It is 10 years since she helped launch possibly the biggest global protest movement in history. But then came controversy as huge sums of money flowed in. She describes how her childhood inspired her activism – and the hurt she has suffered.
It’s almost 10 years since Cullors, 38, helped to launch what has been described as the largest global protest movement in history. In that time she has gone from local community organiser to international activism A-lister. But with celebrity has come controversy, including complaints about a lack of transparency about the huge sums of money that have flowed BLM’s way. She has also been called a hypocrite for amassing a property portfolio inconsistent with her beliefs as a self-described “trained Marxist.” She has called these attacks: “Not just a character assassination campaign, but a campaign to actually get me assassinated.”
She has had plenty of time to brood on all this since she stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) last May. But she has also written a book, An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World. The central assumption is that the police cannot be reformed – they must be defunded, disarmed, disbanded and replaced by other systems of public safety.
