Twitter Yanks Black Pro-Life Group's Account for Blasting NAACP
Activists with the National Black Prolife Coalition (NBPLC) were lobbying on Friday to have their Twitter account restored after the social media company yanked their tweeting privileges for attacking the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) online last week.
The group, which is working to draw attention to what they claim is the failure of the civil rights organization to represent the best interests of the black community, say they are disappointed with Twitter's decision and are still unclear why it was made.
"It is unfortunate that they have suspended us for reasons that are not clearly articulated," said Pastor Stephen E. Broden of the NBPLC in an interview with The Christian Post on Friday morning. "We are still trying to figure out why we were suspended," he added. In the meantime, he said, "We are in conversations with them (Twitter) to get back online."
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Broden said on Friday his group will be mounting a protest of up to 500 people on Friday night at the Shrine auditorium in Los Angeles where the 44th NAACP Image Awards was held. The annual awards show celebrates diversity in the arts and was hosted by Steve Harvey. Celebrities to present at the show include Queen Latifah, Tony Goldwyn, Samuel L. Jackson and Jamie Foxx. The show was aired live on NBC at 8/7C.
"We will be showing up at the Shrine Auditorium to make as much noise as we can," said Broden. "We believe the NAACP has betrayed the black community."
A press release on Thursday noted that the NBPLC was circulating their message via Twitter and Facebook. Once they attacked the NAACP via the Twitter account, however, the NAACP Image Awards officials complained and the group's account was suspended. The last Tweet sent out was a quote by Dr. Johnny Hunter, National Director of Life Education And Resource Network (LEARN) who said "Racist elitists no longer need the Ku Klux Klan to control blacks; they have Planned Parenthood. And Planned Parenthood has the NAACP on a leash." The account was suspended shortly after that.
"The NAACP's departure from the wisdom and life affirming principles of the Bible is very alarming, and must be stopped for the safety, security, and future of our children," said Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., and pro-life activist.
The twitter account @NAACP_WATCHDOGS had also quoted Broden, a pastor in Dallas, Texas, who stated: "The only word that can define the gross negligence of the NAACP is 'betrayal.'" He also said, "They have abandoned our community's morality, our economic and educational needs for thirty pieces of silver; they are drunk with the wine of the world and the power elite and their eugenic agenda against black folk."
In discussions with CP on Friday, Broden noted that there was a remote possibility that Twitter may restore their account after the event was over. In response to the suspension of the NBPLC account, twitter communications representative Jim Prosser noted in an e-mail on Sunday that, "for what it's worth, we don't comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons."
