Kendi King, daughter of controversial activist Shaun King, is more than a little fed up with her family’s safety and peace of mind being compromised by the public.
The eldest of Shaun and his wife Rai’s children aired out her grievances after her family was forced to vacate their New Jersey residence. The home at the center of an online scrutiny storm was purchased in July and is priced at $842,000, boasting five bedrooms, four bathrooms, ample square feet, a backyard, and view of a lake — a grand departure from their humble beginnings in a Brooklyn apartment.
But when photos of the home, which Shaun claims was purchased solely by his wife with her own earnings, were plastered across the internet, along with the address, the family apparently abandoned the residence.
“My wife bought this house. With her credit and income. An FHA loan. In a working class neighborhood. But now we’re moving. It’s devastating, honestly,” he wrote in a post shared to his private Instagram account. He continued, “We now need to find a new home, relocate, and have 24/7 security. The costs are outrageous. And to be frank — we just don’t have it. We weren’t prepared for this.”
Shaun also asked his supporters to donate funds to help the family with their relocation and security costs. Though from the responses on Twitter, weren’t positive. One person wrote, “That’s sick. At what point does it become criminal behavior? It makes me wonder how many people have given the metaphorical shirts off their own backs to him without understanding or knowing even a fraction of his grifts.”
The entire ordeal was enough to move Kendi to blast critics and outlets on Aug. 6.
“This was her dream home. She [Rai] put the wallpaper up herself,” wrote Kendi for her father’s digital publication, The North Star. “For the first time, my siblings got to have their own rooms. We all agreed this place felt like our home from the very beginning, and now it’s been taken. I see no justice in that.”
The New York University student likened her father’s constant public bashing by folks online and in the media to that of a politician such as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced his resignation on Aug. 10 in the wake of a report from the state attorney general that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 female staffers.
“He represents my city, and he is an active abuser,” she alleged last while predicting he would not face consequences for his actions. Whereas, in her opinion, her father “has faced the kind of scrutiny that should be reserved for people who actually have acted in a criminal or unethical manner.”
Shaun has often found himself criticized by members of the Black community who accuse him of pandering for money in the name of combating police brutality and various injustices committed against people of color. He has especially felt the backlash from grieving mothers, such as Samaria Rice, who claims he uses the names of Black boys killed by police, like her son Tamir, to gain the trust of Black people while fundraising and gaining public notoriety for seemingly being of service to grand picture of achieving justice.
But as far as his daughter is concerned, enough is enough.
“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.”
