Racist 'Zoom Bombing' Targets Enumclaw School Board Meeting

Seattle WA

02 December, 2021

3:31 PM

Description

ENUMCLAW, WA — A recent Enumclaw school board meeting was overtaken by racist intruders, in a "Zoom bombing" that prompted a full investigation by the school district and the city's police department. According to The Washington Post, the district's Black superintendent, Shaun Carey, was speaking during a hybrid virtual and in-person meeting in late November when he was interrupted by someone who played an audio loop of racist slurs. After the district removed the user from the chat, a second man, described as elderly and white, took over and played the same audio. In a message shared on the district's website, the school board condemned the intrusion as "acts of hate" and said future public comment periods would be limited to in-person attendees. "The Board of Directors stands with Dr. Carey and the Enumclaw School District against acts of hate. The actions during the last board meeting will not be tolerated. It remains the goal of the district and the board to ensure ALL feel safe, welcomed, respected and valued within our schools and our communities. Let it be clear, hate has no home here. Moving forward, those wishing to address the board during public comment must do so in person. Virtual attendance will be for viewing only." The board leadership said more than one person was involved, and investigators identified two IP addresses linked to separate Zoom accounts. In a news release shared earlier this week, Enumclaw police called the incident "deeply disturbing, disruptive, and intolerable" and said it was being investigated as a hate crime. "This ongoing investigation may require a number of search warrants to capture data to identify the unique addresses of the devices used to disturb the meeting," the department wrote. "This case is being investigated as an intentional hate crime. Additional law violations pertaining to disturbing a school board meeting and disorderly conduct are being weighed." Investigators urged the public to be patient with the investigation and to avoid being "influenced by false social media chatter." Anyone with information that could help the case was encouraged to contact the department at 360-825-3505. Carey addressed the incident in a letter posted the day before Thanksgiving. His letter reads in part: "Sadly, I had an experience this week that although wasn't completely foreign to me in my many years of life, left me unsettled and disheartened. Without going into much detail, our monthly board meeting was interrupted with spontaneous hate speech that left most of those in attendance shocked and appalled. The words and images used were aimed at degrading people of color. Regardless of whether or not the two individuals who carried out this hateful act were random 'zoombombers' or members of our community, the actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated." As The Washington Post notes, the Enumclaw "Zoom bombing" is the latest in a series of similar incidents since the pandemic began and meetings shifted to virtual platforms. Most recently, such disruptions have targeted in-person and online school meetings, prompting the U.S. Attorney General to direct the FBI to address the nationwide spike in October.