Filmmaker, author and activist Tariq Nasheed was less than four days into a Kickstarter campaign to raise $200,000 for the Foundational Black American Convention when the crowdfunding platform suspended him without explanation.
Nasheed plans a 2020 launch in Atlanta for the Foundational Black American convention — a think tank that comes up with solutions for a Foundational Black American agenda. Some of the topics planned for discussion include strategies on getting reparations, organizing Black voting PACS, creating directories to connect with Black businesses, and organizing retainer pools for Black lawyers.
The 30-day Kickstarter funding period began Nov. 1. In less than four days, 449 backers raised $30,640 towards the campaign’s $200,000 goal. The campaign was set to end Dec. 1 but Kickstarter suspended it at around 1:45 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4.
A Twitter user responded angrily. “In other words: Your campaign was a imminent threat to systematic white supremacy and we can’t have that.”
Also known as Tariq Elite, King Flex, and K-Flex, Nasheed has produced documentary films on the history of Black people and authored books on dating for men and women.
His documentaries include “1804: The Hidden History of Haiti ” (released in 2017); “Hidden Colors” — a history of African and aboriginal peoples (2011), “Hidden Colors 2: The Triumph of Melanin” ( 2012); “Hidden Colors 3” (2014) and “Hidden Colors 4 (2016). In 2013, Nasheed released the horror film “Dark Medicine”, which he wrote and directed.
A motivational speaker, Nasheed’s books include “The Art of Mackin” and “Play or Be Played: What Every Female Should Know About Men, Dating, and Relationships.”
The moment he launched the crowdfunding for the Foundational Black American Conference, “the agent provocateurs have been out in full force,” Nasheed tweeted. “The funding was immediately successful. Today, racist ass @kickstarter just suspended the campaign & they couldn’t even give a legit reason.”
Nasheed tweeted that he usually doesn’t like to deal with @kickstarter . “They are real funny style with projects that promote ANYTHING that will empower Black Americans. They suspended our campaign and gave the ol’ ‘we-are-white-and-we-say-so’ excuse,” he tweeted.
“Sounds like people have reported this campaign as fraudulent,” one person responded.
When he set up the campaign, Nasheed said he anticipated a challenge, but not this one. “The only challenge we see is getting an appropriate sized venue for the convention,” he said on the campaign’s Kickstarter page. “There is already a strong buzz for this event, and this is why it is important to reach our goal in a timely manner, so we can have all the production and venue issues covered.”
One Twitter user urged Nasheed to get off the Kickstarter platform.
“I keep saying it. Get off other people’s platforms. You dont need their table. We’d all still survive even if twitter went down. I’m building a platform for something I love. You all should do the same.”
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Nasheed called bullshit on Kickstarter. The platform “is full of crap,” he tweeted. “They allow white people to raise money for literally ANYTHING and its cool. They allowed a white man to raise $55 thousand dollar to make some potato salad. But when Blk ppl want to have a conference, they made up some bogus excuse to suspend it.”
Nasheed said he had several successful Kickstarter campaigns but also problems. In 2018, he tweeted, “I’m trying to launch a funding campaign to travel around the country showcasing Black businesses, and Kickstarter is coming up with every excuse imaginable to reject the campaign. Thats interesting.”
