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Dr. Cornel West named Black Lives Matter Grassroots founder Dr. Melina Abdullah as his running mate for his 2024 presidential campaign in a historical moment.
On Wednesday (April 10), independent presidential candidate Cornel West chose fellow academic, activist, and Black Lives Matter organizer Dr. Melina Abdullah as his vice president nominee. He announced the nomination during a virtual press conference which media personality and friend, Tavis Smiley moderated.
“She has a record of deep commitment and investment in ensuring that poor and working people are at the center of her vision,” West said of Abdullah, also calling her a “freedom fighter” in his introduction. “I wanted to to run with someone who would put a smile on the face of Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin Luther King Jr. from the grave.” The selection makes their campaign the first to have two Black candidates on the ticket in history. Abdullah is a Pan-African Studies professor at California State University, who
“I am deeply honored and humbled to join Dr. Cornel West as his Vice Presidential candidate at this critical moment as we work together for transformative change. This campaign offers a real vision for the world that stands in opposition to oppressive forces and holds fast to the universal principles of truth, justice, and love,” Abdullah said of her nomination. She also noted the other historical factors in her selection as “divine timing”, being that she is the first Muslim to be included on a presidential ticket with the announcement coming on Eid-al-Fitr, “the holiest day for Muslims.” West is a Christian who is on the faculty at the Union Theological Seminary.
Abdullah brings a distinctive presence to the race, as her teaming up with West presents an alternative to Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump in the election this November, particularly as Biden has come under fire for supporting Israel during its conflict with Hamas. She was also named to the board of Black Lives Matter after co-founder Patrisse Cullors stepped down in 2021 after increased scrutiny of the social justice group’s finances were exposed in a New York Magazine article. West formerly was a People’s Party presidential candidate before switching to the Green Party weeks later.
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A Black Lives Matter group in Rhode Island swiftly debunked the claim by former President Donald Trump that they supported him via an alleged member.
On Wednesday (November 29), the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee posted a statement via X, formerly known as Twitter in response to former President Donald Trump’s post on his Truth Social social media platform indicating the group endorsed him. In the process, it also distanced itself from someone who claimed to be a co-founder.
In that post, Trump praised Mark Fisher, a Black activist who recently appeared on a Fox News segment earlier in the month to throw his support behind the former president as a “great guy”, adding: “Very honored to have his and BLM’s support,” before reiterating a statement of how much he’s done for Black people since President Abraham Lincoln. Fisher first appeared on The Kim Iversen Show on YouTube, hosted by a personality who has expressed support for the insurrectionists of January 6th and is a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic. “I like Trump personally,” Fisher said at the time. “And I think right now who we have sitting in the Oval Office is just a deep disappointment. I deeply have disdain for him, and I really dislike the vice president as well.”
Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC, which Fisher claimed to be a founder of, sent out their rebuttal immediately. “In response to recent media coverage, we would like to clarify that Mark Fisher is not and has never been affiliated with our organization, the statement began. “The views expressed by Mr. Fisher in the referenced Fox News segment do not reflect the values or beliefs of BLM RH PAC.”
The PAC also offered further clarification in another post, saying that they are a different organization than Black Lives Matter Rhode Island. This was solidified by a further disavowal of the remarks made by Fisher by Gary Dantzler, the head of the group. “Mark Fisher stated he was one of the co-founders of BLM,” Dantzler said to the Providence Journal. “Absolutely not. He was a respected advocate for BLM. That’s it. And he was paid and somewhere he got fired and demoted.” He added that he was “really disgusted” by Fisher’s actions.
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Alan Moore is fed up with comic book films and is putting the royalty checks from them he no longer wants to good use.
Spotted on Variety via The Telegraph, Alan Moore, comic book visionary who penned classic works like Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and Batman: The Killing Joke, is no longer accepting his royalty checks for films and television series based on his works from DC Comics and instead told the iconic comic book distributor to give them to Black Lives Matter.
Per Variety:
The Telegraph asked Moore if reports were true about him taking all of the money he makes from film and TV series and dividing it among the writers and other creatives, to which the writer answered: “I no longer wish it to even be shared with them. I don’t really feel, with the recent films, that they have stood by what I assumed were their original principles. So I asked for DC Comics to send all of the money from any future TV series or films to Black Lives Matter.”
