Questions remain about how the radical organizations that make up the Black Lives Matter movement are supported.
F. Peter Brown
Western Journalism
Black Lives Matter has made a name for itself by, some might say, fanning the flames of racial tension in the United States.
Questions remain about how the radical organizations that make up the Black Lives Matter movement are supported.
Now, though, key sources of support for the movement have been revealed.
The Washington Times exposed last January that leftist billionaire George Soros gave more than $30 million in seed money to Black Lives Matter affiliated groups.
According to Essence magazine, Google is also helping to fund the Black Lives Matter movement, giving $2.35 million in grants to activist organizations addressing the “racial injustices that have swept the nation.”
Now, Politico reports that “some of the biggest donors on the left plan to meet behind closed doors next week in Washington with leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and their allies to discuss funding for the burgeoning protest movement.”
The major liberal donor group Democracy Alliance (DA) will be holding its annual meeting from Tuesday evening through Saturday morning in Washington, and meetings will be held to discuss funding the movement.
Wealthy donors including Tom Steyer and Paul Egerman are expected to attend the DA annual meeting.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that Steyer, a hedge fund billionaire, gave the most to political campaigns of any single person in the 2014 midterm elections, contributing a whopping $74 million–almost three times as much as the second biggest donor, Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg gave $27.7 million.
The DA was started in 2005 by major liberal donors, including George Soros and Taco Bell heir Rob McKay,who hoped to build a permanent infrastructure to support leftist causes.
Donors in the group are expected to contribute at least $200,000 a year to supported groups.
Combined donations to the groups now exceed $500 million, according to Politico.
DA President Gary LaMarche said about the upcoming meetings with Black Lives Matter leaders:
But we have a wide range of human beings and different temperaments and approaches in the DA, so it’s quite possible that there are people who are a little concerned, as well as people who are curious and supportive. This is a chance for them to meet some of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, and understand the movement better, and then we’ll take stock of that and see where it might lead.
According to the organizer, a DA member named Leah-Hunt Hendrix, groups that will be at the meetings include the Black Youth Project 100, The Center for Popular Democracy, and the Black Civic Engagement Fund.