Karra Crowley doesn’t post much on Facebook, but she learned the power of social media last Monday when an assistant called her and told her she had a big problem.
Crowley, a Texas businesswoman who was in Sacramento at the time, logged on to find a series of comments on the Black Lives Matter Sacramento page attacking her as “VILE,” a racist and a Nazi.
The only problem, Crowley says, is she was being attacked for a deeply offensive post on the BLM page that didn’t come from her.
“Shock, disbelief, I almost fell over,” Crowley said Monday recounting her reaction. “And then when I read the posts I was appalled, I was disgusted.”
Now, Crowley, who spent decades working as a real estate investor in Sacramento, is suing BLM Sacramento and founder Tanya Faison in federal court in Sacramento.
The lawsuit accuses Faison of libel, demands the posts be removed and seeks more than $75,000 in compensatory and general damages, as well as punitive damages.
Faison did not respond to a phone message Monday, but the Facebook post remained on the BLM page with 120 comments, 198 shares and 299 emoji responses.
“Black Lives Matter Sacramento limited who can comment on this post,” says a notation on the page.
The dispute began with a message to BLM Sacramento at 9:49 a.m. April 25 from someone identifying themselves as “Karra Crowley.”
“I am sick and tired of hearing about you guys on the news,” the message read. “You guys are nothing but a bunch of domestic terrorists.
“Crying because you can’t have your way about something. Why don’t you just give up, your never going to be able to change the world. EVER!!!! GROW THE F— UP. White lives matter !!!!”
More posts followed, including one reading, “Let’s bring slavery back!!!!” and another declaring “White People are kings!!!!”
The BLM Sacramento Facebook page reacted.
“So this woman Karra Crowley has been emailing us and we figured she needs to be famous. She actually owns a business called Crowley Properties in Roseville but she lives in Loomis.”
The page also stated that Crowley’s “INFORMATION HAS BEEN VERIFIED.”
“WE KNOW HER BUSINESS ADDRESS
WE KNOW HER PO BOX
WE KNOW HER AND HER HUSBANDS HOME…
SHE HAS BEEN VERIFIED”
The only problem, Crowely says, is the posts came from an email address that does not belong to her and appears to be a “burner” account set up on Google mail using her name.
Crowley says she has no idea why someone would impersonate her, and posted her own message on the Facebook page explaining that “I am NOT the person who wrote those despicable emails.”
“I absolutely do not share the views expressed in those emails and anyone who knows me would confirm that,” she added. “If you truly want to get to the bottom of this, you need to find out who created that email.”
Crowley said she emailed Faison and that Faison “made it clear she has no intention of removing that.”
She added that she felt she had no choice but to sue to get the posts removed.
“This is the last thing I wanted to do,” Crowley said. “I don’t want to get into any kind of big dispute with anybody, but she has refused to retract it.”
The lawsuit, filed by Rocklin attorney Jeffrey Ochrach, says the Facebook posts exposed Crowley to “hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy because they portray Plaintiffs as racists and ignorant.”
Crowley received calls on her cell and home phones from a caller who “said vulgar and threatening things,” the suit says.
“Defendants’ Facebook posts encouraged others to find personal information on Plaintiffs and post it – which they did,” the suit says. “Shortly thereafter, Plaintiffs’ personal information was posted to the BLM Facebook page.”
The posts “were seen and read on or about April 26, 2021 and every day after that by many people,” the suit says, adding that the BLM page has 71,739 followers.
*story by The Sacramento Bee