'UES Mommas' Group Briefly Shut Down After Calls For Black Admin

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The UES Mommas Facebook group was again roiled by accusations of racism this past week when members called on the group's moderator to add a black administrator to help run the page, according to reports and posts seen on the group.

The Facebook group's moderator decided to deactivate the page entirely on Thursday. Stating her reasoning in a long-winded post to the group's page, the moderator wrote: "It is now evident to me that this group cannot serve its intended purpose in its current form."

The moderator, identified by the New York Post as Long Island resident Lindsay Berger, added that she had always intended to bring on more admins to help her run the group but that it could not be a quick process. Berger also voiced a concern that if she added a black admin would leave other groups such as Asian moms underrepresented.

"Short of appointing dozens of moderators, there is no possible way to give perfect representation to every ethnicity, religion, etc., represented in this group, and one group of members is not more or less important than another," Berger's post read.

Upper East Side mom Addy Spriggle, who is black, told the Post that she made the initial request for a black admin. In a text conversation shared with the Post, Berger tells Spriggle that she's free to leave UES Mommas.

"I thought that would be an excellent opportunity for a group that has nearly 40K women to step up in support of not just black women, but to show support for the black community," Spriggle told the Post.

UES Mommas was eventually re-activated after just a few hours with new black and Asian admins, but not before Spriggle and other members of the group who supported her were removed from the private group.

This past week wasn't the first time members of the UES Mommas faced accusations of racism. Two members of the group hired a lawyer in 2017 to sue other "mommas" for libel after they were called racist for posting conservative opinions on topics such as white supremacy and the Black Lives Matter movement. That same year, the group was the stage for a heated debate on Israel and Palestine after the author of children's book "P is for Palestine" posted in the group.