Black Lives Matter Grassroots is an activist group associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. It is an offshoot of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, and is led by left-wing activist Melina Abdullah. It was formerly a fiscally sponsored project of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit One Love Global.¹

Background

Black Lives Matter Grassroots was founded in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in affiliation with the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed by activists involved in the movement and originally fiscally sponsored by Thousand Currents and later the Tides Center. ² Functionally, BLM Grassroots was intended to serve as an assembly of Black Lives Matter chapters “focused on local, grassroots level work.” In its 2020 impact report, BLM Global Network Foundation gathered reports from five chapters, though it predicted that it would be able to gather “dozens more” in the future. ³

In December 2020, Politico reported that ten local Black Lives Matter groups were “severing ties” with the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. To that end, in an open letter jointly written by these chapters, they claimed that “the newly announced formation, BLM Grassroots, does not have the support of and was created without consultation with the vast majority of chapters.” ^{4 5}

On its website, Black Lives Matter Grassroots describes its mission as being to support “the necessary agitations, mobilizations, organizing, education, expressions, initiatives, and advocacy of Black Lives Matter chapters, partnering organizations, groups and people in order to fulfill our sacred duty to advance Black liberation.”⁶

Black Lives Matter Grassroots was formerly a fiscally-sponsored project of One Love Global, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.¹

Lawsuit Against Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation

In September 2022, Black Lives Matter Grassroots filed a lawsuit against the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, one of its board members Shalomyah Bowers, and his company Bowers Consulting Firm. The complaint alleged that Bowers had stolen more than $10 million in donations from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, using it as his own “personal piggy bank,” and accused him of “blazing a path of irreparable harm to BLM in less than eighteen months,” including investigations into the group by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and multiple state attorneys general.⁷

The lawsuit claimed that Bowers had “diverted…donations to his own coffers and intentionally took calculated steps to prevent those same resources from being used by BLM…” and accused him of breaching his fiduciary duties and engaging in self-dealing.⁸ Melina Abdullah, a co-director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots, stated that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation had “been taken away from the people who built it” and that it was “now led by a highly paid consultant who paid himself upwards of $2 million in a single year.”⁹

After the lawsuit was filed, an attorney for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation released a statement calling the allegations “completely false” and predicting that the suit was “destined to lose.” The statement claimed that the foundation had “only made payments to Bowers Consulting Firm since 2020 pursuant to its fully executed and legal contract with Bowers Consulting Firm,” which it said had been approved prior to when Bowers had joined the group’s board of directors.¹⁰

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation also accused Abdullah of having “attempted to bully the BLMGNF Board into submission to her will.” It claimed that the foundation’s leadership council had received a letter in January 2022 from individuals involved with Black Lives Matter Grassroots that detailed “countless allegations of Melina Abdullah’s financial malfeasance, unprincipled decision making, and a leadership style rooted in retribution and intimidation.”¹¹

The lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in June 2023.¹²

Financial Controversies

In January 2022, former Black Lives Matter Grassroots co-director Sandra Hudson wrote a memo to the Tides Foundation and the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Advisory Council in which she alleged that “some members of the Grassroots team secretly took a book-writing retreat trip to Jamaica without notifying the entirety of the team, or without approving a budgetary expenditure.” A Black Lives Matter activist reportedly told the Free Beacon that Abdullah had characterized this trip as “really just a vacation” in a private conversation during 2021.¹

In May 2024, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the Tides Foundation had given over $8.7 million to Black Lives Matter Grassroots from 2020 through 2022, through the group’s then-fiscal sponsor One Love Global. However, over those same three years One Love Global only reported receiving combined total contributions of just over $2.2 million. One Love Global reported “deferred revenue” that ranged from $1.9 million in 2020 to $5.6 million in 2022. A nonprofit tax expert consulted by the Free Beacon said that it was “highly unusual” for a nonprofit to report deferred revenue, and explained that it typically occurs only in the rare situation where an organization receives a conditional grant.¹³

Citing multiple sources within the Black Lives Matter movement, the Free Beacon also reported that Black Lives Matter Grassroots director Melina Abdullah worked to keep the group’s fiscal sponsorship by One Love Global secret. One source remarked that “I remember specifically [Abdullah] made mention that she didn’t want to incorporate Black Lives Matter Grassroots because she didn’t want folks to know how the money was moving.”¹³

Leadership

Melina Abdullah

Melina Abdullah is director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots, and a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.¹⁴ She is a professor at California State University, Los Angeles and former chair of the Pan-African Studies department. She has served on the boards of the Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance, the California Faculty Association-Los Angeles, the Los Angeles African American Women’s Public Policy Institute, the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA-CAN), the National Association for Ethnic Studies, Reverence-Wellness Salon, and Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE). Abdullah also co-hosts and co-produces the radio program “Beautiful Struggle,” which is broadcast on Pacifica radio network station KPFK.¹⁵

