Sections SEARCH Skip to content Skip to site index Technology Subscribe Log In Subscribe Log In Today’s Paper Advertisement Supported by ByKate Conger and Charlie Savage Aug. 2, 2018 In late June, after word emerged that the white supremacists who organized last year’s deadly “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Va., had applied to hold an anniversary rally this month in Washington, a local political activist, Brendan Orsinger, saw that a Facebook event page had been created for a counterprotest. He recognized it as trouble. Little did he know just how much. The event page was created on June 24 by a feminist-oriented Facebook political page called Resisters. On June 25, Mr. Orsinger reached out via Facebook to a Resisters administrator he knew as “Mary,” whom he had messaged before, to discuss how Washington-based activists resent it when national activists crowd out local organizers on an event. Mr. Orsinger gently suggested to “Mary” that the Resisters “get buy-in from local DC organizers of color first,” like the local Black Lives Matter chapter, for the counterprotest, according to messages reviewed by The New York Times. “Mary” appeared receptive, he said. So Mr. Orsinger connected several other Washington-based activist groups to help flesh out the event page the Resisters had started. This week, to the shock of Mr. Orsinger and other activists, Facebook deleted the event page, including all their handiwork. On Tuesday, the company suspended the account of “Mary,” apparently deeming it a fake, and said the Resisters page was a… [Read full story]
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