A quote from the Daily Beast: "The host ( Trevor Noah) got uncharacteristically emotional when he said, “I always tell people, if you truly want to learn about America, talk to Black women. Because, unlike everybody else, Black women can’t afford to f*ck around and find out.”

What did I do to "f*ck around”?

I spoke out against the thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians being slaughtered in Gaza, with emphasis on the fact that Brown babies and children are dying by the thousands and most of the world doesn’t seem to care because they aren’t blond and blue-eyed. 

I’m not lying; it’s a known fact that the world has become inured to the suffering of Black and Brown people.

The person who kicked me out of the Leaning In and Falling Over Professional Mom group actually knew I had a form of PTSD. I have a screenshot where she acknowledged it. She’s read my posts about being kicked out of a Takoma Rehoming group for used kids’ stuff because the creator thought I would resent the members of her new group, so she removed me as a precaution. But the one who kicked me out of the LIFO group is a lawyer by training, and I would imagine she would do better than the Brown woman in the Takoma group who chose to uphold white supremacy. I was wrong.

Education isn’t enough if you haven’t done the work to be an antiracist. It was very easy for this woman to dehumanize me, a Black woman, despite posting about my lived experiences in her group. In the end, I was labeled a “sh!+ stirrer” and not someone who cares about the plight of a long-oppressed people.

My petition has stalled at 581 supporters since I posted my last update. I’m not sure if it’s because I need to pour more money into this campaign, or there is a backlash of sorts because I stated that I’m not as valuable as a dollar hotdog at a Phillies game. ( It’s OK if you laugh, but it’s true! ) Even the hotdog water would be deemed more valuable than yours truly. Look at my petition views compared to the number of actual supporters.

I don’t have the ability to pour hundreds of dollars for thousands of views that won’t translate into signatures, so my petition will get buried under those who do have the funds, the clout, and the appeal. My only hope is for my supporters to spread the word far and wide. And if you feel generous enough to contribute in order to help pay for a promotion ( more view), I wouldn’t turn it down!

We are living in the scariest of times. We do not know what will happen to this country after November 2024. The words of the woman who kicked me out of her predominantly white, affluent and liberal Facebook group come to mind “This group is NOT a democracy”. 

All it takes is one person to espouse authoritarianism; it doesn’t matter if most of the group members are progressive liberals who have antiracist book discussion groups. Imagine if more and more Facebook group admins espoused the same beliefs - Black and Brown people would be cast out further and further into the margins. These private groups would be silos of white supremacy and minority members would be kicked out for the slightest infraction. I was never given a chance to defend myself. In a democracy, you could. But when the group creator is a wannabe authoritarian? Sorry. Your posts will be deleted, you will be removed and blocked because how dare you contaminate the silo?

I don’t know if y’all are tired of reading my updates, but this might be my last one for awhile. Please do me a favor and share my link with people you think may be amenable to signing. My only way of sharing my petition has been including it in comments I make on posts from FB pages that I see in my feed. It’s tedious work and I don’t think it’s how I get a lot of signers. But if anything ever happens to me, my family and those that care about me will see that I tried my best to reach people one by one in hopes of making Facebook a better place for marginalized voices like mine.