Alicia Garza, BLM co-founder, awarded endowed chair at University of Hawaii

Black Lives Matter leader Alicia Garza, an increasingly influential social-justice advocate described by another co-founder as a “trained Marxist,” has been selected for an endowed chair at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Ms. Garza, who also heads the Black Futures Lab, will serve as the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic ideals during the fall 2020 semester at the university, participating via virtual residence in September.

“Garza is today’s leader for a better tomorrow,” said U.H. law school Dean Camille Nelson in a Sept. 8 statement. “She has led in the most challenging of eras, forcing us to address the uncompleted work of civil and human rights in our midst. I commend the selection committee for recruiting Alicia Garza — I am very much looking forward to learning from her and I know we will all be encouraged and inspired by her message and ongoing work.”

The position involves “participating in a variety of events with students, faculty and local activists,” and was created to “foster public discourse regarding democratic ideals and civil engagement.”

The Black Lives Matter Global Network has drawn criticism on the right for its radical stances, including defunding the police and “disrupt[ing] the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure” in favor of a collectivist model.

️ The civil rights activist who co-founded the #BlackLivesMatter movement has been selected as an endowed chair at #UHManoa - @aliciagarza will headline a live presentation on Thursday, September 24 at 12pm ➡️ https://t.co/R8fHO3t3VR @uh_btss pic.twitter.com/v3mXxkZmVp

— University of Hawaii at Manoa (@uhmanoa) September 16, 2020

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors said in a 2015 interview that she and Ms. Garza were “trained Marxists.” Ms. Garza has not commented publicly on the description, although she made it clear at the 2015 Left Forum that she opposes capitalism.

“It’s not possible for a world to emerge where Black lives matter if it’s under capitalism, and it’s not possible to abolish capitalism without a struggle against national oppression,” she said at the forum held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Her influence has grown since Black Lives Matter protests erupted over the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. She also serves as an advisor to the WNBA’s Social Justice Initiative and as special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

“Ms. Garza sits atop a worldwide revolutionary empire, starting with the Black Lives Matter Global Network she founded, which now has 15 chapters in the U.S. and several more all over Canada, Australia, and Europe,” said Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez in a Tuesday report in the Daily Signal.

Ms. Garza’s two-year-old Black Futures Lab is a fiscally sponsored project of the Chinese Progressive Association, a pro-China advocacy group based in San Francisco that has partnered with the People’s Republic of China on initiatives. As a 501c3 non-profit, the CPA is not required to disclose its donors.

The Washington Times has reached out to the CPA and Black Futures Lab for comment.

Ms. Garza is slated to headline a live presentation Sept. 24 at the university called, “The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart,” the title of her first book scheduled to be published next month.

Black Lives Matter, which later became the Black Lives Matter Global Network, was founded in 2013 by Ms. Cullors, Ms. Garza and Opal Tometi after the acquittal of neighborhood-watch coordinator George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, in Sanford, Florida.