Categories: News

Activists DeRay McKesson Calls Out Shaun King On Twitter Hours Before The Diamond Ball For His Alleged Involvement In Fraudulent Fundraising & More

<p>Welp if social media has demonstrated anything within the last 24 hours&comma; it’s that former allies Shaun King and<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;baton-rouge-police-officer-sues-black-lives-matter-activist-deray-mckesson&sol;"> DeRay McKesson<&sol;a> officially have major issues with one another—and it recently got really ugly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many know activists Shaun King and DeRay McKesson for their work with the &num;BlackLivesMatter movement&comma; supporting Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protest&comma; speaking for the Flint&comma; Michigan water crisis and many other issues that have impacted the black community within the last few years&period; Well&comma; unfortunately the brotherhood the two once shared appears to be permanently severed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>DeRay recently published an <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;medium&period;com&sol;&commat;deray&sol;on-shaun-king-351bd812318c">explosive written essay<&sol;a> about Shaun on &commat;medium&comma; which accused him of fraudulent fundraising practices&comma; lacking integrity&comma; being less than respectful to women and much more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A portion of DeRay’s essay reads&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>A movement is only as strong as its integrity&period; Part of our collective work is to protect this integrity&comma; even when&comma; or especially when&comma; doing so is uncomfortable or hard&period; It is in this spirit that I write&comma; to address a lapse in integrity within the activism community so glaring that to be silent is to be complicit&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p data-selectable-paragraph&equals;""><em>We never aim to replicate the power dynamic of the system we are up against — a system that embraces a devious lack of transparency&comma; willingly sacrifices the vulnerable to protect itself&comma; and replaces truth with convenient lies&period; Yet Shaun King has done just that&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p data-selectable-paragraph&equals;""><em>Shaun has followed a uniform pattern over the years&comma; a pattern that has compelled me to speak up&comma; again&period; This is not the first time I have done so&comma; and I am not alone&period; Johnetta Elzie and I were in a previous public disagreement with Shaun about issues of transparency and ethics that ended in his apology&period; Shaun also deleted all of his tweets and noted that he would focus on journalism and would not engage in attempted organizing or fundraising&period; Importantly&comma; he made this commitment to others both publicly and privately&period; It is clear now that he did not keep those commitments and after a brief hiatus&comma; re-emerged and began engaging in the same behaviors that caused the last public conflict&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p data-selectable-paragraph&equals;""><em>It is important to note that Shaun’s journalism has done some good by bringing attention to stories that may have gone under-reported or overlooked&period; But the person who paints your house before he steals your car has still committed theft&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>DeRay then goes on to list numerous ways that Shaun is not who many of his supports think he is or he who claims to be&period; However&comma; Shaun fired back at DeRay with a few messages of his own&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He addressed DeRay on Twitter&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Since the &num;BlackLivesMatter Movement began&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve helped raise over &dollar;34&period;5 million for families&comma; charities&comma; causes&comma; &amp&semi; campaigns&period; A 7-person expert review board inspected every penny -including the past 5 years of my tax returns&period; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Deray’s beef is personal&period; I have no problem with the man&period; I’ll continue to support families on the ground impacted by police violence&period; I’ll continue to help elect new District Attorneys w&sol; &commat;RealJusticePAC&period; I’ll continue to do &commat;TheBreakdown podcast &amp&semi; lead &commat;NorthStar&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; Shaun was honored at Rihanna’s recent Diamond Ball for his activism efforts—and some fans were not happy about&period; That didn’t stop him from showing up to the star-studded event with his wife as the situation with DeRay continues to get messier by the minute&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Roommates&comma; what are your thoughts on this&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"52576" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;activists-deray-mckesson-calls-out-shaun-king-on-twitter-hours-before-the-diamond-ball-for-his-alleged-involvement-in-fraudulent-fundraising-more&sol;" data-secure&equals;"460cd1126b"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;font-size&colon; 25px&semi;font-weight&colon; 600&semi;">What Do You Think Roomies&quest;<&sol;div> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions wpra-static-emojis size-medium" style&equals;"border-color&colon; &num;ffffff&semi;border-width&colon; 0px&semi;border-radius&colon; 50px&semi;border-style&colon; solid&semi;background&colon; &num;ffffff&semi;">&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"emoji-8 wpra-reaction wpra-pad-fix" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"8"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-10 wpra-reaction wpra-pad-fix" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"10"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-4 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"4"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-5 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"5"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-2 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"2"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-7 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"7"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div><div class&equals;"emoji-12 wpra-reaction" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"12"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; <div style&equals;"background-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"wpra-arrow-badge arrow-bottom-left hide-count"> <span style&equals;"border-top-color&colon; &num;ff0015" class&equals;"tail"><&sol;span> <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;ffffff" class&equals;"count-num">0<&sol;span> <&sol;div>&Tab;<&sol;div> <&sol;div> <div class&equals;"wpra-share-wrap wpra-share-buttons-bordered" style&equals;"">&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab; <&sol;div> <&excl;-- end of share buttons -->&Tab;&Tab;&Tab; <&sol;div> <&excl;-- end of reactions container --> <&sol;div> <&excl;-- end of reactions wrap -->&Tab;&Tab;

Danielle Jennings

x