Black Christian Conservative Vanderbilt Professor Carol Swain Says Facebook Has Blocked Her Account, Calls It ‘Religious Discrimination’

AP Photo/Erik Schelzig
AP Photo/Erik Schelzig

Vanderbilt Professor Carol Swain, a highly respected black Christian conservative, tells Breitbart News Facebook blocked her account for more than 26 hours.

“What troubles about me about all of this is that Facebook is such a huge forum. Some of my posts were reaching over 400,000 people. I was reaching people and hopefully being able to connect with people around the world,” Swain says.

She has been blocked by Facebook since late Wednesday morning, Swain says. “When I tried to post on my Facebook page I got the box on the page saying I was unable to post to do abusive content.”

“It’s the automatic message that pops up. It seems to be related to complaints that someone has filed that I’m putting content on my page that violates community norms. I think it’s already to the students that have been circulating that petition against me,” she adds.

As of the publication of this story, Professor Swain’s account remains blocked by Facebook

“I’m being suspended by Facebook because a bunch of Vanderbilt students have complained I posted information they don’t like,” Swain notes.

A group of Vanderbilt students have circulated a petition that calls on Vanderbilt University to suspend Swain for “unprofessional intimidation on social media.” The petition also alleges Swain engages in “discriminatory practices in the classroom.”

“Facebook has joined in with the people that are uncomfortable with ideas that are contrary to their own. These posts are not hate speech. I’ve posted other people’s articles that were supportive of traditional Judeo-Christian views,” Swain tells Breitbart News.

“There is nothing that would justify Facebook blocking my page. Before they blocked me, they started preventing my followers from sharing articles,” she adds.

“Facebook clearly has taken a side in the matter. That disappoints me. I’m a client of Facebook. I don’t think they’re treating me respectfully. I think they’re engaging in viewpoint discrimination as well as religious discrimination,” Swain says.

Breitbart News asked Professor Swain if the Vanderbilt students who are harassing her and calling for her suspension are racially motivated, since she is a black Christian conservative who speaks her mind.

“I don’t want to call them racists. I think it’s more of a hatred and bigotry towards Christian conservatives,” Swain says. “Yesterday, I posted two articles about Robert Lopez, the professor in California who is being threatened with the loss of his job because of his views on LGBT issues, and then they blocked me,” she explains

“I used the term ‘Gay Gestapo.’ I did not originate the term ‘Gay Gestapo.’ I did not call Vanderbilt students the ‘Gay Gestapo.’ That was the catalyst for another Vanderbilt student to threaten me,” she adds.

“A lot of my harassment has come from Vanderbilt students. They have their own page mocking me –‘Not Carol Swain.’ I feel with these students, being a black woman that’s overcome poverty gets me nothing if I’m a conservative,” Swain continues.

“I’m not going to call them racist, they’re just misguided. They are rallying against me as the only person on campus that has a set of views that are divergent,” she notes generously.

“I’m sure they don’t see themselves as racist. They see themselves as very liberal. They’re not able to see themselves and what they’re doing and the hypocrisy of it,” Swain concludes.

“I’ll have someone look into this,” Facebook spokesperson William Nevius told Breitbart News when asked for comment.

UPDATE:

“This was an error and we’re sorry for the trouble it caused. She now has full access to her account,” a Facebook spokesperson tells Breitbart News late Thursday afternoon.

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