Black Lives Matter activist receives jail time for fraud

By

November 2, 2023

According to The Times of London, a British Black Lives Matter activist was sentenced to jail this week after she was convicted of fraud.

The Times noted that 23-year-old Xahra Saleem co-founded the organization All Black Lives Bristol, an organization that rose to prominence three years ago.

Group tore down historic statue

During the summer of 2020, it helped lead a mob in tearing down a statue of Edward Colston, a member of Britain's Parliament who also profited from the slave trade.

After ripping the statue from its foundation, rioters took it to Bristol's harbor and then proceeded to throw it in the water.

#Bristol statue of Edward Colston has been pulled down and pushed into the harbour during the #BlackLivesMattter march pic.twitter.com/ME1yxAhw7G

— BBC Radio Bristol (@BBCRB) June 7, 2020

Prosecutors said that prior to the riot, Saleem (who was then known as Yvonne Maina) set up a GoFundMe account on behalf of All Black Lives Bristol.

Leader spent £32,344 on clothes, hair products, and electronics

The fundraiser's stated goal was to cover the cost of COVID masks for demonstration participants, with any remaining funds earmarked for a youth group called Changing Your Mindset which planned to take local young people on a trip to Africa.

However, Saleem proceeded to spend the £32,344 raised on expensive electronics, hair and beauty products, new clothes, and take-out food.

Changing Your Mindset's board of directors complained that they never received any of the funds, with Saleem making a variety of excuses.

This included her at one point claiming that she had been instructed by Black Lives Matter not to surrender the money because "some of the people the charity had worked with had made homophobic comments."

Twenty-two-year-old Changing Your Mindset member Deniesha Royal told the Times, "It saddens me that a member of our community could do this to us because they knew and understood the goal we set out to achieve in order to positively change our community."