On Oct. 9, Black Lives Matter (BLM) Grassroots, a collection of BLM chapters responsible for much of the BLM movement’s heavy lifting, released a statement in support of the Palestinian people that likens Palestinian terrorism to BLM’s own activism. Some individual chapters went further in their show of support for Hamas. BLM Chicago shared a celebratory graphic of a paraglider in obvious reference to the slaughtering of at least 260 civilians by Hamas militants at an Israeli music festival. Such statements are nothing new for BLM, a “movement committed to ending settler colonialism in all forms” that advocates for “Palestinian liberation.”
Many Americans are aware that both the Obama and Biden administrations sent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to Hamas and its benefactors. A comparatively smaller number are aware that public companies donate to Palestinian organizations and their allies such as Black Lives Matter. Both are wealth transfers that drain resources from our economy to enable Palestinian barbarism like that unleashed on Israelis this past Saturday.
Recall that corporations gave more than $99 billion to the BLM movement and related causes after the death of George Floyd, as shown by the Claremont Institute’s BLM Funding Database. McKinsey and Company claims the number is far higher, about $340 billion. This wealth transfer included at least $122 million in funding for BLM itself.
Some of that money undoubtedly went to Hamas. Radical black activists have long identified with the “Palestinian cause,” BLM has a history of supporting Palestinian organizations, and delegations of BLM activists have visited the Palestinian territories on more than one occasion.
In addition to its direct support of Palestinian groups, BLM works closely with numerous domestic, left-wing, pro-Palestinian organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine and members of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Activists belonging to these organizations celebrated Hamas’ most recent atrocities across the West, including in America’s streets and on America’s college campuses.
BLM At School, the PreK-12 educational arm of the BLM movement, devotes an entire block of its curriculum to “Black + Palestinian Solidarity.” Among its troves of Palestinian propaganda are articles such as “How the sun of Palestine reached a Black Panther in jail,” published by The Electronic Intifada, and “Our Liberation is Connected with the Palestinian People,” published in The Progressive Magazine. The curriculum, which equates “Israeli settler colonialism” to “anti-Black violence,” calls for “unified action against anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and Zionism.” BLM At School is an official partner of the National Education Association and is present in thousands of schools nationwide.
The events currently unfolding in Israel reveal what is truly meant by BLM and the left when they call for “decolonization.” In a since-deleted post on X that was retweeted by The Washington Post’s global opinions editor, Karen Attiah, Soho House and Teen Vogue journalist Najma Sharif wrote of the Palestinian raping, torturing, and murdering of Israeli women and children: “What did y’all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays? losers.”
Sharif echoes the sentiments of BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who in 2015 asserted that “Palestine is our generation’s South Africa … if we don’t step up boldly and courageously to end the imperialist project called Israel, we’re doomed.”
To BLM, pro-Palestine activists, and the rest of the radical left, decolonization means the annihilation of the people and state of Israel. Transposed to the American context, decolonization means the annihilation of the United States and the predominantly white settlers who founded it. Some Americans, such as the sitting vice president, consciously support proponents of decolonization. Others only support them involuntarily or unconsciously, partly out of ignorance but largely because the administrative state and corporate America are not accountable to the American people.
Many have written at length about the unaccountability of the “uniparty,” the “deep state,” and “Our Democracy™.” Few have addressed the transformation of corporate philanthropy into a left-wing patronage network. Suffice it to say, today’s corporate philanthropy is driven largely by ideological forces such as the ESG cartel, corporate donations are typically made out of public sight, and shareholders have little recourse to challenge corporate directors on their donations. Corporations freely spend public wealth to support a vast NGO archipelago of far-left causes, including BLM. Money is fungible, and donations to BLM are in effect donations to violent Palestinian groups.
Thanks to corporate America and the left, Americans unwittingly have blood on their hands. Reforms are needed to rein in corporate philanthropy and subject corporations to public scrutiny. For now, the public should shame and punish the unrepentant corporations that redistributed their wealth to BLM and its allies. The companies in the BLM Funding Database are a good place to start.
