Activist Shaun King champions the underprivileged while living in lavish home
Maria Wheeler
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Activist Shaun King rose to fame engaging in political activism on behalf of the underprivileged and disenfranchised, and is currently living in a lakefront home “like a one-percenter.”
King’s wife purchased the luxurious lakefront property for over $840k in November 2020. The Kings took up residence at the New Jersey property earlier this year, leaving their upscale Brooklyn apartment behind. The 3,000 square foot lakefront property boasts 5 bedrooms and a gourmet kitchen.
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Throughout his career as an activist, King, 41, has been plagued with allegations of shady charity dealings and accusations of lack of transparency in his fundraising efforts, particularly in regards to several criminal justice initiatives he has backed.
Doubts about his honesty and forthrightness have come from both the public and fellow activists. The range of issues King has championed is widespread, from fundraisers for victims of police violence to orphans in Haiti, many times accompanied with unanswered questions about where the cash has gone.
Samaria Rice, the mother of a 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was killed by police in 2014, accused King of soliciting money in her son’s name without permission, calling him an “imposter.”
“Personally I don’t understand how you sleep at night. I never gave you permission to raise nothing. [A]long with the united states, you robbed me for the death of my son,” she wrote in an Instagram post in which she also attacked King’s racial identity.
King is also cozy with Patrisse Cullors, disgraced former Black Lives Matter leader. King and Cullors co-founded the Real Justice political action committee in 2017. Cullors resigned from BLM earlier this year after public outrage when it was revealed that she owned four luxury homes worth over $3 million, plus property in the Bahamas in the same exclusive resort where Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake live.
The PAC’s purpose is to “fight to end structural racism” by supporting and facilitating the election of progressive district attorneys. Over $3 million has flowed into the PAC in recent years, paying $460,000 in “consulting fees” to three companies controlled by PAC members, including a $46k payment to the company “Janaya and Patrisse Consulting.”
Similar to the self-proclaimed Marxist Patrisse Cullors, King also has strong ties to socialism. He worked on Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, later joining Black Lives Matter.
Even his former colleagues at Justice Together, an organization he founded, expressed their disapproval of King’s choices. Upon King’s departure from the organization, members published an open letter accusing King of “lack of accountability.”
“He silenced dissent without productive discussion, he removed volunteers for speaking up due to his self-proclaimed paranoia, he repeatedly failed to meet his own timelines for his participation in the work, and he failed to delegate or discuss internally anything of consequence with the organization,” read the memo.
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Another organization founded by King has come under fire for allegedly continuing to charge monthly fees to members, even after the organization was dissolved.
A woman who donated $50 per month to the “Justice, That’s All” organization tweeted “I just wanted to know how he was using the funds that had been auto donated.” King reportedly blocked the woman on Twitter.
Mr. King did not immediately respond to a request for comment.