Shaun King has called for ‘white European’ Jesus statues to be torn down as he alleges cops are plotting to kill him in the latest controversy for the liberal activist.
King, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement whose own racial identity has been called into question, waded into the debate over racist and Confederate statues last week when he tweeted that figures of Jesus as a white man are ‘a form of white supremacy’ and should be toppled.
‘Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down,’ he posted on Twitter last Friday.
‘They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been.
Shaun King (pictured) has called for ‘white European’ Jesus statues to be torn down as he alleges cops are plotting to kill him in the latest controversy for the liberal activist
King, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement whose own racial identity has been called into question, waded into the debate over racist and Confederate statues last week when he tweeted that figures of Jesus as a white man are ‘a form of white supremacy’
‘In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Denmark. Tear them down.’
He reinforced his calls in another tweet this week where he blasted all ‘murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends’ as ‘racist propaganda’.
His comments come as racist and Confederate statues and symbols have been toppled by protesters across the US in recent weeks as calls mount for an end to systemic racism following the ‘murder’ of George Floyd by a white cop.
The likeness of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, colonialist Christopher Columbus and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun have all come under fire due to their links to racism and black oppression but King is urging the movement to go further still by taking down of images of white Jesus.
This came just days before the controversial activist then alleged in a blog post that several former members of local law enforcement are plotting to kill him.
King, 40, penned a blog post on Medium Thursday detailing how he had been made aware of a private Facebook group of ex-cops from Long Beach where multiple officers ‘were openly plotting and planning my assassination.’
The controversial activist then alleged in a blog post that several former members of local law enforcement are plotting to kill him
King said he ‘receive[s] death threats daily’ but they are ‘mainly from anonymous strangers and seem more designed to intimidate me and my family than they appear to be imminent threats of physical harm’.
He blasted the content of the Facebook group as ‘altogether different’.
‘These were men and women, in a private group that they had no idea I’d ever see, using their real names and identities, openly plotting to kill me and organizing each other to execute it,’ he wrote.
King included screen grabs of some of the comments.
‘Does anyone know here this Shaun King can be found?’ read one of the comments.
In another, an apparent retired LAPD officer, said: ‘Need a sniper.’
According to the blog post, the conversation escalates with calls for ‘a #6′ – a long distance operation’ – and several people reportedly joining in and saying they are ‘in’.
King shared the comments (above) found in a private Facebook group of ex-cops from Long Beach where multiple officers ‘were openly plotting and planning my assassination’
Another writes ‘remember at my age life in prison is not a deterrent’ while another posted a picture of a gun.
King went on to question how to escalate the concerns given the threats were made by former cops and because the vocal police critic lacks ‘confidence in any law enforcement system to handle this’.
The Long Beach Police Department said it has launched an investigation into the threats.
This is far from the first time King has found himself at the center of controversy.
In 2015, questions were raised about his biracial identity after his birth certificate was found to list both his parents as white.
The author and writer had long said he was the victim of a horrific racial hate crime in his youth and that his father is black and his mother white.
In 2015, questions were raised about his biracial identity after his birth certificate was found to list both his parents as white (above)
King hit back saying the man in his birth certificate is his adopted father and his mother had told him his biological father is black. King as a teenager
His own race was also found to be listed as white in the police report of the attack that happened while he was in high school.
King hit back saying the man in his birth certificate is his adopted father and his mother had told him his biological father is black.
His supporters also slammed the attempts to discredit him as trying to distract from the racial justice movement he was a prominent figure in.
The former pastor hit headlines again in 2018 when he accused a white Texas state trooper of raping black woman Sherita Dixon-Cole.
King repeatedly said on social media and in interviews that the trooper had committed ‘rape’.
Bodycam footage later exonerated the officer and King backtracked, deleting his comments from social media and publishing a blog post where he said he had been conned by Dixon-Cole.
Questions have also been leveled at the activist over his fundraising efforts, with numerous allegations over the years that funds were not received by the causes he was raising for.
These include alleged discrepancies in the amounts raised for the Haiti Relief Project and a fundraiser for the family of Tamir Rice – a 12-year-old black boy who was killed by cops in 2014.
Shaun King with his wife Rai King. The former pastor hit headlines again in 2018 when he accused a white Texas state trooper of raping black woman Sherita Dixon-Cole
Civil rights activist Deray Mckesson last year questioned King’s ‘integrity’ over the fundraising doubts.
‘We never aim to replicate the power dynamic of the system we are up against — a system that embraces a devious lack of transparency, willingly sacrifices the vulnerable to protect itself, and replaces truth with convenient lies. Yet Shaun King has done just that,’ Mckesson wrote in a Medium post.
‘Shaun has followed a uniform pattern over the years, a pattern that has compelled me to speak up, again.’
Mckesson also pointed to a 2019 audit report of his fundraising activities that was controversially put together by the activist’s allies.
Other scandals include accusations of stealing content from collaborators.
Activist Aurielle Marie said she contributed ‘countless’ ideas for a podcast project she was working with King on only for him to plow ahead with the project without her and not credit her ideas that he used.
‘He lied to us, y’all. He lied, he manipulated me & he let organizers down,’ she wrote in a 2017 tweet.
King denied the allegations saying it ‘never happened. Not once’.
‘I’ve never borrowed content and not properly credited it,’ he said at the time.