'Black' activist Shaun King gets exposed as the grifter he always was

Within the black community, opinions on so-called "civil rights” and “anti-racism” activist Shaun King vary greatly, despite his elevated status. At first glance, thanks to past press coverage and his social media followings, an outsider might think that King, and others like him, represent the general sentiment of black Americans—but the opposite is true.

And now, even white liberals are finally starting to question King, catching on to the truth many in the black community have known for some time: he’s a grifter. Progressive news outlet The Daily Beast is now shedding some light on his “shadowy” PACs and his Grassroots Law Project nonprofit. (If only they could've seen this before gullible Democrats gave him millions of dollars that went to vague, unexplained projects.)

https://twitter.com/quidditch424/status/1572585710934458368

“Shaun King’s nonprofit amassed millions of dollars in donations in the months following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, while its signature project to review and redress prosecutorial injustices in three major U.S. cities floundered—and while King himself and his associates raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation,” the Daily Beast reported.

"The tax documents reveal that during the first year of its existence, a period that coincided with the largest racial justice protests in the nation’s history, the organization collected more than $6.67 million. Further, Federal Election Commission records also show that two political action committees tied to the controversial activist have poured close to half a million dollars into the organization," researcher William Bredderman wrote.

"The single largest expenditure the Grassroots Law Project made in its first year was $2,654,434, which the disclosures only state went 'to bridge the gap between grassroots organizing and legal expertise to reform the American justice system.'"

Don't feel bad if you don't know what that means. No one does. It did pay well for King, though.

According to Bredderman, “The 2020 tax filings The Daily Beast received show King earned a salary of $104,167 as the Grassroots Law Project’s executive director during the group’s first 12 months. But the group’s representatives told The Daily Beast his compensation has since swelled to a quarter-million a year—or, around twice the median compensation for nonprofit executives.”

King has really cornered the market on a lucrative business: white liberals get to absolve their guilt and feel like they're a part of the anti-racist solution, and he gets to be rich and famous. A win-win!

https://twitter.com/Femmefeministe/status/1371886262865567749

Black celebrities gave white liberals the go-ahead

One of the biggest offenders of propping up King has been none other than former Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Ignoring warnings from the black community to not trust him, the socialist had King hold campaign events for him. 

https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1101956940161314818

Even still, it's fair for non-black liberals that aren't online to assume that King is a righteous black man trying to do the best for his community, seeing as many black celebrities promote him as well.

“He has a lot of black celebrities on board who aren’t particularly dialed into the activist community, but when money is needed, they’re more than happy to throw money at a problem," said Imani Gandy, a lawyer and frequent critic of King in a 2020 Daily Beast piece on his questionable fundraisers.  

However, the black elite class is out-of-touch with the average black American. Culture blogger Sandra Rose slammed Rihanna for honoring King at her 2019 Diamond Ball Gala. 

"This year, the Ball will honor Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and 'civil rights activist' Shaun King, who is a documented Caucasian but identifies as a Black man," wrote Rose.

https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/1164287579132350464

“...But there are also white liberals who want someone or something they can give their money to (as if that) washes away all of your sins, and absolves you of any requirements to do any self-reflection, to do anything that would make you understand that you need to be helping people at a grassroots level, not just giving money to one guy who you probably never really researched," Gandy added in her Daily Beast interview. 

"He makes white folk feel safe because he doesn’t ask anything of them besides giving money—he sells wokeness to white people.”

Gandy is right on the money. I'll take it a step further and say that white liberals donate to him because, subconsciously or not, they know he's one of them. We're not supposed to question his race, but I do, as do many others in the black community.

https://twitter.com/EscaflowneClown/status/1572569342637920259

It's not as simple as black and white

It is abnormal that there is a debate over an anti-racism influencer's race. Despite stacking evidence that the actor-vist isn't who he says he is, he has been able to represent the black community in some of the largest media spotlights.

In a 2018 episode of the "Black Love" docuseries, a show on Oprah Winfrey's network where black celebrity couples open up about their relationships, King and his wife, Rai, were profiled.

Many viewers objected to this, pointing out that King isn't black, but pretends to be.

https://twitter.com/MimiMeowWwW/status/1408730841103147012

According to King, he's partially black because his mother slept around, thus not knowing his real father.

No, really. That was the excuse he came up with.

In a 2015 statement to the Washington Post, King denied rumors that he is a white man, claiming that he is biracial as the son of a white mother and a black man whose identity he does not know. The white man whose name appears on King’s birth certificate, he argued, is not his father.

https://twitter.com/HariZiyad/status/1371926490854608896

“The reports about my race, about my past, and about the pain I’ve endured are all lies," King said. "My mother is a senior citizen. I refuse to speak in detail about the nature of my mother’s past, or her sexual partners, and I am gravely embarrassed to even be saying this now, but I have been told for most of my life that the white man on my birth certificate is not my biological father and that my actual biological father is a light-skinned black man.” 

The Washington Post wrote that King never knew who his biological father was, and only realized at the age of 8 that he was "likely biracial." King said in his statement that he had "honestly moved on from even wanting to know the details of who [his mother] slept with in January of 1979.'"

Well, there you have it, folks. We won't be finding out the identity of Shaun King's real father due to his mother's extensive sexual history. How convenient for him.

King further damned himself when he admitted in an Instagram post that his supposed biological father "could've passed for white." So, at best, King is probably less than a quarter black.

https://twitter.com/_Rawilcox/status/1407479551974850562

As a "fellow" biracial person, I want to understand. I, too, have been made fun of for my fair complexion, especially in juxtaposition to my darker-skinned siblings and father. However, my race is somehow not a subject of debate.

What I can't make sense of is this: wouldn't anyone with any significant semblance of African genes produce DNA results if it meant keeping up their multi-million dollar gig as an ambulance-chaser?

We were warned by those Shaun King 'helped'

Possibly the most damning evidence against King is the criticism that comes from those he claimed to help. These stories are even worse than when he raised money to go mountain climbing and then chickened out and when he sold people $50 life courses that he didn't deliver on.

The mother of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot and killed by police while playing with a toy gun, wrote a scathing Instagram post directed at King, calling him an “imposter” for raising money after her son’s death without her permission. 

"Personally I don't understand how you sleep at night," wrote Samaria Rice in the now-deleted post. "I never gave you permission to raise [anything]. Along with the United States, you robbed me for the death of my son."

"All lies Shaun, please stop thinking [we're] on the same page. As a white man acting black you are an imposter who cannot be trusted," she added.

King, in true narcissistic fashion, responded by saying that Rice did not know everything he'd done for her, and that she had been listening to people who lied about him. He said: "I learned that she didn’t even know most of what I had done for her… Sadly, people have lied to Samaria about me and about the fundraising I have done for her family."

Where do we go from here?

Despite King's constant denials and excuses, I won't stop speaking out about him. For the Rice family, for the countless viewers and contributors he's duped, and for the true activists who are trying to find their own space in the movement, King must be deplatformed and ignored.

Ms. Rice put it best—he's an imposter.

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