BLM co-founder 'triggered' by law forcing charities to disclose finances

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The co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation says having to disclose finances of the charitable organization is “triggering” and “being weaponized against us.”

BLMGNF co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who resigned her position as executive director in 2021, made her comments about laws forcing charities to report their financial activities during a recent event at the Vashon Center for the Arts in the Seattle area, according to the Washington Examiner.

Cullors said she gets “triggered” when she hears people mention the Internal Revenue Service’s Form 990, a financial disclosure document charities are required to file annually, adding that it endangers the lives of activists.

“It is such a trip to hear the term ‘990,'” Cullors said Friday, according to the Examiner. “I’m like, ugh. It’s, like, triggering. This is, like, deeply unsafe. This is literally being weaponized against us, against the people we work with.

“People’s morale in an organization is so important. But if their organization and the people in it are being attacked and scrutinized at everything they do, that leads to deep burnout. That leads to deep, like, resistance and trauma.”

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Cullors’ comments come in the wake of controversy after it was discovered BLMGNF bought a $5.8 million mansion in Los Angeles.

New York Magazine reported that the estate was “secretly bought” with donated funds by Dyane Pascall, the financial manager of a company operated by Cullors and her spouse. The purchase came two weeks after BLMGNF was given $66.5 million by its fiscal sponsor.

On Monday, Cullors said the L.A. house was used as a “safe place” for her to stay while the FBI investigated a death threat against her, according to NBC News.

“So we did use the campus as a haven, as a safe place,” she told reporters in a phone call. “Conditions changed, and that’s it.”

Cullors resigned as executive director of BLMGNF, an organization she helped found in 2013, in May 2021 after reports surfaced that she had bought four high-end homes for $3.2 million.