GoFundMe threatens Color of Change over killer cop fundraiser

A GoFundMe campaign for Ferguson’s killer cop Darren Wilson, the man who executed Ferguson teen Michael Brown, has raised over $400,000 and growing. The campaign has drawn the ire of the civil rights community which is questioning the morality of GoFundMe, a for-profit corporation that collects fees off money donated to campaigns on its website, in hosting a fundraiser for a cold blooded killer like Darren Wilson who is currently in hiding while a grand jury decides on whether or not it will issue an indictment for the murder of Michael Brown.

According to the civil rights organization Color of Change which launched a campaign to get GoFundMe to end the fundraiser for Darren Wilson and return donations so that it is not profitting from the murder of Michael Brown, GoFundMe has been hiding behind legal reasoning that Wilson has yet to be indicted. The Color of Change recently sent out a mailing that reads in part,

For a moment, it looked like GoFundMe was going to meet our campaign demands and strengthen their terms of service so that perpetrators of racially-motivated violence can never profit on their platform again. Already over $433,000 has been raised for Michael Brown’s killer and – according to GoFundMe’s current policy – they can keep fundraising until the grand jury indicts Darren Wilson, which could be as late as January and might not happen at all.

We’ve been talking to our legal team and they confirm that ColorOfChange – as a civil rights organization – has right to publicly criticize any corporation. GoFundMe can’t take that away from us. Our lawyers say that this Cease and Desist letter is a scare tactic meant to silence us and squash our campaigns.

At this moment, GoFundMe stands to collect over $21,650.00 in fees from the murder of Michael Brown, an unarmed teen executed in the middle of the street. The Color of Change says that it will continue its campaign to stop Darren Wilson and GoFundMe from profiting from this heinous crime.