In an interview with The New York Times, Open Society Foundations President Patrick Gaspard said the organization is set to “double down” on funding for “black-led justice organizations.”
Open Society Foundations is headed by billionaire financier George Soros.
“The largest share of this support—$150 million—will be through a set of five-year grants to Black-led justice organizations that helped to create and now sustain the momentum towards racial equality,” a press release from the organization reads.
“Open Society’s response reflects our conviction that real progress requires sustained support over many years and letting leaders accountable to impacted communities shape the path forward,” it adds.
An additional $70 million investment is to be made in more “immediate efforts to advance racial justice.” These will include efforts to “reimagine public safety” and partnering with local organizations to – among other things – “strengthen local expertise in…navigating municipal budgets.”
Efforts will also include “nurturing the civic engagement of young people, many of whom have engaged in activism for the first time in response to this extraordinary political moment in the history of our country.”
“Open Society’s funding will create opportunities for students to enroll in internships and fellowships that focus on racial justice, democracy, organizing, and mentorship,” they say.
Gaspard says the recent uprisings and protests in the US and across the world is “the moment we’ve been investing in for the last 25 years.”
“There is this call for justice in Black and brown communities, an explosion of not just sympathy but solidarity across the board,” he said. “It’s time to double down,” he added.
“And we understood we can place a bet on these activists — Black and white — who see this as a moment of not just incrementalism, but whole-scale reform,” he said.
It was only a few weeks ago that anyone claiming Soros was funding BLM protests was labeled a conspiracy theorist. Indeed, Soros himself denied that Open Society was funding any protests.
Wait, isn’t this the same media that said it was a “conspiracy theory” Soros was funding BLM? https://t.co/UXQRplhaOK
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) July 13, 2020
Photo by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung