Source: Boston Globe / Getty
Well, this is confusing and unfortunate.
According to Buzzfeed News, the Black Lives Matter Foundation received millions of dollars in donations on behalf of the movement but is … somehow not at all affiliated with the BLM movement.
“The Black Lives Matter Foundation, a Santa Clarita, California–based charitable organization that has one paid employee and lists a UPS store as its address, has a very different goal, according to its founder: ‘bringing the community and police closer together,'” Buzzfeed states, noting that “In the wake of George Floyd’s killing, corporations including Apple, Google, and Microsoft raised $4 million for the soundalike foundation — and almost delivered the money. Hundreds of grassroots fundraisers also directed more money and attention.”
Black Lives Matter Foundation founder Robert Ray Barnes tells the site, “I don’t have anything to do with the Black Lives Matter Global Network. I never met them; never spoke to them. I don’t know them; I have no relationship with them. Our whole thing is having unity with the police department.”
A spokesperson for the Black Lives Matter organization everyone intended to support also told Buzzfeed that Barnes’ foundation has nothing to do with them. “The Santa Clarita group is improperly using our name,” the spokesperson reportedly said. “We intend to call them out and follow up.”
Barnes, however, does not agree. “It appears there is a lot of scamming going on, but how can it have to do with me?” Barnes reportedly said, adding. “I had plenty of motivation to create the Black Lives Matter Foundation and the people who were doing Black Lives Matter weren’t interested in a foundation. They never created it. Now all of the sudden they’re interested in it.”
Chime in with your thoughts and head over to Buzzfeed for more information on what’s been going on with all those donations.
