I’ve been writing a lot about Patrisse Khan-Cullors, the self-described trained Marxist leader of Black Lives Matter over the past week, after the news came out that she’d just dropped a bundle on a mini-compound in Topanga Canyon, California. She secured the property, which has two houses on it, for $1.4 million through a corporate entity which she controls. It’s also in an area that is only about 1.4 percent black.

Then the information also came out that she had three other high-end homes — two in Los Angeles and one in Georgia with an indoor swimming pool, an airplane hangar, and access to a landing strip. The homes added up to $3.2 million according to the report. She allegedly was also was looking into securing a home in the Bahamas at a resort where the homes ranged in price from $5 million to $20 million.

Not exactly living up to her Marxist creed. Or perhaps we should say, she really is, since most Marxist leaders preach a lot but then aggregate all the trappings of wealth to themselves.

As I reported, BLM came to her defense in a formal statement blaming the questions about her actions on “white supremacists.”

Now Cullors herself is weighing in with her own defense on Instagram, according to the NY Post:

“This movement began as, and will always remain, a love letter to black people. Three words: Black Lives Matter, serve as a reminder to Black people that we are human and deserve to live vibrant and full lives,” the 37-year-old wrote.

“I’ve worked multiple jobs across many organizations my entire life. I’m also a published author, writer, producer, professor, public speaker, and performance artist. I love my work in all of these areas and I work hard to provide for my family,” she continued. [….]

“This effort to discredit and harass me and my family is not new nor is it acceptable. It has taken away from where the focus should be — ending white supremacy,” she added.

“You may not like or agree with me. I have definitely made mistakes. I own up to that. I apologize for the mistakes I have made and I work hard at practicing my abolitionist values.”

Um, black people didn’t need you to remind them that they are human, how presumptuous and self-important can you be with that kind of comment? Black lives matter, even before you tried to monetize deaths for your political agenda. I’m still trying to figure out one positive thing she’s actually done for black people in all this. But there’s a lot of smoking ruin across the country with a lot of dead people because of the riots and the defunding of the police. By the way, “abolitionist values” means imagining things “beyond policing or incarceration.” How’s that working out in the cities that “defunded police” and now have soaring murder rates? Not something you do when you claim to “love” people. But then Topanga Canyon is a long way from the city.

While Cullors says that she doesn’t get a salary or benefits from her role with the BLM Global Network Foundation, she has monetized her fame from that role. She’s written a book (after which she was then able to buy the house in Georgia). She signed a multi-platform deal with Warner Bros television to produce things. She and her non-binary spouse Janaya Khan also run a consulting business pitching social justice. For a “trained Marxist,” she seems to have operated a lot like a capitalist. The BLM Global Network Foundation did say that she’s received $120,000 from them since 2013 but hasn’t received any compensation from them since 2019. They said she was now serving in a volunteer capacity.

It’s not been lost on activists in the streets or the parents of the people for whom Cullors claims to be fighting.

As we reported, Hawk Newsome, the head of Black Lives Matter Greater New York City, which is not affiliated with Khan-Cullors’ Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, called for “an independent investigation” to find out where all the global organization’s money was going. Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, and Lisa Simpson, the mother of Richard Riser, also called out Cullors and other ‘activists,’ saying that they were using their kids’ names and likenesses, and capitalizing off their tragedy.