The Black Lives Matter co-founder who came under scrutiny over her property empire has defended her wealth and blasted her critics.
Patrisse Cullors co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement back in 2013 together with Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza.
Recently, the activist has come under the spotlight after it was revealed that she lives in a $1.4 million LA home located in a predominantly white area.
According to a New York Post report, the 37-year-old also owns three other homes which she had allegedly bought since 2016, expanding her property empire to a total value of around $3 million.
Following criticism and allegations that the co-founder of BLM used the movement’s money to fund her lavish style, Cullors has spoken out and defended her wealth saying she paid for her homes with the money she earned working as a college professor and a TV producer on top of making two book deals and a YouTube deal.
“I have never taken a salary from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and that’s important because what the right-wing media is trying to say is the donations that people have made to Black Lives Matter went toward my spending and that is categorically untrue and incredibly dangerous,” she told Black News Tonight.
According to the reports, BLM confirmed that Cullors hasn’t received any payments since 2019, whereas she received a total of only $120,000 since 2013.
The BLM co-founder not only hit back at right-wing critics but also at those who questioned whether she actually follows the ideology she preaches to the public in her private life by saying her wealth belongs to her family and that she bought additional homes to provide for her family members.
Calling the allegations against her “racist and sexist,” Cullors went on to claim that Black people commonly invest in properties to help out their family members.
“And the fact that the right-wing media is trying to create hysteria around my spending is, frankly, racist and sexist and I also want to say that many of us that end up investing in homes in the black community often invest in homes to take care of their family,” she added.
“You can talk to so many black people and black women particularly that take care of their families, take care of their loved ones especially when they’re in a position to.”
She also insisted that the homes she bought with funds deriving from her job as a professor and a TV producer are not being rented out and are only meant to “directly support the people that I love and care about.”
Breaking into tears, the BLM co-founder revealed she “spent the last week with security” in fears for her safety after pictures of her homes were shared online.
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Replaced!