Incoming plot twist:
A woman who organised the Black Lives Matter protest that toppled the statue of Edward Colston has been jailed after spending more than £30,000 donated to a youth charity on Ubers, an iPhone and computer, beauty products and takeaways.
I’ll give you a moment to steady yourselves. What with the shock and all.
Ms Xahra Saleem, formerly Yvonne Maina, is a co-founder of the activist group All Black Lives Bristol, and was hailed by Rife magazine as one of Bristol’s “most influential under-30s.” Ms Saleem’s merry band of megaphone-waving statue-topplers have been the subject of endless gushing and deferential commentary, with the local university subsequently promising to “decolonise” All Of The Oppressive Things.
Discarded placards and assorted detritus from the group’s protests were fondled reverentially by staff of the local museum and stored for later worship as holy artefacts.
Ms Saleem’s trajectory of righteousness will, one assumes, also be a subject of study by tomorrow’s progressive devotees:
Alistair Haggerty, for the prosecution, told Bristol crown court that £32,344 was raised by the GoFundMe page from 588 donations. He said the youth group was unable to open a business bank account during the pandemic, so a decision was made for the money to be held in Saleem’s personal account. “It was a sign of how much she was trusted,” Haggerty said.
To borrow from Father Ted, the money was just resting in her account.
Between July 2020 and June 2021 Saleem spent the money on a new iPhone and iMac computer, hair and beauty products, Amazon purchases, clothes, taxis, takeaways, and general lifestyle expenses.
Those general lifestyle expenses included Uber taxi rides totalling £5,800, spent in a mere eleven months, and a remarkable amount of hairstyling. Readers may wish to ponder the degree to which disparities in life outcomes, which so animate Ms Saleem’s organisation, may be explained by Ms Saleem’s own frivolous spending choices and the mindset they imply.
In April 2021, the other directors of [Bristol youth group] Changing Your Mindset asked Saleem to transfer the donated money into a new business account they had set up.
At which point, as you’d imagine, some awkwardness ensued:
Saleem told them various lies about why she could not transfer the money, including that Black Lives Matter had advised her not to because “some of the people the charity had worked with had made homophobic comments.”
No laughing at the back.
Subsequently quizzed on her prodigious appropriation of other people’s money, Ms Saleem explained,
And, somewhat belatedly, apologies were offered.
In the email she said: “I am so sorry. I am trying to understand my actions as well. I take full responsibility… as my actions have consequences, I don’t want to pardon myself from them.” Saleem told the directors she would go to the police that day.
Dramatic pause.
Ms Saleem can be seen here, suitably shrouded in piety, shortly before being sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Also, open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
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