassroots work of the organizers, chapters, and communities around the world."
"As we work to bring these new chapters into the fold worldwide, we are resolute in our commitment to Black liberation and to principled struggle. Now is the time to fortify our deep roots while strengthening new relationships and strategic work."