Dignity and Power Now

The leadership of DPN has years of experience in left-wing causes. Patrisse Cullors has described herself as a “trained Marxist.” ⁵ Shalomyah Bowers, a board member for DPN, also founded a political consulting firm BOWERS. ⁶ His firm worked with DPN to pass a left-of-center criminal justice ballot initiative opposed by the Los Angeles County Sherriff. ⁷

In June of 2021, the New York Post reported that in 2016, DPN failed to report at least $175,000 worth of donations to the IRS. ⁸ This reporting came a month after a allegations by the Daily Caller News Foundation that Cullors may have used donations to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation to enrich herself. ⁹

History and Leadership

The leadership of Dignity and Power Now has years of experience working for left-of-center causes.

Patrisse Cullors founded Dignity and Power Now in 2012. Cullors was an activist trained by the left-of-center Labor Community Strategy Center. She has described her training as learning “anything from Marx, to Lenin, to Mao…all types of global critical theory.” ¹⁰ Cullors was also a co-founder of Black Lives Matter in 2013. ¹¹ In 2020, she became the executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. ¹²

DPN board member Shalomyah Bowers also founded BOWERS, a political consulting firm. BOWERS worked with Dignity and Power Now to advance a ballot initiative to grant subpoena power to the oversight board of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. ⁷ BOWERS has worked with Democratic candidates and left-wing causes across the United States. ¹³

DPN board member Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson has also worked for Resilient Strategies, a group that supports social movements for “healing justice.” ¹⁴ In 2017, Clayton-Johnson was a Soros Justice Fellow with Open Society Foundations, a network of left-of-center grantmaking organizations funded by liberal billionaire George Soros. ^{15 16}

Political Activism

Dignity and Power was a key organization in the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence. The coalition advocated for the establishment of an oversight board over the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. ¹ In 2014, Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors voted to establish a Civilian Oversight Commission. ¹⁷ However, Dignity and Power Now continued to campaign to increase the power of the commission, including giving it the power to issue subpoenas. Dignity and Power Now also called for the exclusion of any former member of law enforcement from serving on the council. ¹

Measure R was a ballot initiative to grant subpoena power to the Los Angeles Sherriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission. ¹⁸ Measure R was opposed by Los Angeles County Sherriff Alex Villanueva (D), who argued that it would “open the floodgates for many more ill-advised lawsuits designed to seek documents that are not legally available for public release.” ¹⁹ In 2020, DPN worked with BOWERS, a political consulting firm founded by DPN board member Shalomyah Bowers, to place Measure R on the Los Angeles County ballot. ⁷ In March of 2020, Measure R was approved by Los Angeles County voters. ¹⁸

Dignity and Power Now formed JusticeLA, a coalition of organizations that has called for Los Angeles to stop constructing new incarceration facilities. ²

In 2020, Dignity and Power Now called for “defunding of law enforcement in totality.” ²⁰ DPN endorsed the BREATHE Act, a bill co-authored by Patrisse Cullors. ^{3 21} The bill would take away federal resources from policing. ²²

In 2021, Dignity and Power Now expressed support for a California bill to create centers for supervised injections of opioids in Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco. ²³ Such centers are currently illegal across the United States under federal law. ^{24 25}

Controversy

In May of 2021, Patrisse Cullors resigned from her position as executive director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. ²⁶ Earlier that month, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that Cullors had potentially used funds she received for future activist projects to instead enrich herself. ^{9 27} In June of 2021, the New York Post reported that in 2016 Dignity and Power Now failed to disclose to the IRS at least $175,000 it received in donations. ⁸ The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group, has filed complaints with the IRS and with the California Attorney General demanding an audit of Dignity and Power Now. ²⁸