Shaun King: For The Culture, Or For The Grift?

By Ty Ross

When outspoken justice warrior and activist Shaun King, put his Cash App, Venmo, PayPal and Zelle information on his social media while asking for financial help to move his family out of the luxurious New Jersey home his wife recently purchased, he received tons of backlash from the community he says he advocates for. Purchased for $842,000, there have been questions as to why the home is solely in his wife’s name. Prompting many to cry foul and for full transparency and accountability.

One of his most vocal critics has been Samaria Rice. Mother of Tamir Rice who was just 12 years old when he was shot and killed by Cleveland Police while playing with a toy gun. She has said that King did not have her permission to raise money in her son’s name, and what he has raised, she hasn’t seen. Founder of The Tamir Rice Foundation, Samaria has accused King of profiting off Tamir’s death, and her pain. While some in and out of the Black community have continued to support King, saying that his work as a champion of the poor and disenfranchised and speaking out the way he has against police brutality, outweighs any controversy that may surround the good he’s done for the culture and the community. Others aren’t so sure and think his connection has actually taken away from the movement.

Reports of a Hate Crime and Birth Certificate Controversy –

Accusations of misrepresentation and misappropriation are nothing new for Shaun. Originally from Kentucky, King claimed in a Forbes profile on him that he was the victim of a hate crime when a group of white men jumped and beat him. He supposedly suffered broken bones and serious injury. In the profile, Forbes said it was ‘one of the first registered hate crimes in Kentucky.’ But that would be disputed by Urban Magazine The Blaze. According to The Blaze, the FBI has no record of the incident. Between police reports and eye-witness statements that contradict King’s version of events, it was simply a fight between two young men. There was no violent racist white mob. Or serious injuries. More the typical scrapes and bruises associated with a common street fight. But this would go into his backstory, painting a picture of a victim turned activist and help to elevate his brand.

King attended the famed Historically Black College & University, Morehouse College. While is an HBCU, it doesn’t use race as a determining factor when it comes to admissions. But the problem isn’t that he attended Morehouse, but rather how that has people questioning. King received a scholarship financed by media mogul and billionaire Oprah Winfrey to attend Morehouse. And those who question whether or not King is black at all, believes by taking that scholarship he took from a well deserving person of color. King has been ambiguous at best when it comes to discussing his race, leaving more questions than answers.

In 2015, Breitbart’s Steve Bannon accused King of ‘passing’ for black and revealed King’s birth certificate. His father is listed as Jeffrey Wayne King who is confirmed to be white. Always with an explanation, or excuse depending on who you talk to, King said that his mother confessed to him that Wayne King was not his father and that King’s biological father was really a light-skinned black man. Unverified or corroborated, but definitely convenient.

In a text message exchange with CNN’s Don Lemon, Lemon asking King if he was black or white. According to King, he is biracial. That doesn’t tell Lemon much but when he pressed King further, inquiring about the birth certificate discrepancies, King stopped responding. Now this doesn’t surprise me as King has been known for blocking those on social media who press him with questions he doesn’t want to or can’t answer. He has removed employees from his various ventures who have challenged him on failure to meet timeline goals, expectations and not accounting for funds.

Shaun and his wife Rai-Tonicia King are said to be partners in the grift. Kings has repeatedly asked his followers to send gifts of cash to Rai on her birthday. And also to help her get a PhD. Now he wants help to relocate after saying he was doxed and his family put at risk with the privacy breach. This sparked a wave of social media backlash pleading with people to stop giving money to King and claims that he is a grifter and a fraud. But when did it start? How did this virtual unknown, get the kind of clout that had people from around the world sending him money?

Where’s The Money? –

Some may say the grift started with the Morehouse Scholarship, but I think it was when he realized that if he asked for money for the right thing, people would send it to him. After the earthquake in 2010 that devastated the small island of Haiti, King along with a partner, raised $1.5M through various online sources including eBay. King was a pastor at the time in Atlanta, and he also raised money for orphanages in Haiti. It was after this success that he got the idea to start a charitable organization. Still flying under the radar, it would be four years before he would be launched into a brighter spotlight.

After speaking out in response to the 2014 killing of 18 year old Michael Brown at the hands of Ferguson, MO police, Shaun would launch Justice Together a year later. Formed to identify police brutality around the country. But Justice Together was plagued with accusations that he was not giving money to the causes he raised funds for, and King closed it shortly thereafter. There has still been no accounting for where the money raised went.

In 2018 King would partner with Black Lives Matter leader Patrisse Cullors and for the Real Justice PAC. But Patrisse would not be without her own controversy. Resigning from BLM after it was revealed that she had spent over $3M on real estate. And in one year alone, between 2019-2020, Real Justice would bring in over $3M itself. It was discovered that almost a half a million dollars was paid in consulting fees to companies associated with Real Justice’s founders.

Endless requests for donations to this cause and that cause were generally successful. But people started to grumble and talk louder. Some taking to social media to call him out. Asking where the money was going, and what was he doing with auto-donations? One such person was activist Clarissa Brooks who says she was threatened and bullied by King after accusing him in a Tweet of keeping the money he raised for recently released Cyntoia Brown. Brown was just 16 when she was arrested for killing the man she says trafficked her. She spent 15 years behind bars before being released after her story garnered national attention. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna, advocated for her case to be relooked at. After Brooks called him out, King threatened her with legal action through his lawyer. None other that famed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, known for successfully representing George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake’s family.

It has been widely rumored that King frequently uses black women. Whether it’s to abuse and bully them, or as pushers for his various fundraising efforts. But King has denied any wrong doing when it comes to Cyntoia Brown. He has contradicted himself. At first denying he raised money on Brown’s behalf, he has admitted to ‘mishandling’ her situation. And doing more harm than good.

Personally, I can’t say definitively if Shaun King has misappropriated the monies that were supposed to help those in the Black community who have been victims. And without evidence to support, I won’t go so far as to say it’s true. But what I do know is that Shaun King’s entire adult life seems to be marred in controversy and suspicion. I know that he has fallen short of his grandiose promises to the community and lofty ambitions. And I know that the constant begging isn’t a good look for someone who has raised millions of dollars in the names of others and profited on the backs of black pain and suffering. Whether that was getting access to a quality education, whether he is indeed black at all. Or if we have another Rachel Dolezal situation on our hands. Maybe he started with sincerity and good intentions, but the spotlight coupled with free flowing money were too much a temptation?

At this point if Shaun King is not willing to offer full transparency to satisfy not just his critics, but those in the black community that he has benefitted from, it may be time to step aside. Fall to the background and help from behind the scenes. The movement has suffered too many setbacks and at this point whatever good he has done in bringing heightened awareness to police and white supremacist violence, is no longer doing good. We need to move forward with clean hands, focused and committed to righting the wrongs of systemic racism, judicial inequities and continued civil rights abuses from law enforcement agencies. I don’t know if Shaun King is for the culture or for the grift, but right now I’m pretty confident that he is no longer for us.

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