Looking at Trump’s antisocial media last night, I saw him claim that one of the founders of Black Lives Matter has endorsed him. It had a fake news sound to it. This morning, I was shocked to see that maybe it was true, since mainstream news was picking it up. But the RI BLM organization denies he was one of the founders, and that his involvement with the movement was running their political action committee which is actually a separate organization. Fox was certainly giving it plenty of play in an article I will not link to.
The Providence Journal has posted an article on this. From the article:
On Nov. 6, Fisher appeared on the "Kim Iversen Show" and expressed his support for Trump. The show, posted on YouTube and video platform Rumble, is run by Kim Iversen, who was fired in 2022 from The Hill's "Rising" web show. Iversen is a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic, has called Jan. 6 insurrectionists oppressed "political prisoners" and has said Ukraine shouldn't fight Russia's onslaught.
This got him noticed in the MAGAsphere and resulted in the recent appearance of Fox and Fiends, and the notice of Trump.
Our local chapter of BLM has had something to say on this. From the same Providence Journal article:
Friction has historically lingered between BLM RI and BLM RI PAC, the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee, which is a separate entity with different membership...
On Wednesday, the PAC released a statement to officially disassociate itself from Fisher, stating he "is not and has never been affiliated with our organization."
"The views expressed by Mr. Fisher in the referenced Fox News segment do not reflect the values or beliefs of BLM RI PAC," the group said. "We would like to emphasize that Mark Fisher claims association with Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, a nonprofit organization. Any statements or actions attributed to him should not be conflated with our organization."
It appears that Fisher may have been nothing more than a hired gun in an allied organization whose job it is to be the public relations arm of BLM.
Update: Snopes has called it true that “Former Black Lives Matter Rhode Island leader Mark Fisher endorsed former U.S. President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election,” apparantly without talking to RI BLM about this. The question isn’t whether or not he endorsed Trump, but whether or not he qualifies as a former leader.