U.S : Funds cut off to Charlottesville sequel rally.

Dear friends,

On August 12, white supremacists will be showing up in our nation’s capital for a Charlottesville sequel-- but thanks to our Blood Money campaign, they’re flailing for funding.¹

Jason Kessler, the organizer of the “Unite the Right” rally last year in Charlottesville, has recently been kicked off of PayPal. He’s literally stuck asking people to send him checks and cash in the mail to fund his rally.²

We’ve left Kessler waiting for money by snail mail. But companies like Amazon and Discover are still allowing hate groups to use their platforms, which is undoubtedly helping violent groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer to organize an armed rally in Portland this weekend. Donate $4 to help us finish the fight to cut off funds to hate groups.

Our Blood Money campaign was going on behind the scenes for months before Charlottesville. Despite multiple meetings with us, many payment processors chose to ignore our warnings about the dangers of these hate groups. It took white supremacists showing up with tiki torches and murdering 32-year-old Heather Heyer to open their eyes.

Despite this, companies like Visa, Discover and American Express continue allowing groups like Patriot Prayer-- who brag about showing up fully armed to public rallies-- to process donations, and Amazon continues to sell racist propaganda for nearly a dozen hate groups on Kindle.^3,4

This has to end. Here are 3 parts of our Blood Money campaign you can donate to :

1. Send $4 to our campaigners to help them gather thousands of petition signatures and phone calls to send to the desks of CEOs of companies like Amazon and Discover. 
   
2. Send $4 to our research team so they can expose corporations enabling hate groups through deep research into payment processors and who they serve.
3. Send $4 to our digital media team to help them run truth-exposing campaign ads to put payment processors’ image on the line, and pressure them to end their support of the far right.

When Heather Heyer was murdered, Jason Kessler celebrated her death, tweeting that Heyer was a “fat disgusting Communist” and her death was “payback time”.⁵ The people behind these organizations are willing to kill Black people, Jewish people, immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ folks, and even just someone they deem “too left.”

Let’s make sure they don’t have one penny left to fund their hate. Invest $4 in our work to cut off funds to these dangerous organizations once and for all.

Until justice is real,

Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Jade, Evan, Johnny, Future, Corina, Chad, Mary, Saréya, Angela, Eesha, Samantha, Scott and the rest of the Color Of Change team

---

References :

1. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/79816?t=9&akid=15822%2E1942551%2EjmpH1g
2. "Struggling white nationalist running out of fundraising options for second 'Unite the Right' rally", ThinkProgress, 28 July 2018, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/79183?t=11&akid=15822%2E1942551%2EjmpH1g
3. "Another Charlottesville? Threats of violence loom over upcoming Portland Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer rally", Souther Poverty Law Center, 25 July 2018, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/79182?t=13&akid=15822%2E1942551%2EjmpH1g
4. "Patriot Prayer", https://act.colorofchange.org/go/79817?t=15&akid=15822%2E1942551%2EjmpH1g
5. "Organizer of neo-Nazi rally Tweets that death of Heather Heyer was 'payback time'", Gizmodo, 19 August 2017, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/79818?t=17&akid=15822%2E1942551%2EjmpH1g

---

Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.