Billionaire George Soros Gives $1M to ‘Defund the Police’ Movement

Soros contributed $1 million to an organization that describes itself as the “largest online racial justice” group in the U.S.

QUICK FACTS:
ABOUT ‘COLOR OF CHANGE’:
  • “Color of Change leads campaigns that build real power for Black communities,” reads the Color of Change website. “We challenge injustice, hold corporate and political leaders accountable, commission game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advance solutions for racial justice that can transform our world.”
  • Color of Change led an online political outreach campaign last year to defund police departments following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, notes Free Beacon.
  • It also organized an online petition that reads, “Invest in black communities. Defund the police.” The petition also called for “divesting from and dismantling the systems that unjustly harm Black people.”
  • Color Of Change also supported efforts by the Minneapolis City Council to divert funds from its police department after officer Derek Chauvin was found to have killed George Floyd.
  • Color Of Change president Rashad Robinson said, “Policing is a violent institution that must end. We imagine a country where there is enough money to educate our children, care for our sick and feed those who are financially unstable. Defunding the police allows for this vision.”
  • Malachi Robinson, a campaign director for Color of Change, called for an end to police and mass incarceration last month.
BACKGROUND:
  • Free Beacon notes that the $1 million donation signifies the progressive billionaire’s largest political contribution of the 2021 election cycle.
  • It’s also Soros’ first to the political action committee since 2016.
  • Free Beacon predicts the move could undercut the Democrat Party’s “efforts to downplay allegations that it backs defunding police departments” since Republicans have been hammering Democrats on the issue as violent crime skyrockets nationwide.
  • Soros’s contribution represents “the largest to Color Of Change PAC so far this year,” notes Free Beacon, the next largest being $10,000 from Democratic Party organizer Karla Jurvetson.
  • Geroge Soros founded the Open Society Foundations, “an international grantmaking network.” Soros “used his fortune to create the Open Society Foundations—a network of foundations, partners, and projects in more than 120 countries,” according to the Open Society Foundation’s website.
  • Open Society Foundations, gave Color Of Change grants of more than $1 million in 2019, notes Free Beacon.

Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith.

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