BLM's Patrisse Khan-Cullors spent $3.2 M on costly real estate, NY activist wants 'independent investigation'
Artist, author, educator, and abolitionist Patrisse Khan-Cullors, who along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi started the BLM community in 2013, was recently reported to have purchased a $1.4 million home. Now she is said to have gone on a “real estate-buying binge”, buying four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the US alone.
As per a new report in The New York Post, she was also eyeing property in the Bahamas at an ultra-exclusive resort where Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods both have homes. As per the Post, luxury apartments and townhouses at the beachfront Albany resort outside Nassau are priced between $5 million and $20 million.
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The $1.4 million home she purchased last month is reportedly a 15-minute drive from The Commons at Calabasas and the compound spans about one-quarter of an acre. The nearly-2,400 square feet home has three bedrooms and two baths in the main house and a separate one-bed/one-bath apartment capable of hosting guests long-term with a private entry and a living room with a kitchenette.
As per the Post, there is also a Topanga Canyon homestead, which includes two houses on a quarter acre. It is reportedly one of three homes Khan-Cullors owns in the Los Angeles area.
Fellow activists have reacted to this extravagance. Hawk Newsome, the head of Black Lives Matter Greater New York City, called for “an independent investigation” to find out how the global network spends its money.
“If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes,” he said. “It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement.”
As per reports, last year, Khan-Cullors and her spouse Janaya Khan acquired a Georgia home -- a custom ranch on 3.2 rural acres in Conyers featuring a private airplane hangar with a studio apartment above it, and the use of a 2,500-foot paved/grass community runway that can accommodate small airplanes. A Peach State retreat was reportedly purchased in January 2020 for $415,000.
As per the Post, Khan-Cullors began her buying spree in Los Angeles in 2016 when she bought a three-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home in Inglewood for $510,000. It is now worth nearly $800,000. Two years later, in 2018, Khan-Cullors purchased a four-bedroom home in South Los Angeles. Khan-Cullors reportedly paid $590,000 for the 1,725 square-foot home, although the price has since climbed to $720,000, according to public records.
In February, the first time in the Black Lives Matter movement’s nearly eight-year history, its leaders revealed a detailed look at their finances. As per the Associated Press, it took in just over $90 million in 2020.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is now reportedly building infrastructure to catch up to the speed of its funding and plans to use its endowment to become known for more than protests after Black Americans die at the hands of police or vigilantes. “We want to uplift Black joy and liberation, not just Black death. We want to see Black communities thriving, not just surviving,” reads an impact report.