A Public Request For Transparency; in regards to Black Visions Collective and Reclaim The Block
This letter is an open call-out for transparency and accountability directed at the organizations Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block. It is written by a collective of community organizers, local activists, and Black youth of various intersecting identities in the hope that we get some answers for ourselves and our community, after exhausting all other options.
To preface - the Twin Cities has been in the national spotlight numerous times regarding police brutality. After the recent murder of George Floyd, we find ourselves thrust back into the national spotlight, but this time, under different circumstances. Minneapolis’ response to George Floyd’s murder (the burning of a police precinct, destruction to billion dollar coporations like Target, daily protests, an ongoing mass memorial/vigil) has brought much attention to the Twin Cities thanks to the Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth who quite literally set our city on fire, sparking a national call to defund, disband, and abolish the police.
We acknowledge that it is both the work of grassroots organizers who have spent countless years of their lives fighting, as well as the youth who have/continue to risk their lives night after night on the front lines of these protests that have resulted in massive amounts of donations to be directed towards our community. But after realizing that we could not pinpoint or identify how the bulk of these donations to several organizations were being funneled back into our community, questions started to arise.
Most, if not all of us have seen the lists and visuals circulating online, encouraging folks to donate to X, Y, or Z organization to help Minneapolis in our very public time of need. Lizzo, Fall Out Boy, and Chelsea Handler are just some of the public entities/well known people who have specifically mentioned Black Visions Collective and/or Reclaim The Block on a public platform. This surprised many local activists and community members as we realized that as BLVC and RTB were gaining national attention (and donations to match), we still had not seen any public information as to what these massive amounts of donations were being committed towards. Several days after the protests began, organizations like the Minnesota Freedom Fund had already published that they had raised $30+ million dollars and were no longer accepting donations, urging folks to reallocate their funds to other places in need. On many of these lists circulating online as well, right under Minnesota Freedom Fund were usually Black Visions Collective and/or Reclaim The Block. We had questions and confusion as to why we weren’t seeing this level of transparency and public naming of funds raised from local organizations Black Visions Collective (BLVC) and Reclaim The Block (RTB) especially as the two organizations seemed to be one, including sharing multiple members between them.
According to a comment left on a Facebook post that was inquiring about Reclaim The Block’s leadership, Kandace Montgomery, a core member of BLVC, identified herself as part of the leadership at Reclaim The Block, while another RTB member stated that “it’s been a collective effort from the jump with Black Visions leading our vision as well. If a staff person is needed connected to RTB, I’d say the Black Visions Staff would be the best thing”.
When Black youth on the front lines needed help with buying protective gear, we were directed to ask BLVC for help. We contacted the people we knew in the organization to set up a meeting to discuss acquiring the needed materials. This meeting took place on June 9th. According to their most recent statement, Black Visions Collective is made up of 7 core members and 48 other members. The two core members who were able to attend this meeting were Yolanda Hare and Ar’Tesha Saballos. The meeting consisted of a few Black youth who had been on the front lines of the protests as well as two organizers from the Minneapolis community, with Yolanda and Ar’Tesha speaking for BLVC. Black youth directly asked the two core members present the following questions during the meeting-
“Who are all of BLVC’s “core” members? What is the role of all other BLVC members within the organization who are not on the core team? How much money has your organization raised since the protests have started and ended? Where is the money going and what will it be used for? What is your ultimate goal? How can community members in need who do not know your organization gain access to aid and funds?”
One of the questions Yolanda and Ar'Tesha were able to answer was the identity of all of the core members of BLVC, which includes Kandace Montgomery, Hani Ali, Miski Noor, Ar’Tesha Saballos, Oluchi Omeoga, Yolanda Hare, and Sophia Benrud. Yolanda Hare, BLVC’s financial advisor then explained that there are 5 different ways that they can give people money. This included: directly giving money to other organizations, individual dispersal (but noted that this is taxable, which they said was an issue), making direct purchases for people, giving folks gift cards worth $200 (max 2 per person), and reimbursing people for purchases they have already made.
After giving some suggestions to Yolanda and Ar’Tesha as to a few more ways the funds that had recently been donated to them could be used to improve the quality of life for Black community members immediately (like buying air conditioners for Black community members for the upcoming hot summer, and helping people pay their rent, as unemployment is still inaccessible or hard to gain for some affected by COVID-19), Yolanda explained that though they are trying to give money out to folks in the 5 ways mentioned above, their “main priority is to pay people within their organization to continue to do policy work that supports defunding the police and winning the fight”. The Black youth at the meeting then asked about their main concern, which was how much money in donations total BLVC had received at that time, and asked about how people who are not familiar with their organization could get help or aid from those funds.
Yolanda Hare said that the current amount of donations could not be shared with us, because they would need to check in with BLVC’s other core members first to get their stance on sharing the amount. After this response, the Black youth present at the meeting then inquired about BLVC’s interest in holding a public meeting between all their core members and the Twin Cities community- this idea was proposed to the BLVC core team so other organizers, community members, and anyone interested in coming would be able to speak on their own behalf and have the opportunity to ask BLVC similar questions and to receive answers.
The community meeting was eventually shot down by the entirety of Black Visions Collective, as well as the idea of publicly sharing the total amount of money donated to them.
