Shaun King did not steal money from the Confederate Flag hero, Bree Newsome
As you may know, conservative media outlets have been working hard to discredit Shaun and every leader of the Black Lives Matter movement. As one of the most visible figures and fundraisers of the movement, Shaun has become an easy target, but every attack against him has been a lie.
The latest lie is that Shaun stole money from civil rights activist, Bree Newsome. This is a complete and total fabrication. See the truth below.
On June 17th, 2015, the deadliest hate crime against African Americans in over 80 years happened. Dylann Roof, a racist white supremacist and Confederate Flag lover, walked into the historic Emanuel AME Church and murdered 9 men and women. Grasping for any type of justice, the calls immediately began to take down the Confederate Flag from the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse.
Throughout the week of June 20th, Shaun, on social media, began floating out the idea that someone should travel to Columbia, South Carolina, scale the pole, and take the flag down. Immediately, several wealthy donors, primarily from Silicon Valley, contacted Shaun and stated that they would financially support anyone who took the flag down the flag.
Shaun first tweeted that he had $5,000 to support anyone who took down the flag. Soon, donors pledged another $5,000 and Shaun tweeted that he had $10,000 to support anyone who took down the flag. These donors never gave a penny to Shaun, but verbally pledged it as a means of support.
Privately, two college students reached out to Shaun and said that they were making plans to go to South Carolina and take down the flag. They did not want the money, but asked that Shaun help bail them out and secure their attorneys when it happened.
Shaun went ahead and contacted a prominent South Carolina attorney so that they could begin discussing what would need to happen. The college students were proceeding with their plan.
On the morning of Saturday, June 27th, just 10 days after the Charleston 9 were murdered, a brave young woman, Bree Newsome, traveled to Columbia, South Carolina and took down the flag. It was an amazing thing.
While Shaun King and Bree Newsome were friends online before she took down the Confederate Flag, they did not speak before that day about her doing it and Shaun had no idea that she was going to do it.
Immediately, Shaun contacted the attorney he had secured, Todd Rutherford, and the donors who had contacted him, to put wheels in motion to support Bree Newsome and her support partner, James Tyson after their arrest.
Shaun King and attorney Todd Rutherford, who is not only a state representative, but was close friends and colleagues with Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel AME who was killed 10 days earlier, spoke and strategized all day on that Saturday on how they could quickly ensure the release of Bree and James. Todd traveled to the jail, met with Bree and James, became their official attorney, represented them before the judge, and personally helped secure their release.
When it was announced that an official fund was created to support Bree, Shaun not only asked his donors who pledged to support whoever took down the flag to donate to it, he used his own social network to help rally support for her. In total, $125,705 was raised from 4,943 people. Shaun estimates that his efforts were probably responsible for somewhere near a relatively small $15,000 of the total amount raised.
Again, Shaun never had a single penny of funds designated for Bree Newsome in his possession. He did not benefit financially from her heroism in any way.
To this day, Shaun King and Bree Newsome are friends and have spoken several times since. Furthermore, Todd Rutherford, the attorney Shaun secured to represent Bree & James in South Carolina, has continued to be an advocate for them.
Conservatives and white supremacists are spreading lies on Shaun King because he is effective at what he does.
They lied and said Shaun stole money from the family of Tamir Rice. Tamir’s family and attorneys verified that this was a lie here.
They lied and said Shaun stole money from the family of Eric Garner. In fact, Shaun never even helped raise money for his family. Eric’s daughter, Erica, came out publicly in support of Shaun here.
Bill O’Reilly just lied and said that Shaun raised funds for charities that never existed. They did exist and Shaun did great work supporting them.
Bill O’Reilly just lied on Shaun and said that Shaun stole money as an activist in the Black Lives Matter movement. Shaun provided the detailed accounting of his fundraising for the movement and then took the extraordinary step of refunding every online donation ever given toward his efforts.
Conservatives have been lying and saying that Shaun is “getting rich” off of speaking engagements and media appearances. In fact, Shaun has turned down every single offer of financial payment he has received for speaking about police brutality and American injustice.
Shaun King spoke at Yale Law School for free.
Shaun King spoke at Morehouse College for free.
Shaun King spoke at Georgia Tech for free.
Shaun King spoke at Spelman College for free.
Shaun King spoke at the Supernova South conference for free.
Shaun King has appeared as a regular weekly guest of the Karen Hunter show on SiriusXM for free.
Shaun King wrote a guest editorial in Ebony Magazine for free.
Shaun King wrote a guest editorial in The Guardian for free.
Shaun King has appeared on CNN & MSNBC for free.
Conservatives have even started to lie and say that Shaun and his wife Rai are lying about how many children they have. Shaun took the extraordinary step of telling his entire family history here.
Lies spread a lot faster than the truth. Please help share the truth about Shaun King and continue to support his efforts against injustice in America.
