Kendi King, the daughter of activist Shaun King, penned a column on Friday to address the scrutiny facing her family, who has been widely criticized after recently purchasing a $842,000 five-bedroom home in New Jersey. The family says they're being forced to move from their new home because pictures of the house and its location were published by multiple news outlets.
"Pictures of the front of our house, the yard where my siblings play, were everywhere," the New York University student wrote in a column for her father's publication, The North Star, an attempted recreation of Frederick Douglass' abolitionist newspaper. "My family who has done nothing to deserve this now has to pack up our lives and leave the house my mother worked tirelessly to buy. This was her dream home. She put the wallpaper up herself. For the first time ever, my siblings got to have their own rooms."
On July 31, a New York post article revealed the family moved from their two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn to an $842,000 property in New Jersey. Social media users followed up with backlash, describing King as a grifter and accusing him of pocketing money raised for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Kendi said the criticism facing her family is part of a larger issue of injustice in a country that is hampered by discriminatory laws, selfish billionaires, mass shootings, hate crimes and police brutality. The young activist specifically pointed to the sexual allegation case facing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying "the justice system is so perfectly built to protect powerful white men despite overwhelming evidence."
"Cuomo was found to be in violation of multiple federal and state laws," she wrote. "Joe Biden and nearly every other leading politician have called for his resignation. Yet, he is still in his office right now, making decisions for one of the largest cities in the world. He represents my city, and he is an active abuser."
Kendi said the corruption plaguing the nation have made it hard for her to continue to serve as an activist.
"It’s hard to see my family struggle so terribly, to watch my siblings cry because they have to leave their school and friends and home, while Cuomo and men much worse than him get to ride off into the sunset so comfortably," she wrote.
"I am an activist, a fighter for justice, but I am finding it harder to fight," she concluded. "This is just a moment, and it will pass. I know. But it’s hard to see my family struggle so terribly, to watch my siblings cry because they have to leave their school and friends and home, while Cuomo and men much worse than him get to ride off into the sunset so comfortably."
Kendi also shared the article to her Instagram page, where she said she was ditching the polished language contained in the article.
"I’m out of eloquence now and just wanna say f**k all the people who did this," she wrote in the caption. "Especially the New York post because you f**king suck and no one takes you seriously. F**k everyone who shared pictures of my family’s home on the internet. F**k all the people who tweet and post and comment how glad they are this happened – you have no idea what this means for my little siblings whose lives have been uprooted. F**k literally all you sorry ass f**kers. See all of you in hell."
Yahoo reports that King is now seeking financial assistance to move out of the home.
