Holly MatkinFerguson, MO – Michael Brown’s father and other Ferguson-area activists have demanded Black Lives Matter hand over $20 million to help keep their local movement “strong.”
Michael Brown was fatally shot while brutally attacking a police officer in 2014. His death is credited with sparking the popularity of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In February, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation revealed donors contributed over $90 million to the organization in 2020, the New York Post reported.
It was the first time the group’s finances had ever been disclosed, according to the Daily Mail.
Michael Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., said the organization should hand over a significant chunk of those funds to the Ferguson community, the New York Post reported.
“Where is all that money going?” Michael Brown Sr. asked during an International Black Freedom Alliance press release on Tuesday, according to the New York Post. “How could you leave the families who are helping the community without any funding?”
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation nonprofit shared its 2020 financial snapshot with the Associated Press after local Black Lives Matter chapters around the country started complaining about not receiving any of the funds, the Daily Mail reported.
“Why hasn’t my family’s foundation received any assistance from the movement?” Michael Brown Sr. asked in Tuesday’s press release. “Who are they giving it to and what are they doing with it?”
International Black Freedom Alliance Co-Founder Tory Russell said the Ferguson community should receive a portion of the funds for having helped launch the Black Lives Matter movement in the first place.
His group noted that the “momentum from the 2014 unrest and the subsequent protest that local activists organized for several months after were the catalyst for the group being propelled into the position to receive the 90 million,” according to the Daily Mail.
The alliance said it has only received $500 from any group affiliated with Black Lives Matter.
“We’re not asking for a handout, but for the funding to keep the movement strong where it began,” Russell said, according to the New York Post.
“We just hope that the black lives in Ferguson still matter to the movement,” Russell added, according to the Daily Mail.
The International Black Freedom Alliance said it would use a portion of the $20 million it has demanded to build a community center honoring Michael Brown, the New York Post reported.
