Shaun King once served as one of the main voices for the Black Lives Matter movement, until he was excommunicated by Deray McKesson, the organization’s chief spokesperson. Now we may be starting to understand why. Apparently, crying racism made King very, very wealthy. Per Goldie Taylor at the Daily Beast:
In 2009, the Morehouse College graduate and Oprah Winfrey Scholar said he raised $1 million and “organized 10,000 volunteers” for flood relief in Atlanta. Months later, in 2010, after a whirlwind of positive media coverage, King says he put his passions and prowess to work again after a devastating series of earthquakes in Haiti killed more than 200,000 people and left a million more homeless.
TwitChange—a Web auction house founded by King—raised “over $1 million” in support of “A Home in Haiti,” according to Forbes. Some of the reported intake estimates stretched to $2 million. The relief fund, which was never incorporated or registered as an independent nonprofit, brought in over $100,000 in its first 24 hours, according to King. With actress Eva Longoria serving as its chief spokesperson, aHomeinHaiti.org said they were collecting funds to build an orphanage in Bonneau, Haiti.
The Miriam Center is a part of a Christian mission that serves children with special needs in the Caribbean nation. It reported that only $540,000 was actually raised—far short of the $1 million that King publicly proclaimed—and said that it ultimately only received a grant of $200,000. The donations were received and disbursed by Courageous Church, where King was still lead pastor, via PayPal. The church also sent tents to be used as temporary shelter to the island nation.
TwitChange was later sold to a group of investors, King told Rebel magazine. King resigned from his church in March 2011, citing “personal stress and disillusionment” but by then, his reputation as a “socialpreneur”—someone who creates enterprises to deliver social change—was securely minted. Even so, charges that King had not been a good steward with charitable contributions and was less than transparent about his dealings had begun to mount.
While the finances surrounding the Haitian relief project remained in question, its veneer of success and King’s social media prowess became the basis for crowdfunding site HopeMob. Seed funding for the venture came from nearly 1,000 “backers” on Kickstarter who pledged almost $130,000.
Similar to his relief efforts for Haitian children, HopeMob’s finances were murky at best.
According to its only Internal Revenue Service filing, the company took in $419,000 in 2013. That same year, the company paid out about $198,000 in grants to some 136 recipients. King’s cash compensation, not including expense reimbursements, was almost as much as the grants: $160,000, or nearly 40 percent of total revenue. Several people who launched campaigns on HopeMob complained that payouts were delayed and that the company failed to respond to repeated inquiries. Losing money, and under an onslaught of criticism from would-be beneficiaries, the digital platform was sold and later shuttered altogether. Using his HopeMob platform, King raised over $11,000 to support a gun control lobbying effort in honor of the Sandy Hook victims. However, King is not a registered lobbyist and I could find little or no evidence that he paid an individual or entity to formally lobby government entities.
Like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and others, King is showcasing just how profitable sowing racial discord and intimidating those who don’t conform to the PC agenda can be. Instead of trying to bring about real change, they’re merely trying to put some change in their pockets. Americans interested in racial harmony should look elsewhere for answers.
AAN Staff
The staff at American Action News are consummate professionals, who when not producing original, hard-hitting content, are scouring the internet to bring you the unfiltered news that matters to you! Our mission is to maximize your experience on our website. If we can ever be of assistance, please do not hesitate to let us know!
