Daily Mail reports that the “working class” friends of late activist Ryan Carson started a GoFundMe so they can grieve properly.
Social media called his friends out for their insensitive wording, one user pointed out the money was for the friends and not a funeral. “This is incredible. I heard about the Ryan Carson GoFundMe and assumed it was for funeral costs. Nope,” @MattWalshBlog wrote. “His friends are raising money for themselves.”
Another user called the fundraising plot “cringe.” “This is next level cringe. Ryan Carson‘s friends setup a gofundme to enrich themselves because their “immediate needs are to offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn,” the user said. “Wow!”
Describing the collective as “working class,” the fundraiser has raised over $70,000 to date on behalf of Carson’s mourning girlfriend, Claudia Morales. While most GoFundMe campaigns show a need for funeral costs or money for the victim’s family, this one has been listed to “offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn.”
With the help of kind strangers, the victim’s friends can have “space and time to grieve.”
Suspect Brian Dowling allegedly stabbed Carson, who was walking down the street in Brooklyn with his girlfriend. Surveillance footage allegedly shows Dowling stabbing Carson three times, piercing him in the heart, while Morales watched in horror,
In real life, Brooklyn has been mourning the loss. According to Brooklyn Paper, over 100 friends and family gathered at Brooklyn’s Herbert Von King Park with candles
to remember him hours after the attack. As an environmental advocate, friends remembered him as a “beloved” friend and mentor. Lawmakers and colleagues familiar with his work took to social media to express the depth of his loss. Sen. Julia Salazar said his passion was apparent in everything he did. “I learned a lot from Ryan in a short time. I’m better for having known him, as so many of us are,” Salazar said.“Let us dedicate ourselves to continuing his life’s work, cut short far too soon: to harm reduction; to humane drug policy; to creating a more caring society for all of us.”
Brooklyn Assembly Member Emily Gallagher told CBS that Carson was always willing to talk. “It’s hard when the person that you go to to talk about grief is the one who died.”
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