The "Minnesota Freedom Fund," a group that took in tens of millions in the wake of widespread protests mixed with violent rioting in Minneapolis after George Floyd was murdered by a former police officer, is once again facing negative scrutiny. The organization already came under criticism earlier this summer after it announced that only a tiny fraction of its cash windfall had been directed to bail payments to free jailed protesters and rioters, which was more or less the raison d'etre of the fund's existence. This New York Times story from June also chronicled how the race-obsessed woke Left is a revolution that eats its own, as also recently demonstrated in Portland, Oregon:
On Monday, the fund announced that it had contributed “well over” $200,000 to bail payments in the weeks since the protests began. That revelation followed an open letter addressed to two other organizations that had seen a surge in donations, Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block, asking that the nonprofits be more transparent about fund-raising and the allocation of funds. After the Minnesota Freedom Fund shared the $200,000 figure, several commenters on Twitter expressed disappointment that such a small portion of the donations had been distributed. Some also noted that the fund’s board, as it had been depicted on its website, appeared to be composed entirely of white people. (The web page that lists the organization’s staff has been removed at least twice this month as the board’s membership has shifted; there are currently seven members.)
In April, a page called “Tonja Honsey - Native Rachel Dolezal” appeared on Facebook. Its administrators alleged that Ms. Honsey, the fund’s executive director, was lying about her identity as an Indigenous woman, comparing her to Ms. Dolezal, the former Spokane, Wash., N.A.A.C.P. president who posed as a black woman for years. The page’s administrators called for Ms. Honsey to step down from all her organizing roles. The administrators said they would not identify themselves to The New York Times because of concerns about their own safety, but said they were two native women local to Minneapolis. Ms. Honsey said in an email that she was “not able to talk to media at this point,” but that the Facebook page was “untrue.” ... Ms. Honsey said she could neither confirm nor deny whether she was still involved with the fund.
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I'll leave it to others to sort out whether the MFF has too many white people on its tumult-challenged board, and whether or not its (recently jettisoned) executive director is a genuine indigenous person, or a fraud. I can't make heads or tails of this statement, which looks like it was posted this week:
It appears as though the Minnesota Freedom Fund has severed ties with its executive director, who has been accused of fraudulently posing as an indigenous person. This "accountability statement" includes many words, but very little clarity or information: https://t.co/oJf8OAqMVy
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 11, 2020
As a collective effort, our mission has never relied on a single person and calls us to step up around issues of equity and truth. We continue our efforts to lead with racial justice and advance equity by doing what we can to end oppression for those jailed and incarcerated, who are overwhelmingly Black, Brown and Native. As of June 19, 2020, Tonja Honsey is no longer employed by the Minnesota Freedom Fund...Moving forward, the Board of Directors commits to listening, to examining all aspects of the organization’s function, and to address our role in perpetuating harm...We stand ready with renewed determination to engage in necessary conversations and deep work, in the hopes that we may play a role in ending the harms of money bail and jail, and advance healing, transformative justice, and liberation. We also know that these conversations must be coupled with action...We want to acknowledge and apologize for the harm that we caused to Native peoples and BIPOC communities in Minnesota by not doing our due diligence to be in the right relationship with those impacted by the harms of mass incarceration. We are committed to strengthening our relationships with Native peoples, BIPOC organizations, and their respective leaders.
Feel free to read the whole thing and try to divine what any of it means. Was Honsey a fake "Native person"? Was there any financial impropriety? What actually happened? Good luck gleaning any information from the statement, which is packed with commitments to diversity and "deep work" in furtherance of "liberation," or whatever. But another emerging headache for the controversy-plagued leftist outfit centers around the types of alleged and convicted criminals its bail fund has helped free:
A Minnesota nonprofit has bailed out defendants from Twin Cities jails charged with murder, violent felonies, and sex crimes, as it seeks to address a system that disproportionately incarcerates Black people and people of color. And it has plenty of money to do it...Among those bailed out by the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) is a suspect who shot at police, a woman accused of killing a friend, and a twice convicted sex offender, according to court records reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators. According to attempted murder charges, Jaleel Stallings shot at members of a SWAT Team during the riots in May. Police recovered a modified pistol that looks like an AK-47. MFF paid $75,000 in cash to get Stallings out of jail. Darnika Floyd is charged with second degree murder, for stabbing a friend to death. MFF paid $100,000 cash for her release. Christopher Boswell, a twice convicted rapist, is currently charged with kidnapping, assault, and sexual assault in two separate cases. MFF paid $350,00 in cash for his release. “The last time we were down there, the clerk said, ‘we hate it when you bail out these sex offenders, that is what they said',” Lewin said. Lewin said for MFF it is not about the crime, it’s about the system.
That last quote comes from Greg Lewin, the organization's interim executive director, taking the place of the mysteriously ousted Ms. Honsey. It's not about the crimes, you see, even if those crimes include murder and rape. It's about the system. I'm sure that's reassuring to law-abiding Minnesotans. As a reminder, multiple celebrities like Seth Rogen and Cynthia Nixon promoted and donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, as did more than a dozen members of Joe Biden's presidential campaign. Team Trump wants to make sure people remember this dynamic:
Trump campaign staffers donated to help a small business owner rebuild
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) August 10, 2020
Biden campaign staffers donated to bail out violent criminalshttps://t.co/aIMzDKL1wb
I'll leave you with another radical group 'Black Lives Matter Chicago' actively defending recent destructive looting in the Windy City, while condemning city officials for not criticizing the police for shooting and wounding a suspect...who shot at officers:
Black Lives Matter Chicago is officially on record justifying looting: "These corporations have “looted” more from our communities than a few protesters ever could..."
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) August 11, 2020
"a few protesters"https://t.co/0JIsnLW2zW pic.twitter.com/C5jIEbRyTp
Perhaps BLM can persuade MFF to journey south to help bail out this suspect, too. Remember, it's the system, not the crime. The Minneapolis city council has voted to disband the police department and 'reimagine' public safety, a process that is already facing obstacles. Perhaps part of that re-imagination entails sending memos to residents of crime-riddled areas offering tips for how to cooperate with muggers.
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