{"id":3065,"date":"2022-02-17T16:35:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T16:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/?p=3065"},"modified":"2022-02-17T16:35:33","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T16:35:33","slug":"amazon-removes-blm-from-charity-platform-amid-growing-concerns-over-lack-of-financial-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/?p=3065","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Removes BLM From Charity Platform Amid Growing Concerns Over Lack of Financial Transparency"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Katabella Roberts<\/a><\/p>\n

\"blm_protest.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Amazon has removed Black Lives Matter from its charity platform AmazonSmile amid growing concern over the organization\u2019s lack of financial transparency.<\/p>\n

The decision comes after BLM leaders failed to disclose detailed financial reports on up to $60 million it had received in donations.<\/p>\n

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Examiner<\/a> that it had removed the political and social organization from its Amazon Smile platform, which allows customers to support charitable organizations every time they shop, on Feb. 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharitable organizations must meet the requirements outlined in our participation agreement to be eligible for AmazonSmile,\u201d an Amazon representative said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong other eligibility requirements, organizations are required to be in good standing in their state of incorporation and in the states and territories where they are authorized to do business. Organizations that don\u2019t meet the requirements listed in the agreement may have their eligibility suspended or revoked. Charities can request to be reinstated once they are back in good standing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amazon itself donated $10 million<\/a> to social justice groups, including BLM, in 2020 at the height of the organization\u2019s popularity and amid nationwide demonstrations, prompted by the death of George Floyd during an arrest by former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.<\/p>\n

Amid those nationwide protests, BLM, which was initially founded in 2013 when George Zimmerman was acquitted for the killing of Trayvon Martin, was flooded with contributions to its cause.<\/p>\n

While the organization says its mission is to \u201ceradicate white supremacy\u201d and highlight discrimination experienced by black people, among other things, co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors has come under scrutiny after it was revealed that she purchased luxury homes in predominantly white neighborhoods costing millions of dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Khan-Cullors resigned from BLM in May amid the controversy over her million-dollar property portfolio but at the time said that her decision to step down was due to the fact that she wanted to focus on other projects.<\/p>\n

During an interview<\/a> with Morehouse College on Feb. 10, Khan-Cullors addressed the $60 million in charitable donations that she said came from \u201cwhite corporation guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have to know we didn\u2019t go out and solicit the money,\u201d Khan-Cullors said. \u201cThis is money that came from white guilt, white corporation guilt, and they just poured money in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khan-Cullors also said she was shocked over the criticism she received after publishing BLM\u2019s \u201cImpact Report<\/a>\u201d in February 2021, which stated that the group ended the year 2020 with $60 million in the bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt backfired because of anti-black racism,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had a whole impact report where we showed where all the money went, and the question still is where did the money go. That\u2019s deeply concerning to me because it means people don\u2019t want to believe what\u2019s actually true.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she acknowledged that BLM had not done a good enough job at being completely transparent about what it has done with the money it raised in 2020, adding that it was \u201cvery scary\u201d to be responsible for such a large amount of money.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, BLM and its leaders came under fire from the California Department of Justice for failing to disclose detailed financial reports regarding the millions in donations.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Justice has issued a formal delinquency notice to the group. BLM was given 60 days to file tax and charity documents for 2020 to the California Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

However, the organization on Feb. 2 shut down all of its online fundraising streams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shortly before it did so, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita described Black Lives Matter as a falling \u201chouse of cards\u201d and compared it to an \u201cillegal enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Epoch Times has contacted a BLM spokesperson for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Katabella Roberts Amazon has removed Black Lives Matter from its charity platform AmazonSmile amid growing concern over the organization\u2019s lack of financial transparency. The decision comes after BLM leaders failed to disclose detailed financial reports on up to $60 million it had received in donations. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Examiner that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3066,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3065\/revisions\/3066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}