Knowing BLM the organization and goals

July 6, 2020

Black Lives Matter Has Super Powers? Here's the Kryptonite.

By Civis Americanus

Lloyd Marcus's "The Source of BLM's Super-Power" concludes, "But most of all, BLM's demands are evil.  Everyday Americans must say, 'No!' putting an end to BLM's takeover of America immediately."

This article gives everybody it reaches the power to send BLM, along with its political, academic, and corporate supporters, crashing down in total ruin.  This material, all of which readers and other interested parties can verify independently from the links — you don't have to take my word for it — also has the potential to demolish the credibility of ActBlue, the Democrats' key fundraising organization, and the left-leaning Thousand Currents organization.  This material is, to be quite blunt, what Kryptonite is to Superman, Valyrian Steel is to the White Walkers in Game of Thrones, and a cross is to Dracula.  The issue consists simply of BLM's apparent misuse of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt money to influence the November election.

An inaccurate story has been circulating to the effect that Black Lives Matter is working with ActBlue to launder money that goes to Democratic candidates.  Open Secrets explains, "A donation to BLM through ActBlue goes just to BLM, not any other group."  ActBlue is itself not 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, so there's nothing more to see here, is there, folks?

There is actually plenty to see, and the real truth is far worse than the debunked rumor.  While ActBlue is not 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, therefore it has considerable leeway about what it does with its money, ActBlue Charities, which accepts donations for the Black Lives Global Network (the entity that apparently controls Blacklivesmatter.com) is.  Thousand Currents, which is BLM's fiscal sponsor, also is 501(c)(3) tax-exempt.  BLM is openly using its website to campaign against President Trump.  Web pages hosted by ActBlue Charities and Thousand Currents also attack Trump, so these entities will have trouble saying "we did not know."

We need to clarify before we proceed that BLM Global Network is emphatically not BLM Foundation, the noncontroversial organization founded by Robert Ray Barnes.  BLM Global Network is represented at BlackLivesMatter.com, the same website linked by Thousand Currents and which collects donations via ActBlue Charities.  The fact that the first Google result for "Black Lives Matter Foundation" links to BLM Global Network's About page* suggests to me that the latter organization is using the name of Barnes's organization to mislead internet users into visiting BlackLivesMatter.com instead and possibly donate money under the mistaken belief that they are supporting Barnes's far less controversial organization.  This tells me plenty, and nothing good, about the ethics of BLM Global Network.  For the purpose of further discussion, "BLM" means BLM Global Network and not BLM Foundation.

The Internal Revenue Service says, "All 501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from participating in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate running for public office."  While the corporations that are supporting BLM can under some circumstances seek to influence elections, they need to ask about how they and their brands will look to customers, employees, and investors when this story about how BLM is using tax-exempt support goes viral. 

BLM Global Network is Openly Campaigning against Trump

501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations are permitted to discuss issues of public interest, but they are not permitted to try to influence any election.  BLM is trying to do exactly that, and it is not even being subtle about it.

1. "Black Lives Matter Global Network’s Statement Regarding Michael Cohen’s Testimony," hosted at blacklivesmatter.com, says in part, "[W]e are reminded that the 2020 election is around the corner.  We can make our voices heard by voting this Administration out of office."
2. "In Response to the State of the Union" says in part, "Like a Nazi trying to hide a neck tatoo [sic], Trump shows his true colors whenever he shifts aimlessly from empty platitude to veiled threat."
3. Other pages on the BLM website also criticize Trump, but these are not (my opinion) as blatant at those cited above.
4. Here is a CNN video in which BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who appears to be speaking on behalf of BLM Global Networks rather than herself, says openly that the group intends to campaign against Trump and therefore in favor of Biden, even if it doesn't mention him.  "[W]e are going to push for is a move to get Trump out[.] ... Our goal is to get Trump out."

I infer from this evidence (my opinion) the situation depicted in the figure below.  If this is in fact the situation, then BLM and its associates, including its supporters in the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party and also its corporate supporters, are looking at an imminent, inevitable, and probably catastrophic public relations debacle.

ActBlue Charities' and Thousand Currents' Own Roles

While there is no proof that ActBlue Charities and Thousand Currents know that BLM Global Network was using its website, and therefore their support, to influence the presidential election, they cannot deny knowledge of the material they have hosted on their own websites.  Thousand Currents appears to have taken down, in the June time frame, pages that disparage Trump.  The most egregious is however still available here, and it says, "If we stand opposed to this president and administration, it is incumbent upon us to support and be in solidarity with struggles being led by oppressed communities[.] ... This administration is a failure."

ActBlue Charities — and I made sure I selected only pages that cite 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as opposed to ActBlue pages that say explicitly that donations to the listed causes are not tax-deductible — has several pages that look like problematic uses of tax-exempt money.

1. Bayley's Fundraising Page for Organizing to Win: Building Racial Justice with White Poor and Working Class Communities, cites 501(c)(3) status and begins, "If we’re going to successfully stop Trump, fight global racial inequality ..."
2. Sponsor the #JewishResistance at AIPAC says, "Those of us opposing Trump are the true majority in this country."  The bottom of the page cites ActBlue Charities and tax-deductible status.
3. Ru's IfNotNow Fundraising Page says, "Particularly living under Trump’s presidency, the connection between an unquestioning support for Israel (without a genuine regard for the real interests of Jews) and white supremacist values has become crystal clear to the public."

These are but three of many examples, and you can find more yourself with a Google search on site:ActBlue.com and "Trump."  Be sure, however, to pay attention to only the pages that say "ActBlue Charities" and cite 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status at the bottom.  ActBlue also has a non-tax-exempt arm that has far more leeway as to what it can do to influence an election.

Widespread publicity for these issues should collapse the Democrat left's center of gravity to deliver an electoral landslide in November.  "Woke" virtue-signaling corporations that have supported BLM Global Network will scramble desperately to pretend that they never heard of it.

Civis Americanus is the pen name of an American Thinker contributor who remembers the lessons of history, and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. 

* You may have to copy and paste hyperlinks to blacklivesmatter.com into your browser to get them to work.

Image: Johnny Silvercloud via Flickr (cropped).