The Washington Times recently published an article outing Black Lives Matters as the recipients of more than $100 million in donations and a $33 million grant from George Soros. What started out as a lot of angry people jumping on a hashtag has turned into an official organization that now marshals millions of dollars in funding.
Which is precisely why BLM is doomed to become the next Tea Party.
I started my career in political commentary right around the rise of the Tea Party Movement. The atmosphere was infectious. The media coverage was outrageous.
Just like BLM, it began organically. In its early days, the Tea Party was nothing more than a bunch of different groups across the country organizing protests and fielding media coverage. There was no single tea party, no official representation. It ran on passion and frustration.
Eventually, the movement evolved into something different. Several groups professing to be “official” Tea Party representatives popped up. They began organizing massive fundraising campaigns. Americans donated in droves, expressing the desire to see this movement turn into political action.
And that was the beginning of the end. Once your political movement starts employing people it creates a need, a business. Once the Tea Party became a business it was all over.
The final death knell came when “official” Tea Party groups began taking on other issues outside of taxation. The original movement was rooted in government overreach, purposefully eschewing social issues in order to welcome as many partners across as wide a spectrum as possible. At some point, the focus shifted to issues like immigration, gay marriage and in some cases, abortion. The Tea Party went from a single, focused issue to a conservative social justice organization. While there still are a few Tea Party-ish groups out there, what was left of the movement morphed into think-tanks and blog sites. The movement came in like a lion and went out like a fat, overdressed lamb.
BLM is following this path almost to the letter. What began as an organic response to injustice has quickly snowballed into a multi-million-dollar business. People depend on BLM for employment. Some “leaders” like DeRay McKesson have parlayed their BLM activism into lucrative careers. When your six-figure salary depends on people being angry, how likely are you to ever find a real solution? It would literally put you out of business.
As it stands now, BLM must necessarily sow discord and ignore progress in order to stay in business. There is no finish line because it’s been completely covered by dollar bills and celebrity endorsements.
BLM – like its Tea Party predecessors – has also become woefully unfocused. Black Lives Matter was supposed to be about ending police brutality in our communities. A quick perusal of the current BLM page shows that mission has suddenly been supplemented with a myriad of other issues that many in the black community probably never signed on for.
Here is some of what the BLM site says is the focus of their activism these days:
BLM is following the Tea Party’s path to decline. With new revenue streams, lucrative political appointments and the developing media careers of its “stars,” it is now nearly impossible for the activist organization to become anything other than what they seem to loathe the most – big business that exploits black people to create more big business.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Kira Davis is a writer, culture critic and Lead Supervisor at the Davis Home for Selectively Hard of Hearing Cats and Children. @RealKiraDavis