Abdullah has been subject to criticism for alleged antisemitism and support for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. ¹⁶

Angela Waters Austin

In June 2021, Angela Waters Austin was identified as the director of operations and policy for Black Lives Matter Grassroots, though as of June 2024 she is not listed on the group’s website.^{17 14} Waters is the chief executive officer of One Love Global a 501(c)(3) left-of-center Black community issues-oriented nonprofit; the organizer of My Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper Michigan Network in connection with former president Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge; the founder, producer, and host of the weekly Equity Equals podcast, which is hosted on the website of the Michigan Business Network and mainly features interviews with Michigan nonprofit executives and activists; and co-chair of the Within Our Lifetime Network Communications Working Group. ¹⁸

Previously, Austin co-hosted and co-produced public affairs programming for Lansing’s WLAJ-TV53; developed educational and cultural special features for The Michigan Chronicle; founded DiverseCity Design & Communications, Inc, a consulting firm oriented toward nonprofits; and founded the m.a.d.e. ALLIANCE, an initiative promoting left-of-center and civic policy issues. Additionally, Austin, has sat on the boards of The Church of Greater Lansing, the Capital Area College Access Network, and the Power of We Consortium. ¹⁸

1. Andrew Kerr. “As Civil War Consumes Black Lives Matter, $8.7 Million Goes Missing.” Washington Free Beacon. May 29, 2024. Available at: https://freebeacon.com/democrats/as-civil-war-consumes-black-lives-matter-8-7-million-goes-missing/
2. Ludwig, Hayden. “Tides Center Takes Control of Black Lives Matter Global Network.” Capital Research Center. July 28, 2020. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://capitalresearch.org/article/tides-center-takes-control-of-black-lives-matter-global-network/.  Archive: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Black-Lives-Matter-Thousand-Currents-Tides-Center-Handoff.-07.28.20.pdf
3. “2020 Impact Report.” Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://blacklivesmatter.com/2020-impact-report/
4. King, Maya. “Black Lives Matter Power Grab Sets Off Internal Revolt.” Politico. December 10, 2020. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/10/black-lives-matter-organization-biden-444097.
5. “Statement From the Frontlines of BLM.” Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.blmchapterstatement.com/.
6. “About.” Black Lives Matter Grassroots. Accessed June 6, 2024. Available at: https://blmgrassroots.org/about/
7. Noah Goldberg. “Black Lives Matter Leader Accused of Stealing $10 Million From Organization.” Los Angeles Times. September 2, 2022. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-02/black-lives-matter-leader-accused-of-stealing-10-million-from-organization
8. Jon Brown. “Black Lives Matter Leader Accused of Stealing $10M From Organization: ‘Unjust Enrichment.’” Fox News. September 4, 2022. Available at: https://www.foxnews.com/us/black-lives-matter-leader-accused-stealing-ten-million-organization-unjust-enrichment
9. Brad Dress. “Black Lives Matter Exec Accused of Stealing $10M in Lawsuit.” The Hill. September 5, 2022. Available at: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/3629589-black-lives-matter-exec-accused-of-stealing-10m-in-lawsuit/
10. Byron McLain. “Response from BLMGNF’s Lawyer to Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots Lawsuit.” Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. September 5, 2022. Available at: https://blacklivesmatter.com/response-from-blmgnfs-lawyer-to-melina-abdullah-and-blm-grassroots-lawsuit/
11. “The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Board of Directors’ Response Statement to Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots’ Press Conference.” Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. September 1, 2022. Available at: https://blacklivesmatter.com/the-black-lives-matter-global-network-foundation-board-of-directors-response-statement-to-melina-abdullah-and-blm-grassroots-press-conference/
12. Aaron Morrison. “Fraud Lawsuit Against Black Lives Matter Foundation Dismissed in California.” AP. June 29, 2023. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/black-lives-matter-fraud-lawsuit-donations-ruling-da8e7b25a5f2b1dc806af4d44a17907
13. Kerr, Andrew. “As Civil War Consumes Black Lives Matter, $8.7 Million Goes Missing.” Washington Free Beacon. May 29, 2024.  https://freebeacon.com/democrats/as-civil-war-consumes-black-lives-matter-8-7-million-goes-missing/
14. “Leadership.” Black Lives Matter Grassroots. Accessed June 6, 2024. Available at: https://blmgrassroots.org/leadership/
15. “Melina Abdullah.” California State University, Los Angeles. Accessed June 6, 2024. Available at: https://www.calstatela.edu/academic/pas/Abdullah.php
16. “BLM-L.A. Leader and Anti-Semitism.” Santa Barbara News Press. July 19, 2020. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://newspress.com/blm-l-a-leader-and-anti-semitism/.
17. “Building a Free Black Future.” Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. June 7, 2021. Available at: https://blacklivesmatter.com/building-a-free-black-future/
18. “Angela Waters Austin.” One Love Global. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.oneloveglobal.org/angela-waters-austin.