Moore told The Telegraph that he is no longer interested in money. In past interviews, he has been openly critical of superhero films, calling them a “blight” on cinema and “also to culture to a degree.”
He wasn’t done. In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, he called adults being excited about superhero films an “infantilization” that can act as “a precursor to fascism.”
Ouch.
Alan Moore Is Not Here For Adults Infatuation With Comic Books & Superhero Films
He was also worried about “hundreds of thousands of adults lining up to see characters and situations that had been created to entertain the 12-year-old boys — and it was always boys — of 50 years ago,” noting he never thought superheroes were something adults should care about.
“I didn’t really think that superheroes were adult fare,” Moore continues. “I think that this was a misunderstanding born of what happened in the 1980s — to which I must put my hand up to a considerable share of the blame, though it was not intentional — when things like ‘Watchmen’ were first appearing. There were an awful lot of headlines saying ‘Comics Have Grown Up’. I tend to think that, no, comics hadn’t grown up. There were a few titles that were more adult than people were used to…I will always love and adore the comics medium, but the comics industry and all of the stuff attached to it just became unbearable.”
Another thing Moore takes issue with is the term “graphic novels,” he pointed out in his latest interview with The Telegraph.
“Now they’re called ‘graphic novels,’ which sounds sophisticated, and you can charge a lot more for them,” he added. “These innocent and inventive and imaginative superhero characters from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s are being recycled to a modern audience as if they were adult fare.”
Well, he’s definitely not interested in seeing James Gunn’s new DCU.
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Photo: SFX Magazine / Getty
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A national Black Lives Matter organization is at risk of going bankrupt after tax records reveal that the national organization has been paying out millions to executives while being millions in the red. According to the records, the leading Black Lives Matter foundation is operating at an $8.5 million deficit despite paying out millions in salary.
As reported by Newsweek, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s (BLMGNF) financial woes stemmed from the 2022 tax year in a report first published by The Washington Free Beacon. The organization showed a loss of $961,000 in connection to a $172,000 securities sale. The foundation is not the only organization that operates within the nonprofit sector in support of Black Lives Matter but it is the largest of its sort.
At the root of the foundation’s problems is lowered donations from the public, reporting $9.3 million between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, with assets totaling $30 million. This is a large drop from the foundation’s July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021 filings of the previous year.
BLMGNF co-founder Patrisse Cullors was the center of controversy after the foundation came under scrutiny for its donation haul and spending practices. Ms. Cullors has since stepped down after admitting last year that the foundation could not sustain the number of donations received although millions were spent in what some viewed as frivolous in certain areas.
Adding to this, Paul Cullors, the brother of Ms. Cullors, continued to be paid for “professional security services” by the foundation to the tune of $1.6 million despite Ms. Cullors no longer serving in her previous role. Mr. Cullors was given a base salary of $124,702 in his role as head of security. The rest of the funds went to companies that Mr. Cullors owns.
The foundation’s board secretary, Shalomyah Bowers, who owns Bowers Consulting, was paid just under $1.7 million for consulting and management services. Bowers has been accused by Black Lives Matter Grassroots of misappropriating funds for his own personal use according to a Los Angeles Times report.
The foundation has yet to make a public statement regarding its finances.
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Photo: SOPA Images / Getty
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Ever since Kanye West went “death con 3” on the Jewish community, adidas has been experiencing a decline in both popularity, maybe, and sales, definitely. So it was surprising that the three-stripe brand decided to pick a legal fight specifically with the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation over their use of a logo that resembled the three stripes that adidas is known for.
Reuters is reporting that adidas has decided to back off its lawsuit and have retracted its initial claims just days after taking Black Lives Matter to court saying that the organization’s logo was “likely to cause confusion” between adidas and BLM. Though the three parallel lines that BLM was using did resemble the look on the Fear of God x adidas sneakers that leaked the other day, the brand isn’t looking for another public relations disaster just months after Kanye West put them on the hot seat with his antisemitic outbursts.
From Reuters:
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“Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s trademark application as soon as possible,” said the German athleticwear company in a statement.
A source close to the company said the rapid about-turn was triggered by concern that people could misinterpret Adidas’ trademark objection as criticism of Black Lives Matter’s mission.
