Imagine if a Black person walked into Walmart wearing a shirt that said “Stop the Genocide” and the manager of the store was angered and kicked you out? Would that fly in the United States of America? Especially if there were white people wearing that same shirt shopping there?

Of course not! It would be all over the media and that manager would likely be fired. 

So why is it OK for a Facebook group admin for the Leaning In and Falling Over Professional Mom group based in one of THEE most liberal and racial diverse enclaves in Maryland, Silver Spring - to kick a Black woman out for anonymously posting anti-genocide lyrics, which didn’t violate any of the group rules? 

 It was OK for white women in the group to post about Palestine but I learned after I was kicked out that my character was maligned and she tried to paint a picture of me as a cowardly “s#!t stirrer” to justify kicking me out. Her group rules didn’t even forbid "s#!t stirring”, but FB gives her the prerogative to kick anyone out for any reason, or for no reason. How?

It’s because the group creator claims that her group is “Not a democracy”. ( I have a screenshot of those words which was provided to me by another member of the group). 

Any decent citizen of the USA should find that statement chilling.  Facebook is so unregulated that white supremacy is allowed to reign supreme in situations like this, further contributing to the marginalization of people like me.

Facebook groups serve as a community, and sometimes the ONLY community for socially isolated and/or marginalized folks. So when you unjustly remove a member, you are depriving them of community, of access to resources, support and even hope. 

 

Meta needs to provide checks and balances in order to ensure that private FB groups don’t harm marginalized folks via kicking them out for racist reasons. The unabated racism allowed on this platform has helped orchestrate an insurrection, a genocide, manipulation of FB users via Cambridge Analytica and the ongoing loss of our Constitutional rights as pseudo white supremacy dictates only cishetero able bodied “Christian” white male voices matter.

Meta is just another vehicle for destabilizing what’s left of our so-called democracy. Project 2025 is already in progress, and Mr. Zuckerberg needs to do something to mitigate the harm that will be multiplied a thousandfold on this platform should November 2024 bring about the end of American democracy.  

Update: Since this petition was written, he has sold his soul to a man who has sucker punched Lady Liberty and proudly calls it patriotism.

 I am a mixed-race Black woman and a late-diagnosed autistic who has been kicked out of two DC area Facebook groups moderated by white women and a white supremacy-supporting Brown admin for:

1. Simply giving honest feedback describing how I felt marginalized in a predominantly white Facebook group she helped moderate, feedback which SHE solicited from me. Apparently she didn’t like it and preemptively removed me from her group before I had the chance to even participate in it. She branded me as an Angry Black Woman and thought I would contaminate her group by harboring ill will towards the members! I could not believe this was happening to me in January 2021.  She removed me because she was afraid I was going to have bad thoughts about the members! So I was penalized for the thoughts she believed I was going to have (!)

The "Angry Black Woman” trope is used to silence and marginalize voices like mine. I could’ve pretended nothing was wrong and I would’ve had access to free kids’ stuff, which would be helpful to a mother forced to quit her livelihood. 

2. A couple of days before Christmas, I posted song lyrics - a reworking of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas” ( War is Over) in a predominantly white, affluent and liberal professional mom group based in one of THE most diverse unincorporated areas on the East Coast.

These are the lyrics that decried the genocide and got me in trouble:

So this is Christmas 

And what have you done?

K!lled thousands of children

Who never harmed anyone

And so this is Christmas

I hope you have fun

‘Cause Br0wn kids don’t matter

Just lighter-skinned ones

A very merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year

It won’t be a good one

Without any fear 

Lives are over

And they want it

Twenty thousand

Now…

 

And so this is Christmas ( Lives are over)

For only the strong ( How they want it)

For rich and the privileged

The show must go on.

