Dismantle and #Defund #BlackLivesMatter

It comes a time in every leader’s life where they have to make tough decisions. These tough decisions should be made not on personality or style but on integrity and principle. So today, I have to write an article calling for the dismantling and defunding of Black Lives Matter.

At this point, I thought it was clear how Black Lives Matter came to this level of disfunction and who all were responsible for this dumpster fire. But now I see that it’s not clear so let me break it down further for my people. I met BLM before I actually knew I met them. Just like now, they always show up with multiple names. Let’s take BLM co-founder Alicia Garza for example, she came to Ferguson about two weeks late, and not as a BLM members but as a representative of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. This is crucial for us all to understand because they use always use this tactic to express their desire to just do “black movement work” but can’t because their job for won’t let them. This is to disarm your defensiveness to them not being involved in the struggle already or so you think.  You see back then I knew nothing about the non profit Industrial complex. Didn’t know they were paid full time to organize around these issues. And I sure in the hell didn’t know that they were sent into cities all over by their funders to derail and misdirect the movements since the  Jena 6 days. But back then I was just a Ferguson Front-liner, known for organizing the first protest at the Ferguson PD on the night of August 9th, 2014. That led me to being the spokesperson and one a the few leaders who had the love of the masses, respect from the elders and a platform to deliver the message to our people work wide. That got me invited to a movement meeting where I saw most of the characters for the first time. It was leaders from protest movement from all over the country like the Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant protest to name a few. Every month we would meet in another city to create direction and give leadership to the movement. So the, “we are a leaderless movement” line was cap from the jump. It was meant for them to avoid accountability if something went wrong and to take all the credit if anything ever went right. I objected but lost a vote 11-1 at one of those movement meetings. Not even the people who agreed with me in those debates voted with me for the time came. I guess I should’ve known what time it was from there but I was concentrating on the liberation of my people so I thought I could organize beyond this mis step.

You see, BLM uses white liberal white supremacist tactics to squash opposition. They only use violence when you gain too much traction but their preferred methods are arbitrary processes meant to look like fairness while the fix is already in. Take what they did to their own real chapters in 2020. In November of 2020, 10 + chapters wanted to vote on the direction of their movement and was kicked out for it. They later gave an updated statement of who was responsible at the time of keeping them unresourced, unorganized and who was stopping them from a democratic process. Does this sound like a leaderless movement to you? Right!

And I know what you’re going to say. But those aren’t the same people. Leadership has changed. Wrong! This is a high level game of three card monty that you’re watching. Blink and you gone pick the wrong card. Just for clarity, Black Lives Matter is BLM. BLM is the Movement for Black Lives. The Movement for Black Lives is the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The Black Lives Matter Global Network is the Black Lives Matter Global Network  Foundation. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is Black Lives Matter Grassroots. The same names who appear here on their new website are the same names that appear here on the old website from when BLM 10 called them out almost 3 years ago.

Sorry to be so meticulous but I had to make it plan for my people. Because you’re going to see people lie in your face and say that they weren’t apart of it. That they had nothing to do with that time in BLM. That they weren’t there. That they are just now learning how to put a non profit or organization structure together for the first time in their lives. And that they never had money before 2020 but again that’s cap. Here are some of the same names that appear on Black Lives Matter latest 990 show up on a this thing called the Black Led Movement Fund and they’ve given out over 20 million since 2016.

So when you hear Dr. Melina Abdullah repeating the lies we’ve all heard in the media since 2020 on BlackStar Network. As an original to this, I gotta check it. I mean Roland Martin not only allowed her to say it on his show but jumped in to defend such baseless claims. You can see for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnwFISTK2sk . Just go to 41:40 1:26:33) and watch the misdirection for yourself.

And when credited Black journalist simply asked her honest and fair questions, she dodged them and Roland jumped in like a paid Black Lives Matter Public Relations Department to answer for her. Killing his credibility with the grassroots. Then Dr. Melina Abdullah, University of California professor, went on Instagram Live to threaten Torraine Walker like a mob boss. I guess that’s what you get when you give someone who preys on activist, the families of victims of police brutality and desperate gang members caught up in the corrupt Los Angeles court system, millions of dollars with cronies as her “accountability”.  This type of hit she put out makes me them rethink the theory that BLM, with the help of their white liberal funders executed a hit on F.B.I. spied upon and now assassinated Ferguson Freedom Fighter Darren Seals, for his sharp criticism of the BLM organization and movement.

You see when you’ve been though what I’ve been through not telling the truth is never an option. Not telling our people over and over again until they get it isn’t one either. Because at this point anybody with the hashtag in their bio, a part of the organization still or funding them, is not funding a movement for Black liberation at all. Instead, they aregiving their time, energy and money to small group of Black people to sit pool side, drink champagne and eat caviar in a 6 million dollar mansion while black people’s lives get worse by the minute. We see that Black Lives Matter didn’t matter to them at all unless it was their own or the few who was in on the Ponzi scheme.

In Black Truth,

Tory Russell

This is an excerpt from Tory Russell’s upcoming debut book “Ferguson Taught Me”. Slated for release in 2024.