Racebending Facebook Group deleted

Racebending.com’s Facebook group, People Against Racebending: Protest of the Cast of The Last Airbender Movie, was abruptly deleted yesterday with no prior warning. The email sent to the group’s moderator included this statement:

Among other things, groups that are hateful, threatening, or obscene are not allowed. We also take down groups that attack an individual or group, or advertise a product or service.

Racebending does not attack the cast members or anyone involved in the production, but criticizes the decisions behind the production and marketing of the movie. There is a big difference between criticism and hateful speech and/or attacks. If Facebook has an automated reporting/flagging system, then it needs to be modified. If Facebook staff actually review reports, then someone was not doing their job or some other bullshitery is going on. In Racebending’s words: “This is a setback, but we will continue to spread the word about how The Last Airbender created a glass ceiling when it erased the ethnicities of its Asian and Inuit characters and cast white actors to play lead characters of color.”

One venue for communication between members (almost 6000!) has been lost because of irresponsible reporting and/or deletion. If this issue interests you, see Racebending’s press release at: http://www.racebending.com/v3/press/racebending-facebook-group-taken-down.

ETA: The group is back up!