We were told that the BLVC core, and the rest of their 48 members were the only ones that would be able to be knowledgeable of the specifics of their funding (including how much existed). This later turned out to be untrue, as the Black youth in that meeting spoke with several BLVC non-core members who had (and still have) no idea how much money BLVC and Reclaim the Block has raised, and are unsure of what both organizations intend to do with the money.
On Friday, June 12th, after we hit a wall on finding out information surrounding how much funds had been donated to these organizations, and how community members without previously existing relationships to them could receive money, funding, or aid, we decided to send an email to Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block stating specific demands: that they announce a public meeting with the Twin Cities community so they can ask their own questions, state current work and future plans that directly benefit all community members, and publicize both BLVC and RTB’s current dollar amount of donations. We demanded this be done by Saturday, June 13th at 12pm.
Tony Williams of Reclaim the Block responded in favor of the demands, and with a promise to relay it to other members of RTB that same night. No one else responded to the email, but it’s safe to assume members from BLVC viewed it, as the next day on Saturday, June 13th, Black Visions Collective posted a statement on their social medias to “provide transparency” on who they are, their commitments as an organization, and their resources (which are some of the direct things we asked for in both our meeting, and email). BLVC did not include the fact that the community had reached out to them (the literal night before their statement was released) in regards to having them address these same issues mentioned in their public statement, nor do we believe they answered those questions in full, and with detail directly.
Not only does their public statement not contain meaningful specifics to these questions, but there are several alarming issues with it. These issues are as outlined below:
“Due to the work Black Visions has been doing for the last three years to fight for a city budget that divests from policing, along with Reclaim the Block and many community members, we immediately named a clear demand to our City Council to #DefundPolice.
Since our founding, we have been working to address systemic, cultural, and narrative transformation, conjuring new futures with our people. And, we are still very much growing and developing as a new organization, in an atmosphere that is not conducive to radical Black leadership.”
-Black Visions Collective Statement published on 6/13/2020
Both of these statements explicitly claim that Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block have specifically been doing police abolition work for the past three years and that they are still getting their legs under them as relatively new organizations. There’s a few problems with this narrative.
“We request that any organization or individual who wishes to fundraise on our behalf, especially locally, first contact us directly so we are able to consent. We want to continue to strongly encourage allies ready to support, to understand the full scope of need right now, and invest in the many other amazing organizations within our ecosystem. Further, we are in commitment that any fundraiser we host will also benefit and support other Black-led organizations and/or formations in Minneapolis.
So far, we have begun to move $200,000 back out in emergency funds to on-the-ground organizers and projects that provide crucial support to keep our people safe. We are also reimbursing Black protestors and organizers who are buying supplies and other items for community members in need. As we are in no position to be a funder, we plan to move resources to Nexus Community Partners, as a vehicle to get organizations and individuals money quickly and effectively.
As we assess and organize ourselves and take full account of the resources we’ve gathered, we also hope to be a partner in setting up a longer-term Black-Led Movement Fund to address the serious disparities in funding for Black-led work in our state and country. We are committed to ensuring this will support organizations, projects, and initiatives that will move us towards a police-free future and long-term abolition work. and there are many institutions to be held accountable for this truth.”
-Black Visions Collective Statement published on 6/13/2020
This letter is the first time they have publicly requested a halt in funding. For perspective, the Minnesota Freedom Fund called for a stop to donations mere days after the protests started and shared they had received between 30–35 million dollars in that time period. Two weeks after donations were directed towards BLVC, they are just now requesting these donations cease. BLVC specifically mentioned redistributing $200,000 immediately to on-the-ground organizers for protection of frontliners. While this direct redistribution is amazing, it still doesn’t give the community an understanding of how much that $200,000 is out of, or what the rest of those funds will continuously be committed to.
There is also some clarity lacking around the funds that will now be distributed to Nexus Community Partners. Is it the funds raised from here on out? The majority of what was already raised? In the past few weeks we have encountered many individuals and organizations reaching out to us asking the same questions, in hopes that our ties to several members in BLVC would afford us better answers. We have none to give. Without transparency, the community is left with speculation, and people’s needs that could directly and quickly be remedied are being stalled in the meantime.
We tried several routes over the course of almost two weeks before we felt inclined to take this step of a public statement. Our request is the same as it has been since day one: full transparency given in the form of an open and public community meeting about the current and total amount in donations Black Visions Collective and Reclaim The Block have received, what these organizations plan to do with these funds, and how community members outside of these organizations can gain access to these donations that can drastically transform our community.
As organizers, activists, and members of this community, we all have the same ultimate goal and cannot afford to be divided in our attempts to reach it. There are too many forces already against us for there to also be distrust, misgivings, and gatekeeping in an already retraumatizing and critical time for liberation.
This letter is in no way shape or form a personal attack, rebirth of an old vendetta, or direct defamation on or against any of the Black Visions Collective or Reclaim the Block members mentioned in the statement, or any other member for that matter. Please do not conflate our valid critiques of these organizations as something other than just that. By publicizing our concerns, we are hoping that this allows for us to move forward, and to reach our shared end goal of bettering the quality of life for the Black community within our city. This is near impossible to do without clarity, trust, and accountability on all sides.
Fadumo Ali, Savannah Covington, Kaaha Kaahiye, Lucina Kayee, Awa Mally, Nyaduoth Kueth, Sahra Farah, Zedé Harut, Mia Holmes, Amir Sharif, Mohamed Mohamed, Amir Khadar, Omar Ceesay, Adja, Miraf Kebede, Saida Mahamud