To Friends of Eastside For All:
Thank you to everyone who participated in our online event, “Equitable Economic Development: Embracing Opportunities for Our Region”, this past Friday, September 17th.
This was a key event for Welcoming Week on the Eastside, with co-sponsors including the cities of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, and Sammamish, and OneEastside. The keynote and guest speakers were people of color as were the majority of local leaders who spoke about their work in the community.
I am reaching out to address the Zoom bombing that took place early on in the event, and to share with you the steps we are taking to ensure a safe environment for future online events.
This incident was not an isolated incident on the Eastside. In June of this year, hackers posted racial slurs and white nationalist messages on the Lake Washington School District’s website. As the use of online meeting platforms such as Zoom soared during the pandemic, so have incidents of hackers spewing hate speech and racist vitriol. Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change, the United States’s largest online racial justice organization, warned back in 2020 of the “immediate danger” Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities face online. Robinson explained, “these are not pranks, but a coordinated effort to terrorise marginalised groups who are disproportionately targeted online.”
Shortly after the event started, several individuals hacked into the meeting and were able to override the Zoom setting that restricted screen-sharing to hosts. The hackers also disrupted the audio, talking and shouting mostly indiscernible words. They wrote on the screen “Welcome to the party,” followed by the n-word. We ended the event and emailed invitations to registrants to a new format where we proceeded with our program.
A report was made to the Kirkland Police Department. Officers are in ongoing communication with us regarding the status of the investigation. Eastside for All (EFA) also submitted a report on its own behalf via the Hate and Bias Incident Report survey supported by the King County Coalition Against Hate and Bias, of which EFA is a member.
EFA will not allow incidents like this to diminish or disrupt our work. The experience merely fortifies our determination to address racism and bias-motivated violence. Beyond beefing up safety precautions on Zoom, this incident speaks to why our work, and the work of our partners who are addressing racism in all its forms, is so important and must continue.
Some personal reflections: After the initial shock and upset wore off, I’m left with a deep sense of sadness that there are fewer and fewer places of safety for our community members of color. I’m disheartened that so many came in the spirit of learning and wanting to do better in our communities, only to be violated in this hurtful way.
I am especially aggrieved by the harm done to our Black community members at the event. Seeing a racial slur on the screen at a community forum is yet another wound contributing to the racial trauma that’s inflicted over and over again.
We need the racist terrorism and violence to stop. We are tired of calling for a sense of urgency. Intermittent attention in the aftermath of incidents large and small is not helpful. We need committed, invested people throughout our communities who take action against racism at individual, institutional, and systemic levels.
Eastside For All is committed to supporting community members experiencing hate and bias through awareness-building and advocacy efforts. We urge all parts of our community to acknowledge that acts of hate and bias are taking place in our schools, stores, parks, and workplaces. Let’s prioritize building meaningful and effective responses that center solutions from impacted communities.
We are currently working with various partners to plan a fall forum focused on school-related incidents of hate and bias, centering youth experiences and solutions. See an overview of our anti-hate and bias work here, and join EFA’s email list for announcements. Concerned community members can get involved by visiting our website, our Facebook page, and joining our events.
Thank you for the support and encouragement that’s been pouring in.
Sincerely,
Debbie Lacy, Eastside For All Founder