Black Lives Matter OKC chief Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson calls herself an “unpaid protester” on her Instagram website — however the Oklahoma Metropolis-based Baptist preacher allegedly paid herself with hundreds of thousands in donations meant to assist protestors publish bail after their arrests, in accordance with a federal indictment.
It’s simply the newest in a collection of monetary scandals for the community of BLM civil rights teams, as varied leaders throughout the nation have been accused of mis-appropriating some $8.64 million.
Dickerson was charged Thursday with fraud and cash laundering amid a sprawling federal probe into the troubled civil rights motion. Black Lives Matter World Community Basis, Inc., which took in tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in company donations following the demise of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, can be reportedly below investigation.
The 52-year-old allegedly embezzled at the very least $3.15 million in nationwide bail funds and donations to BLM OKC, depositing returned bail checks into her private accounts. She spent the cash on holidays to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic and to purchase six Oklahoma Metropolis properties price greater than $500,000, in accordance with a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday.
Dickerson additionally used practically $42,000 in money to purchase a 2021 Hyundai Palisade and spent tens of hundreds of {dollars} buying at Nordstrom/Nordstrom Rack, Macy’s and Finest Purchase, amongst different retailers, in accordance with the indictment, which additionally lists hundreds spent on grocery and meals deliveries from Instacart and DoorDash.
She posted social-media photographs of her travels to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica on social media, together with considered one of herself at YS Falls in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, from December 2021, and one other from June 2025 through which she is sitting on a Delta aircraft with a lady she known as “auntie.”
“You bought the nice seats … what airline is that?” requested considered one of her followers.
One other publish exhibits Dickerson smiling subsequent to Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who reportedly loved shut ties to among the Somali leaders who allegedly helped perpetrate a $1 billion welfare rip-off in her congressional district.
Dickerson’s social media accounts are additionally full of posts about of extremists comparable to Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Military and the Black Panther Occasion who was convicted of killing a New Jersey State Trooper in 1977 and escaping to exile in Cuba, the place she died in September.
She purchased the six properties, all with deeds relationship to 2021 and 2022, below her personal title in addition to Fairness Worldwide LLC, an organization she controls however which is not energetic, in accordance with state data. One, which was labeled “church property” and bought in March 2021, was supposed for use by BLM OKC — however she positioned it in her personal title, courtroom filings alleged.
Dickerson, who began the BLM group in 2016, is listed as an affiliate minister on the Church of the Open Arms, a United Church of Christ congregation in Oklahoma Metropolis, which has held fundraisers for Black Lives Matter up to now, in accordance with their web site.
Calls to the church, which describes itself as progressive Christian and “an open and affirming congregation for the LGBTQIA+ group,” weren’t returned Friday.
Minister credentials for Dickerson from the Common Life Church are on file within the Oklahoma County District Courtroom, in accordance with USA At this time.
In a 2020 letter on the Oklahoma ACLU’s web site, she is listed as Affirmative Motion Chair of Oklahoma Democratic Occasion. She had a failed Metropolis Council run in Oklahoma Metropolis in 2017.
Dickerson, who began BLM OKC in 2016, didn’t register it with the IRS as a tax-exempt group. All donations had been routed by varied fiscal sponsors, together with the Arizona-based Alliance for World Justice. That group serves as a pass-through group for financial presents to progressive and extremist teams, together with the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Community, which allegedly fundraised for the In style Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine, a US-designated terrorist group, in accordance with the US Treasury Division.
The AFGJ additionally has shut ties to the Maduro regime in Venezuela, in accordance with the watchdog group Affect Watch.
The Tides Middle, a nonprofit that additionally works with progressive teams, was additionally used as a conduit for money to Dickerson’s BLM chapter, in accordance with the federal indictment. Tides Basis has been sued by Black Lives Matter World Community Basis for allegedly mismanaging $33 million of the group’s funds, in accordance with authorized paperwork.
When bail checks had been returned to Dickerson’s BLM OKC, she allegedly deposited them in her private financial institution accounts, in accordance with the indictment.
“The haters are doing their job,” Dickerson reportedly stated in a Fb dwell stream Thursday.
“Plenty of occasions when folks come at you with most of these issues — and I’m most likely saying greater than I ought to however I haven’t all the time been compliant, folks know this — it’s proof that you’re doing the work. And so that’s what I’m standing on,” she stated, in accordance with The Oklahoman.
Dickerson will not be the one particular person accused of spending cash supposed for BLM for private acquire:
Sir Maejor Web page
BLM of Larger Atlanta was caught up in a fraud investigation final yr when federal authorities in Ohio charged Toledo resident Sir Maejor Web page with defrauding donors — who believed they had been contributing to a reliable BLM chapter — of greater than $450,000.
Web page, who created the bogus group in 2018, used the money to purchase a lavish house in Ohio and a Glock handgun and two AR-15 rifles in addition to 16 blue fits, amongst different purchases, in accordance with courtroom filings.
He was convicted and sentenced to 42 months in jail final yr.
Patrisse Cullors
Starting in 2021, The Publish revealed that Patrisse Cullors, one of many founders of the nationwide Black Lives Matter motion, was doling out funds to her family — together with her graffiti artist brother, Paul Cullors, who she put answerable for the group’s safety for greater than $840,000.
She additionally paid Damon Turner, the daddy of her youngster, practically $1 million for “dwell manufacturing, design and media.”
Cullors herself went on a $3.2 million actual property shopping for spree, snapping up houses in Atlanta and Los Angeles. She claimed she didn’t use BLM money for the houses she bought, however resigned a month after The Publish story.
The nationwide group bought a $6 million property in Studio Metropolis, California, for the group’s headquarters in 2022.
The Los Angeles-based nationwide group, which is separate from the Oklahoma chapter, is at the moment below probe by the Division of Justice into allegations that it bilked donors out of tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} throughout the 2020 protests over the demise of George Floyd. Subpoenas and at the very least one search warrant had been issued within the fall as a part of the investigation, in accordance with the Related Press.
