The Our Future is Black PAC is a left-of-center political action committee that first operated during the 2020 election and has conducted independent expenditure activity supporting Democratic candidates in competitive elections, particularly expenditures supporting Democratic and opposing Republican candidates in Georgia during the 2020 and 2022 campaigns. The PAC is an arm of the Black Futures Lab (BFL), a voter mobilization and advocacy group targeting African-American voters formed by Black Lives Matter leader Alicia Garza, as well as the Black to the Future Action Fund (BFAF). BFL, BFAF, and the Our Future is Black PAC are funded and closely tied to the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), a left-wing advocacy group for low-income Asian Americans. ^{1 2 3 4}

Background

The Our Future is Black PAC first operated during the 2020 election cycle, during which it raised $408,000 and spent $345,000. The PAC is an arm of the Black Futures Lab, a voter mobilization and advocacy group targeting African-American voters formed by Black Lives Matter leader Alicia Garza, as well as the Black to the Future Action Fund. A 2023 job posting for a managing director of the Black to the Future Action Fund noted that the managing director would be responsible for managing fundraising for the action fund and the Our Future is Black PAC. The job posting noted that the connected employers are the Black Futures Lab, the Black to the Future Action Fund, and Resilient Strategies LLC. Resilient Strategies is a far-left consulting firm that states on its website that its clients include “working-class, grassroots BIPOC organizations scaling up their advocacy work to engage in power-building and electoral politics.” ^{5 6 7}

The Our Future is Black PAC is tied to the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Association, a left-wing advocacy group for low-income Asian Americans. The Center for Empowered Politics, the lobbying arm of the CPA, is among the largest known funders of the PAC. ⁸

Activity

The Our Future is Black PAC first began operations during the 2020 election cycle. The PAC reported $286,465 in independent expenditures including $34,870 for Democrats and $251,595 against Republicans. Most of the PAC’s 2020 spending was in Georgia, where the group ran ads opposing Republican then-U.S. Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue as well as then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The group also spent money in support of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in 2020. ⁹

In 2022, the group’s only reported independent expenditure was $25,000 in support of U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), although it spent over $150,000 total during 2022. ^{10 11}

The PAC was registered in Florida but did not report any activity there. However, it received dozens of violation notices from the state for late filings and filed a notice of disbandment with the state signed by Alicia Garza. ¹²

Funding

The two largest donors to the Our Future is Black PAC are the Center for Empowered Politics, an affiliated group of the Chinese Progressive Association, and Defeat by Tweet, a Democratic-aligned super PAC that allowed liberal donors to sign up to contribute as little as one cent to political organizers in battleground states for each time then-President Donald Trump posted to Twitter. Defeat by Tweet was founded by “trained Marxist” Patrisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter. ^{13 14 15 16}

Other donors to the PAC have included the Everyday People PAC and the MVP Justice Fund. ¹⁷

Leadership

Alicia Garza, a California-based activist and a co-founder of the BlackLivesMatter online movement and the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, leads the Our Future is Black PAC. Garza, who has described herself as a “trained Marxist,” has expressed the belief that “black lives can’t matter under capitalism.” ^{18 19}

1. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Donors.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00685768&tab=donors
2. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Outside Spending.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024.  https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00685768&tab=targeted_candidates
3. “Managing Director: Black to the Future.” Diversified Search Group. August 11, 2023. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://diversifiedsearchgroup.com/search/19230-black-2-the-future-managing-director/
4. “About Us.” Our Future is Black PAC. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://ourfutureisblackpac.org/about-us/
5. “Partners.” Resilient Strategies LLC. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.resilientstrategiesllc.com/partners
6. “Managing Director: Black to the Future.” Diversified Search Group. August 11, 2023. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://diversifiedsearchgroup.com/search/19230-black-2-the-future-managing-director/
7. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2022 Summary.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/our-future-is-black-pac/C00685768/summary/2022
8. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Donors.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00685768&tab=donors
9. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Targeted Candidates.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00685768&tab=targeted_candidates
10. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Targeted Candidates.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00685768&tab=targeted_candidates
11. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2022 Summary.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/our-future-is-black-pac/C00685768/summary/2022
12. “Our Future Is Black PAC.” Florida Department of Elections. https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/campaign-docs/?account=73772
13. Steinbuch, Yaron, “Black Lives Matter co-founder describes herself as ‘trained Marxist’,” New York Post, June 25, 2020. Accessed August 5, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/
14. Hahm, Melody. “Defeat by Tweet: New Super PAC Uses Trump’s Go To Tool Against Him.” Yahoo Finance. June 26, 2020. Accessed September 12, 2020. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tweets-super-pac-fundraising-for-black-communities-ahead-of-november-elections-002231034.html
15. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Donors.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00685768&tab=donors
16. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2022 Donors.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00685768&tab=donors
17. “Our Future is Black PAC: 2020 Donors.” OpenSecrets. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00685768&tab=donors
18. Steinbuch, Yaron, “Black Lives Matter co-founder describes herself as ‘trained Marxist’,” New York Post, June 25, 2020. Accessed August 5, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/
19. “Our Future Is Black PAC.” Florida Department of Elections. https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/campaign-docs/?account=73772