Fact Check: Lack of context in allegations of real estate purchases by one of the founders of Black Lives Matter.

Image: Black Lives Matter donations helped the movement's founder purchase real estate

The purchase of real estate by one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement has been in the spotlight following the New York Post's coverage of Patrice Kahn-Cullors' "disgraced campaign" that began in 2016. Social media users used this information as confirmation that Kahn-Cullors is enriching himself at the expense of the Black Lives Matter movement. "Unbelievable. The great payout will be soon after (the trial of) (Derek) Chovin," reads one Facebook post from April 11. This text is accompanied by an image of Kahn-Cullors holding her right fist in the air and the text "According to information that co-founder of Black Lives Matter Kahn-Cullors has allegedly bought four luxury homes." The post sparked hundreds of shearings and comments, including from users who suggested that Kahn-Cullors was profiting from donations to the Black Lives Matter movement. According to the Associated Press, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raised about $90 million in 2020 when race riots erupted across the country following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. However, there is no evidence to support that Kahn-Cullors used donations from mass protests across the country in 2020 to purchase the four homes. The account that published the Facebook post did not respond to a request for comment.

Acquired real estate

New York Post reported that Kahn-Cullors acquired four properties in recent years, though two of them were purchased before 2020, when attention and donations to Black Lives Matter began. According to the Post, three of the properties are in Los Angeles and one is in suburban Atlanta. The first property in Los Angeles cost $510,000 when Kahn-Cullors purchased it in 2016. A second home in Los Angeles cost her $590,000 in 2018, the Post reported. The property in suburban Atlanta was purchased for $415,000 in 2020. According to USA TODAY, Patrice Kahn-Cullors is linked to the three properties according to public records.

The deal at Los Angeles' Topanga Canyon, which the New York Post article highlights, ties to a post by blogger Dirt about the purchase of a fourth property.

Are the purchases related to "Black Lives Matter? "

The main question is whether Can-Cullors' purchases are related to her role in "Black Lives Matter," as the post implies. In this case, as in any other, the veracity of the assertion must be supported by evidence from the person speaking. The Post provided no evidence of such a connection, the author did not respond to a request for corroboration of the facts, and we found no such connections during our research, although documentation is limited due to the specifics of Kahn-Cullors' organization and career. The New York Post article, which linked to the real estate blog Dirt, sparked a cascade of criticism of real estate acquisitions, including from the conservative nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center. Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY that "donors to any nonprofit group should know how that organization handles funds" and pointed out that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has not provided public reports to the Internal Revenue Service. The foundation received an official nonprofit designation from the Internal Revenue Service in December, according to the Associated Press, and will be required to file public tax documents in the future. No public financial statements have been made available yet.

Can-Cullors said there is no connection between the purchase of the property and her role in the BLM. "To be clear, as a registered 501c3, BLMGNF cannot and has not provided any organizational resources to purchase my personal property," Kahn-Cullors said in an official statement. "Any innuendo or assertion to the contrary is categorically false." In response to a publication submitted by the National Legal and Policy Center, the Black Lives Matter Foundation issued a demand that the National Legal and Policy Center remove the "implication" that "money from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Fund was used directly or indirectly to purchase real estate. "