Tens of millions mistakenly raised for unaffiliated Black Lives Matter Basis that wishes to work with police

Amid a number of high-profile police shootings in recent times, tens of millions of had been raised for “The Black Lives Matter Basis,” however the charity is unaffiliated with and diametrically against the motion of the identical identify.

The inspiration is a Santa Clarita, California–primarily based charitable group, which lists a UPS retailer as its handle. It was based by Robert Ray Barnes, a 67-year-old LA music producer, in Might 2015. 

It’s among the many first verified organizations that seems when customers seek for “Black Lives Matter” on GoFundMe, so many individuals didn’t carry out due diligence when donating. They included staff from Apple, Google, and Microsoft who raised tens of millions of for the muse however stopped simply in need of making precise donations after the weird scenario got here to gentle. 

Tough estimates point out that someplace within the area of $ four.35 million was raised for the Black Lives Matter Basis within the first weeks of June, however the majority of it was frozen earlier than it may very well be launched. Apparently, even GoFundMe was unaware of the dearth of affiliation, which solely got here to gentle following media enquiries.

Howdy everybody. One of many cool advantages I get for working at Microsoft is that they match as much as $ 15okay in my donations. So each greenback I get on stream we’ll be doubled to a charity. I’ve narrowed it down to those 6 ✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/ke5sQXpekh

— Birdo (@BirdoMixer) June four, 2020

The Black Lives Matter motion developed from the 2013 hashtag spawned within the wake of the Treyvon Martin case. In latest weeks, following the demise of George Floyd by the hands of the Minneapolis Police Division, the BLM motion has referred to as for the police to be defunded and the cash to be redirected to assist black communities. 

The BLM Basis, nonetheless, claims to be working in direction of “bringing the group and police nearer collectively.”

“I don’t have something to do with the Black Lives Matter World Community. I by no means met them; by no means spoke to them. I don’t know them; I’ve no relationship with them,” Barnes stated. “Our entire factor is having unity with the police division.”

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In the meantime, the BLM motion, formally referred to as “Black Lives Matter World Community Basis, Inc.,” which was registered within the state of Delaware in 2017, two years after Barnes registered in California, is claiming that he has co-opted the model. 

“The Santa Clarita group is badly utilizing our identify,” a BLM spokesperson stated. “We intend to name them out and observe up.”

Additional complicating issues is the truth that the official motion isn’t a nonprofit, however as a substitute raises funds by way of a charity referred to as Thousand Currents. 

Properly-intentioned individuals repeatedly conflate the muse with the motion and Barnes has reaped the rewards, gathering donations made through GoFundMe, PayPal or worker donation-matching platforms. 

“They took my identify and put this ‘Inc.’ behind it,” Barnes stated. “They took my identify. I personal that identify. I haven’t stolen something from them. They’ve stolen from me. They’ve lied and been capable of revenue utilizing my identify.”

Barnes has declined to disclose how a lot cash he has raised, although tax filings from 2017 present that the muse had raised at the least $ 300,000 in donations. 

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Barnes reportedly hasn’t executed something with the funds however is engaged on “prototypes” for group and police bonding, together with “Group Organized Applications” or “COP occasions,” referring to annual buffet dinners and different social occasions aimed toward bringing the group nearer along with its police power.

“We don’t wish to be enemies of the police. We’ll let the motion do this,” Barnes added. “We wish to get to the purpose the place now we have packages and that’s the place the change will occur. That’s the place we are available.” 

In yet one more odd twist within the story, Santa Clarita doesn’t have its personal police division, relying as a substitute on LA County police safety, and authorities there say they’ve by no means heard of Barnes or his basis.

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