Girmay Zahilay
By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last week, a virtual town hall meeting for residents of unincorporated areas of South King County was the target of lude, rude and racist propaganda as the meeting was “zoom bombed” by a group of hackers.
King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, says the incident, which occurred during the meeting held by the King County Department of Local Services, was a display of the racist and hate-filled rhetoric that is dividing our country right now. According to Zahilay, it “felt like dozens of zoom hackers” infiltrated the town hall and “used offensive language and imagery to try and disrupt the meeting.”
The offensive acts included the drawing of a swastika on one of the meetings presentations, repeatedly using the N-word and, in one instance, drawing a penis on a Power Point presentation.
“This behavior is unacceptable,” says Zahilay. “This reflects a toxicity of racism that has gotten increasingly louder locally and nationally.”
The Department of Local Services is the arm of King County that addresses the needs of unincorporated areas in King County like Skyway, White Center and Fairwood. Where incorporated cities like Seattle and Bellevue possess their own services departments that meet the needs of things like if you have potholes that needs to be filled, Local Services handles these services for unincorporated cities.
Zahilay and other elected officials, who were invited as special guest during the town hall, were all taken aback by the disruptions caused by the “zoom bombers.”
“From what we could tell, we do not think it was members of the community [who did this] and I don’t think they came with a specific agenda,” says Aaron Sherman, communications director for Councilmember Zahilay. “It was pretty much what we would describe as common place behavior in an online culture of harassment.”
Zahilay described the vulgarity of the event and apologized to the community members in attendance.
“My deepest apologize to the Skyway residents who joined the Local Services town hall, said Zahilay.
“Offensive anti-Black, anti-Semitic and sexually explicit images and words were used during the meeting and I want to send lots of love especially to our Black and Jewish neighbors who were on the zoom call and were repeatedly subjected to the N-word and swastikas,” added Zahilay in a correspondence with The Seattle Medium.
The Local Services department was not available for comment, but it is believed by Councilmember Zahilay’s office that there is an active investigation by the King County Sherriff’s office.
To their credit, the Local Services Department team hosting the event quickly responded and were able to shut down the hackers’ persistent efforts to disrupt the meeting.
Due to the polarizing nature of local and national politics and the stresses caused by the COVID epidemic this negative behavior has become commonplace in America as seen nightly in news outlets throughout the nation, yet the community and its leaders are working diligently and desperately to combat and bring about a more positive and peaceful way of interacting with our fellow neighbors and countrymen and women.
“For those who can, let’s not allow this disgusting and targeting behavior to deflate us, divide us, or make us cynical,” Zahilay affirms. “This kind of behavior shows us even more why we need to come together, continue building coalitions, and fight harder for the better world we want to see.”
