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Long-shot presidential candidate Cornel West introduced his pick for a working mate on Wednesday, tapping Melina Abdullah, a professor and co-founder of Black Lives Matter’s Los Angeles chapter who has an in depth political historical past.
Here are 5 issues to know about Abdullah that she is unlikely to speak about publicly throughout her marketing campaign.
1. She was thrown out of a Los Angeles mayoral debate:
Police had been pressured to drag Abdullah out of a mayoral debate going down on California State University LA’s campus in 2022.
Abdullah was protesting the truth that barely 50 folks had been allowed contained in the campus auditorium to view the talk, and that college students and college weren’t allowed to enter.
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Abduallh was a Cal State LA professor on the time, and she or he clarified that police solely eliminated her from the premises and didn’t arrest her.
“I should have been able to watch the mayoral debate that was happening on my own campus. I’m still processing the fact that Raphe Sonenshein, someone who called himself a friend, who I’ve known well since I was in graduate school, called the police and had me forcibly and brutally removed,” Abdullah mentioned in an announcement to the Los Angeles Times, referencing one of many co-sponsors of the talk.
“I’m processing that as I was yelling for help, that I was being hurt and called for Karen Bass and Kevin De León … two people who have been very close for more than 20 years, they said nothing, not even a simple ‘Please put her down,’ nor did any other candidate. It’s both hurtful and outrageous,” she added.
2. She sued the nationwide BLM group and misplaced:
While Abduallah is a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter, that does not imply she at all times will get together with the remainder of the group.
In 2022, Abdullah sued Shalomyah Bowers, an government on the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. She alleged that Bowers had been utilizing the group as his “personal piggy bank” and had paid over $10 million to his consulting agency utilizing non-profit funds.
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Abdullah mentioned at a press convention on the time that “the assets that we built, the financial resources, the social media platforms and the name ‘Black Lives Matter’ have been taken from us and are under the control of consultants.”
BLMGNF’s board of administrators denied the allegations in a prolonged assertion prior to hearings within the case.
“Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) is here to give light and fight for Black liberation,” the assertion mentioned partially. “Make no mistake, the allegations of Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots (BLMGR) are false. They are slanderous and devoid of reality.”
Abdullah’s lawsuit was in the end dismissed and she or he was ordered to pay greater than $100,000 in authorized charges to Bowers.
3. She is a giant fan of infamous antisemite Louis Farrakhan:
Abdullah has repeatedly and emphatically praised Minister Louis Farrakhan all through his years of anti-American and antisemitic controversies.
A quick evaluate of Abdullah’s private account on X reveals that she has praised and quoted the Nation of Islam chief for years, going again almost a decade to 2015.
“Humbled, overwhelmed, and profoundly grateful 2 share space with @louisfarrakhan #JusticeOrElse,” she wrote in June 2015 alongside an image of the minister.
Her appreciation for Farrakhan remained constant for the following a number of years, along with her defending him on social media in 2019.
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“We should all be outraged by the banning of Minister @LouisFarrakhan from Instagram and Facebook. Loving Black people and wanting freedom and self-determination for us does not constitute ‘Black supremacy.’ In a country built on our backs there can be no ‘Black supremacy,'” she wrote on the time.
4. She desires to defund the police:
“Now Is the Time to Defund the Police and Reimagine Public Safety,” Abdullah instructed PBS in a 2022 interview.
Abdullah pushed for intensive reforms to policing in Los Angeles within the wake of the George Floyd protests in 2020, and she or he additionally aggressively opposed a rise in police price range proposed in LA in 2023.
“The overwhelming number of Angelenos want to divest from policing and parking enforcement, and invest in the things that actually keep communities safe,” Abdullah instructed KCRW in August final yr after town voted to improve the police price range by $384 million.
She went on to argue that the pay hike for police was “out of step with what the people say that they want” and urged that politicians had been afraid of retaliation by town’s police union.
5. She was the sufferer of ‘swatting’ in 2020:
The Los Angeles Police Department despatched officers Abdullah’s residence throughout the warmth of George Floyd protests in August 2020 after receiving a hoax telephone name.
The LAPD mentioned they obtained a name claiming there have been three hostages being held inside Abdullah’s residence. The apply of calling in pretend 911 calls is called “swatting,” a severe crime that has gained prevalence in recent times.
“After the officers were able to verify the safety of the residents, the on-scene investigation determined the call was a hoax,” the LAPD mentioned in an announcement on the time.
Abdullah rejected the reason from police, nonetheless, claiming in a video that police had been attempting to “throw me off my game.”
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“Dozens and dozens of police, LAPD and others, showed up at my house this morning, guns drawn, assault rifles drawn, really terrorizing me and my children. We’re OK,” Abdullah mentioned on the time.
“I don’t ever believe the words of the police,” she continued. “You shouldn’t either.”
Fox News’ Evie Fordham contributed to this report
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