I could see what more Omar Wasow, an expert on protest movements and quoted in the article, has to say on it on Twitter, and post it, but since you obviously don't like hearing what anyone of import on any topic (including say, Josh Marshall) is saying there, I won't bother. Why in the world would I keep doing that when it's not appreciated, when rather than thanks I get snide comments? The world changes whether or not you like it, pops; the important movers and shakers on most topics are using it, it's just a reality.

BLM is leaderless.

Black lives absolutely matter...and so do our vast and rich array of stories.

Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter (along with Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza) and a 2020 honoree of The Root 100 (her fourth time on the list since 2015), recently made Hollywood headlines when she inked an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV Group to “develop and produce original programming for all platforms including streaming services, cable, and the five broadcast networks.” Intrigued by the inner workings of this deal and how she plans to make her mark on Hollywood within the intersections of grassroots activism, I recently sat down for a phone conversation with Cullors.

“I think it’s important for folks to know that part of the work that I’ve been doing and part of our movement has been storytelling,” Cullors told The Root. “How do we tell a story about the impact the state has had on Black people and a country that is deeply racist and doesn’t actually care about Black people? How do we tell a compelling story where people start to care? So Black Lives Matter is, in so many ways, a storytelling project to really push forward a new vision for Black people. As you know, the media, especially TV/film, has had a long history of not being able to tell the stories of Black people who’ve been freedom fighters. We’ve had the same stories. We know about MLK.”

“There [are] oftentimes stories that come out where there’s Black people who were discriminated against [by] the white community [...] then a white person and Black come together and everybody’s better after they come together,” Cullors continued, her sarcasm evident, even through the phone. “So, I think part of what I’ve been craving inside of Hollywood is more nuance inside of the TV show space about who Black activists are, who Black organizers are and how we have actually been a part of reshaping society.”

Specifically, Cullors has a goal to highlight the stories of Black women who are, in her words, “the shapers of the world.”

“Before I landed this deal, I was actually working for Freeform inside of the writers’ room for Good Trouble, which is a show that has a Black Lives Matter character [Malika Williams, portrayed by Zuri Adele]. And so, I was developing that character in that storyline.”

https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/patrisse-cullors-has-been-craving-nuance-in-black-activ-1845774396

Cullors is focused on telling stories about Black women and working deals in Hollywood 

Garza is doing policy studies and polling projects at Black Futures Lab

https://blackfutureslab.org/

While the world keeps spinning, this will give BLM critics something to feel good about.

The context of the statement was not that skin color was a factor

The context was that it was hard to hold activist organizations together

“It’s exceedingly hard to hold movements together”

Things came to a head this year when the confluence of several crises — the coronavirus, systemic racism and economic turmoil — highlighted both the gravity of the work that Black Lives Matter does and discrepancies in its execution. By the end of June, the Black Lives Matter Global Network had raised more than $13 million in donations and cemented its role as a political power and organizing force. But local organizers said they saw little or no money and were forced to crowdfund to stay afloat. Some organizers say they were barely able to afford gas or housing. 

“What [supporters] see is national folks talking about trying to get a meeting with Biden, while kids are literally outside of my door asking for food,” said April Goggans, lead organizer with Black Lives Matter D.C.

If this dynamic sounds familiar, that’s because it is, said Omar Wasow, a political science professor at Princeton University, who studies protest movements. 

"It's almost a truism that movements will [fracture] over time," Wasow said. "It's exceedingly hard to hold movements together over the long haul."

Activist organizations often split along factions as members disagree about how to advocate for change, Wasow said. Typically, they disagree about whether it’s more effective to work within the system or continue to agitate from the outside. And Black movement leaders from different groups have been at odds over reforms even earlier this year.

Campaign Zero, a racial justice group focused on ending police violence, was widely criticized by a number of Black Lives Matter activists for advocating for solutions they felt didn't move the needle far enough on police reform. Its #8CantWait campaign, which called for an eight-step approach to ending police violence, took a lot of heat for calling for measures that were tried and failed, while relying on shoddy data to underline them. The Campaign Zero team, originally led by Johnetta Elzie, DeRay McKesson, Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Samuel Sinyangwe, later issued a public apology for rushing out the campaign so quickly. Cunningham later resigned from Campaign Zero. 

Which is to say, the splintering of Black Lives Matter is no anomaly. 

“I've seen it play out on gender lines. I've seen it played out on class lines. I've seen it play out on the national-versus-local lines,” said Justin Hansford, executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University, who helped lead protests in Ferguson in the wake of Mike Brown’s death. 

“And this seems to be the last of those dynamics playing out within the organization itself.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/10/black-lives-matter-organization-biden-444097