Mariah Parker - Who Took Her Oath of Office on Malcolm X's Autobiography - Removed from Wikipedia

[MikeMa2]

This article discusses how Wikipedia has removed Mariah Parker's article even though she received national coverage all over the United States and the UK for her swearing in ceremony in which she chose Malcolm X's autobiography instead of the bible in addition to her music in the hip-hop genre in which she received coverage from the New York Times and NPR:
https://soundblab.com/articles/21134-erasing-mariah-parker

All, things that would demonstrate relevance. It appears they made this decision based on just not liking her politics.

Mariah was mentioned awhile back for her swearing in in this thread:
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210713452

What she had to say about this according to a Facebook post: "Thanks to the homies at Soundblab Alternative Music for holding it down. Personally, I don't care much about being Wiki-worthy, but queer black femme erasure is a thing, it can look like this, and it must be fought in all its forms."

[MikeMa2]

1. Undeletion

The article is requesting people to go to the Undeletion request page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_undeletion

A few people have already posted there. You can go to one of those sections and tell them that this decision was biased.

[MikeMa2]

2. And now a Wikipedia editor is threatening people who argue against the deletion

[Ms. Toad]

3. Here's the full delete discussion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Linqua_Franqa

My take-aways (knowing nothing bout Mariah Parker)

* The editors were rude and condescencing. Rather than neutrally explaining their concerns, they were snarky.
The author ultimately gave up and asked for the article to be deleted
* The assessment of many of the reviewers was that the article was not up to the quality of Wikipedia standards - sounding more like an advertisement for Parker than an encyclopedic entry.
* At least one editor was recommending deletion, "without prejudice against recreation in the future if and when somebody can do better than this."
* Major shortcoming seemed to be non-local coverage ABOUT Parker, as opposed to merely MENTIONING her but being ABOUT something else; and that a single well-publicized notorious event does not qualify one for a wikipedia page.

Rather than urging undeletion (which doesn't work from the link in the OP because of why it was deleted), it seems to me that those supporting a Wikipedia page would be better served by finding someone who can write in a style that is less like an adoring fan and more like a reporter of facts, and to support it with geographically diverse articles ABOUT Parker.

I know little about how wikipedia works - other than what I read trying to decipher what happened here. So I don't know whether this is an instance of being targeted as a black, queer, progressive woman. It may well be.

But I can read and decipher complex organazational guidance - and regardless of why her page was deleted - the door was left open for an absolutely smashing, well-researched and documented piece that proves them wrong about whether she is wiki-worthy. I'd show them up that way, rather than fighting what appears to be a losing battle as to the deleted page.

[MikeMa2]

5. Very Snarking and Condescending to a Black Teenager

They were totally disrespectful to the author. That's for sure and she says she is an 18 year old African American woman. She said she felt like it was a bunch of white people ganging up on her and the artist. My view is it looks bad for Wikipedia and very sleazy.

It appears that there is her music which got press coverage in some very notable sources and an appearance on a national TV program, Adult Swim, posted the day before the deletion. They completely ignored it and had made up their mind apparently. There were a bunch of articles written by Flagpole Magazine, which is essentially the only publication in Athens doing any extensive music coverage. There is also Creative Loafing in Atlanta, which does talk about Mariah and called her a prominent rapper in the region. There is a Wiki rule that says if someone is locally notable for a particular style of music then they are worthy of an article. It appears they just totally ignored the facts.

The last delete vote was from a person who started to slam Mariah and talk trash about the Malcolm X swearing in. That appears to be when the original writer decided to just give up. That last one definitely made me question the intention of the delete votes.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. My kids and I donate to the Wiki Project. We might have to rethink this if something is up.