 

And so Happy Christmas

Because whyte does make right

Unwrap all your presents

Sleep soundly at night 

 

The admin was enraged (update: I realize she felt that way towards me and not so much what I posted). She then kicked me out without notice or warning. She posted a notice to other members reminding them that her group is "NOT ( emphasis mine) a democracy”.  Meaning, she can kick out marginalized Black and Brown folk like me without justifiable cause. The notice she posted contained an ad hominem attack on my character as a cowardly sh*t stirrer rather than opposing the message I was trying to get across.  Now I’m wary of any white admin who states that their page is "not a democracy”.  When the VERY DEMOCRACY WE ARE LIVING IN IS CLEARLY CRUMBLING, do we really need authoritarian gatekeepers who clearly care more about upholding white supremacist tenets than treating other human beings with basic compassion?

3. A white female admin in my Buy Nothing group silenced me and shamed me privately for posting a wish for people to use neutral language instead of phrases that would fat-shame people. I included a link to an article about fatphobia’s ties to anti-Black racism and she labeled my post as “egregious” and “politicizing”.

In recent years it has been documented that white admins in private Facebook groups have been silencing Black voices. If this is happening in a diverse and left-leaning area such as Silver Spring, Maryland, can you imagine how much more Black people will stand to be silenced elsewhere?

Private Facebook groups have already started to unravel what’s left of democracy here in the United States. Black and Brown folks turn to them for resources, support, recommendations even free items like clothing, furniture and kids’ toys. These white ( and white supremacy-embracing nonwhite) admins choose to uphold white supremacy by silencing Black voices like mine. Facebook needs to do something about this before this causes significant racial tensions in the United States. Instead of enjoying Christmas, I spent $100 of my savings ( I am unemployed)  to raise awareness of this insidious problem and nip it in the bud NOW. If Facebook chooses to ignore the problem, my fallback is that by YOU helping to spread this petition far and wide, WE can raise awareness about the insidious ways white admins use their power to marginalize Black folks AND put them on notice that their actions will not be taken lightly. If this petition causes at least one white admin to change their mind about silencing and / or removing Black members of their group, or cause them to acknowledge the harm they’ve already done and take concrete steps to do better, then this petition will not have been in vain.

If you would like proof in the form of screenshots of what these admins have said to me or posted about me I have some from all the admins who have censured me or removed me from their groups.

I am trying to use my voice for good, socially-conscious reasons. I believe that for change to be effected, we must get into “good trouble” as the late great John Lewis said. My baby girl (pictured) deserves to have a future where her voice matters!  Where she won’t be punished for being honest or caring about other people!

 

A little about me:
 
I was forced to quit my job in 2019 due to workplace bullying and sexual harassment. Someone recommended that I join a Facebook Mom group that had monthly job postings. I joined in February 2020 hoping to network and find a job. I shared my story of being blacklisted from employment via the terms of a settlement that prevented me from requesting positive supervisory references and applying for unemployment. I, the bullying and sexual harassment victim was effectively criminalized via an NDA and prevented from applying for unemployment benefits.

I applied to 40 jobs everywhere else with nearly 20 years of experience and yet received no offers for even entry-level jobs.

I suspended my search when the pandemic was declared and stayed home with my young children. My fight for my civil rights, my fight against bullying and taking action has only resulted in my being set back hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages. I spent my free time advocating fiercely for my autistic children to be placed in better schools.

Some people might ask "Why are you making this about race? Maybe these white admins don’t like you for other reasons!” My answer? I have lived my life being “Othered” due to my race and in these predominantly white private Facebook groups, I have personally observed Black people being policed and threatened with expulsion for things that white members easily get away with. I’ve personally been ignored by a white admin who I messaged for help because she views me as a threatening Angry Black Woman who she couldn’t risk getting into conflict with. Even when I thanked her for supportive comments on my thread in a different group, she ignored me! 

We really have a LONG way to go in dismantling white supremacy, and private Facebook groups with majority or all-white moderators help to uphold the pillars of white supremacy such as perfection and fear of open conflict, as well as right to comfort. We therefore must take action to stop marginalizing Black folks and denying them access to resources and community by silencing them and/or kicking them out of these groups in the name of upholding white supremacy. Will you join me?