Grief-stricken mothers have come forward to accuse Black Lives Matter of “benefiting off the blood” of their sons who died from police shootings. The mothers also questioned the intentions of BLM founder Patrisse Cullors, and say she is going to “take the money and run.”
Samaria Rice is the mother of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who had a toy gun and was fatally shot in Cleveland by police in 2014. The mother of the slain boy commented on the recent development of Cullors stepping down from her leadership role at the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.
“I don’t believe she is going anywhere,” Rice said of Cullors’ BLM resignation. “It’s all a facade. She’s only saying that to get the heat off her right now.”
Cullors resigned following being embroiled in several controversies, including going on a “real estate buying binge,” proudly boasting that she is a “trained Marxist,” and being overjoyed that a book she was promoting was compared to the “Little Red Book” by Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.
Rice told the New York Post that she contacted the Black Lives Matter organization in a plea for help in re-opening a federal investigation into her son’s 2014 death. The mother said she exchanged a few emails with Cullors over the years, but nothing came of it.
“They are benefiting off the blood of our loved ones, and they won’t even talk to us,” Rice said.
Another outspoken critic of Cullors is Lisa Simpson, the mother of Richard Risher, who was shot and killed in 2016 by police in Los Angeles.
“Now she doesn’t have to show her accountability,” Simpson told the New York Post. “She can just take the money and run.”
Black Lives Matter reported raked in $90 million from donations in 2020, but local BLM chapters claimed they hadn’t received sufficient financial support.
Black Lives Matter’s Los Angeles chapter raised $5,000 for Risher’s funeral, but Simpson claimed she never received any of it.
In March, Rice and Simpson blasted Black Lives Matter leadership.
“We never hired them to be the representatives in the fight for justice for our dead loved ones murdered by the police,” the statement reads. “The ‘activists’ have events in our cities and have not given us anything substantial for using our loved ones’ images and names on their flyers. We don’t want or need y’all parading in the streets accumulating donations, platforms, movie deals, etc. off the death of our loved ones, while the families and communities are left clueless and broken.”
Cullors did not respond to a request for comment from the New York Post.
In April, the mother of Breonna Taylor slammed the Louisville chapter of Black Lives Matter, going so far as to label the organization as a “fraud.” Tamika Palmer, the distraught mother, unleashed a damning condemnation by saying, “I have never personally dealt with BLM Louisville and personally have found them to be fraud, Attica Scott another fraud.”
“I could walk in a room full of people who claim to be here for Breonna’s family who don’t even know who I am,” Palmer said in the since-deleted post on social media. “I’ve watched y’all raise money on behalf of Breonna’s family who has never done a damn thing for us nor have we needed it or asked so talk about fraud. It’s amazing how many people have lost focus.”