BLACK LIVES MATTER PATRISSE CULLORS AND THE MISSING $90 MILLION

When Kulia Petzoldt first learned of George Floyd’s death in 2020, she and her teenage daughter ventured to Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, to protest alongside a mass of people demanding justice.

Petzoldt, who is white, said growing up around different cultures and having friends who were Black made her feel more conscious of the racial discrimination Black people faced. The Black Lives Matter movement solidified that awareness.

“We can’t just do nothing,” Petzoldt, 42, said, “and particularly those of us who are sort of protected by society.”

Beyond protesting, Petzoldt and millions of others donated a cumulative $90 million in 2020 as people rallied behind eradicating racial inequality. She said she donated a few hundred dollars to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation on various occasions, including a donation of $50 after reading that the foundation had purchased a $6 million mansion in Southern California, which was first reported by New York Magazine. To Petzoldt, the purchase was a sign of stability, she said.

“I think that it’s a great sign that in addition to the public movement that a lot of us saw, that Black Lives Matter is investing in the long- term communication and influence within our society,” she said, “which is much more likely to make change compared to protests.”

Petzoldt is one of many people across the country trying to make sense of what has become a controversial decision BLM leaders made in October 2020 when they bought property in Southern California using organization funds. New York Magazine’s report details the appearance of impropriety and how BLM leaders intended “to keep the house’s existence a secret.”

Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Foundation Network, and Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLM Los Angeles, dismissed accusations of wrongdoing during a roundtable meeting the following week. They said the property is used as a safe haven from death threats and that they had intended to share the news of the purchase but were just waiting until it became safe to do so. That response and the purchase itself have elicited mixed reactions.