Good call, adidas. Still, the German sports brand did rescind its “opposition without prejudice,” which means they reserve the right to once again take BLM to court on the same grounds in the future when they don’t have as much heat on them in the public eye. That could take a while as their popularity out in these streets is still struggle post-Yeezy. Outside of their Fear of God collaboration, it doesn’t seem like they have any heat dropping anytime in the near future.
With Kanye West basically radioactive these days and Beyoncé and her Ivy Park brand out the door, adidas doesn’t have much going for them these days. Suing Black Lives Matter might’ve proved too much to recover from.
Black Lives Matter meanwhile was trying to get in the merchandise game and “applied for a federal trademark in November 2020 covering a yellow three-stripe design to use on a variety of products including clothing, publications, bags, bracelets and mugs.”
We not gonna lie, we might be coping some three-stripe BLM merch once it drops. Just sayin’.
What do y’all think of adidas suing Black Lives Matter over their trademark and then backtracking just a few days later? Let us know in the comments section below.
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An investigative podcast revealed facts that the Federal Bureau of Investigation hired a violent felon to sow discord at Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
A newly released podcast, Alphabet Boys, unveiled information that showed that the FBI paid Michael Adam Windecker II to infiltrate protests organized by the social justice group in Denver, Colorado in 2020. The journalist behind the podcast, Trevor Aaronson, revealed how the agency paid Windecker $20,000 to ingratiate himself with activists on the ground who were protesting police brutality after the deaths of George Floyd and Elijah McClain.
Aaronson utilized documents obtained from the FBI through Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests to detail how the former felon agreed to be an informant because he wanted to “fight terrorists” and viewed those protesting as “people who participate in violent civil unrest are terrorists.” Windecker, who is white, would stand out at those protests driving a silver hearse full of weapons.
The podcast goes on to show how Windecker tried to recruit other activists as he got more involved with them over that summer, including Zebbodios “Zebb” Hall. “How extreme do you want it to go? Do you want to learn to shoot a gun and throw someone around, or do you want to go all the way uptown? If that’s what you want to do, I can make it happen,” he was overheard saying on undercover recordings. Windecker would go on to organize demonstrations in August that would lead to assaults against police stations in the city.
The plot became sinister as he coerced Hall to purchase a firearm for him after Hall refused to go along with a plot to assassinate Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. “I had to get this guy this gun because if I don’t get this guy this gun, he’s got my information. He’s got my family’s information,” Hall said in an interview. Aaronson would relate that Windecker used intimidation on everyone: “Windecker spoke of having killed people. He had a criminal history that was violent.”
The podcast has caused reactions of outrage and demand for accountability, including a statement from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). “If the allegations are true, the FBI’s use of an informant to spy on first amendment-protected activity and stoke violence at peaceful protests is an outrageous abuse of law-enforcement resources and authority,” he said. “I think you’re allowing these tactics to win if ultimately you’re choosing not to exercise your First Amendment rights for fear of government infiltration,” Aaronson said of the podcast.
Kanye West has always had a knack for stirring the pot, but at the beginning of October, he’s taken his controversial statements to a new level.
Though Ye has been vocal about his conservative, pro-Trump opinions for years, his latest controversies started Oct. 3 when photos from his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show showing some of his models wearing shirts printed with the phrase “White Lives Matter” started circling online. West himself had also worn one of the shirts to the show, and even stopped to take a photo with conservative commentator Candace Owens, who was also sporting “WLM” attire.
The situation was then exacerbated by West’s subsequent Instagram posts targeting fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who’d previously shared her horror at the shirts on her own account. These were followed by additional posts attacking stars who’d came to Karefa-Johnson’s defense, such as Gigi Hadid and Hailey Bieber.
He went on to defend his statements on Tucker Carlson‘s Fox News show, saying he used “White Lives Matter” — classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “racist response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter” — simply because he thought it was “funny.”
Before that controversy even had the chance to die down, Ye started up another one — this time against Jewish people. After posting aggressive, explicitly anti-Semitic sentiments over the weekend of Oct. 8, he was temporarily restricted from using both Instagram and Twitter.
As a result, stars such as Ariana Grande, John Legend, Diddy, Jack Antonoff and more have all come forward to condemn the rapper’s views. Keep reading to see who’s weighed in.
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