Racebending.com

This week, Facebook removing the Racebending.com group with allegations of promoting “hateful, threatening, or obscene” material. Following massive public outcry – including messages to Facebook staff, articles written around the web, and a new group dedicated to the restoration of the previous one – Facebook has restored the group, with even less warning than was given before it was taken down.

Facebook has not issued, nor does it appear inclined to issue, any statements regarding its actions. Questions are almost as prevalent as theories about why the social network chose to silence the protest of The Last Airbender film. The group was initially brought back as “secret,” but administrators have reset the page to again broadcast publicly.

We want to thank everyone who spoke out on our behalf. We’d also like to extend our gratitude to Jeff Yang for rallying professionals, academics, and consumers of media to come together in a Facebook group demanding our restoration. Over 500 people joined this group over the course of 24 hours.

Many, many writers and activists leaped to our defense. Among the pieces they published on our behalf were the following:

• Racebending.com and their “Racist” Crusade for Diversity – Kevin of the USC Student Coalition for Asian Pacific Empowerment
• why did facebook ban the racebending group?- Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man
• Racebending Integration – by Hal Duncan of Notes from the Geek Show
• Racebending Facebook Group Deleted – Carolyn Lee of Remodel Minority
• Asian Activism Banned by Major Corporations – Edward Hong of The HanSarang Movement (video)
• Facebook Deletes Racebending Group – Seeking Avalon
• Facebook bans Racebending – James of Alpha Asian
• Asian Activism Banned by Major Corporations – Edward Hong for APAs for Progress
• Heavy Competition for Racebending.com Facebook Ban – by Michael Le via Racialicious

If you notice any names or sites conspicuously absent from the above list, please contact us and we will rectify the omission immediately. We did our best to chronicle every posting that remarked on our plight, but things have moved very fast in the last few days, and it’s very possible we may have missed something.

Even after all this, it remains unclear why Racebending.com was removed and implicated as “hateful, threatening, or obscene.”

Especially considering the groups that remain untouched on Facebook – groups decrying Islam, comparing President Obama to Osama bin Laden, making light of sexual assault – it’s questionable why a group about race in American media was removed. Perhaps the dialogue taking place among its six thousand members about where Americans of color fit into the national landscape was considered especially dangerous – especially incendiary, especially worthy of silence and censorship.

Regardless of Facebook’s intentions, the attempt to censor and silence has had the opposite effect: the community is speaking up. We’re louder than ever. And we’re not going away.

Thank you all, once again. In addition to the group, you can connect with us on our Facebook page, Twitter, and LiveJournal.