Activist and social justice leader Shaun King has come forward in response to allegations that he lied about being Black.
On Wednesday, King took to Twitter and denied claims that he fabricated his race and the story of being the victim of a racially motivated attack.
King, 35, who rose to prominence in the Black Lives Matter movement after the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson last August, posted the following tweets in response to the claims:
30. I did not concoct a lie about my race to get into @Morehouse. I did not concoct a lie about my race to get an @Oprah scholarship.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015
31. Every single person who knows me BEYOND Twitter, beyond trending topics and HIT PIECES, knows I have never lied about my race. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015
32. Out of LOVE for my family, I’ve never gone public with my racial story because it’s hurtful, scandalous, and it’s MY STORY.
33. Not only that, but the truth is that @GlennBeck & @TheBlaze & Breitbart DON’T GIVE A SHIT about my race. They just want me to shut up.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015
34. In closing, I’m not going to stop doing what I do, being who I am, or fighting the fights that I fight to end police brutality. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015
Conservative bloggers accused King of lying about his race to earn a scholarship to Morehouse College. They provided what appears to be a police report from an incident that Mr. King describes as a brutal beating by a white mob. In the report, dated March 1, 1995, King’s race is listed as white, according to the New York Times.
During a phone interview with the Times, Detective Keith Broughton said that he had not asked Mr. King about his race, but filled out the form based on his white mother and his light complexion. He said he interviewed six witnesses who all described the fight as a one-on-one altercation.
“Sadly, several popular conservative websites are saying I made the whole thing up in an attempt to discredit my work to end police brutality in our country,” King tweeted.
King’s account of the attack was backed by a band teacher and a fellow student who told the Times they saw it happened.
Check back for updates.
