When strong, vocal Black women support conservative viewpoints and candidates, Facebook deems them “unsafe for the community.”
In the recent congressional hearings that dragged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in for bias and election meddling, Republican senators were not pleased about the platform’s treatment of Diamond and Silk.
The North Carolina sisters had grown into prominence for their unaffiliated support of the Trump Campaign in 2015 and 2016. As their immense popularity grew among conservative voters, they were invited to join “Stump for Trump Girls” in Raleigh, open a Biloxi, Mississippi, Trump Rally and appeared with Lara Trump in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 2016. The exposure vaulted them to national prominence and the duo has amassed upwards of 1.5 million followers on Facebook.
Zuckerberg On The Hot “Booster” Seat
Planted on a six-inch booster cushion designed to make the social media mogul appear taller, Zuckerberg was asked point-blank about a pattern of political bias designed to silence conservative voices. Stuttering and stammering through less-than-direct answers to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz questions, the CEO attempted to excuse himself by saying that Facebook offices are located in “Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place.”
Sen. Cruz, citing a lengthy list of blocked conservative resources that included the Catholic Church and Fox News, he finally hung his hat on Diamond and Silk. News reports that Facebook shut down Diamond and Silk was the senator’s breaking point. Diamond and Silk had received the following directive.
“The Policy team has come to the conclusion that your content and your brand has been determined unsafe to the community,” Facebook reportedly messaged the sisters. “This decision is final and it is not appeal-able in any way.”
Back-peddling over specific instances of censorship leveled against conservatives and unable to recall a single Democrat voice that met a similar fate, Zuckerberg appears to lump right-wing opinions with terrorist propaganda. That appears to be why Diamond and Silk were targeted.
That position was strongly pushed back on over in the U.S. House of Representatives when Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn took Zuckerberg to task.
“Let me tell you something right now,” Blackburn reportedly said during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. “Diamond and Silk is not terrorism.”
Thrust into national controversy, Diamond and Silk (aka Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson) reached out to their supporters on Fox News to set the record straight.
“When you say that you deem us ‘unsafe to the community,’ what you’re saying is that we are a danger to our community,” Diamond told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It’s offensive. It’s appalling. I look at this as discrimination … This is censorship. You are censoring our voices.”
Despite being African-American and female, Democrats have failed to call out Facebook as racist, discriminatory or misogynistic.
What Makes Diamond and Silk So Popular?
Following the Congressional spectacle, the Russian collusion probe appears to be taking a backseat to this pair of brashly charismatic women.
In their vlogging sessions, Diamond provides a feisty narration about issues of the day while Silk nods, affirms and chimes in with action-driving comments and digs. Among their more popular video posts is one telling the now-downward-spiraling TV personality Megyn Kelly to return to “reporting the news for Sesame Street” and calling her a mildly audible profanity while Silk “bleeps.”
In another popular segment, the pair impose their images over an episode of “The View” and scold hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar about today’s political mess.
The unscripted segments are part stand-up comedy and part political rant. Think Ann Coulter meets Chris Rock meets Monty Python. The engaging, high-energy personalities also come across with a heart of conservative gold.
Since the bruhaha with Facebook, Diamond and Silk’s profile has gone vertical as politicians and conservative personalities across the country have shown support. The sisters have enjoyed personal appearances with Pres. Trump inside the Oval Office, and made an unannounced incursion into a White House Press Conference, much to the joy of Sarah Huckabee-Sanders. Roseanne Barr, now enjoying high ratings in her right-leaning “Roseanne” reboot came out of a Twitter hiatus to support the sisters.
Only in America can a pair of Southern sisters make a leap into the big leagues with sharp wit and a can-do attitude. Facebook has apologized.
~ Liberty Planet
