North Thurston’s Black Student Union meeting ‘Zoom bombed’ with hate speech, slurs
A Black Student Union meeting for North Thurston Public Schools students was “Zoom bombed” by unknown individuals using hate speech and racial slurs last week, school district officials say.
“We know it was extremely upsetting and harmful to those who were there,” the district said in an email to parents about 4:30 p.m. Friday. “We will not tolerate hate directed at our students and staff and will be taking action. We stand in solidarity with our BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) students, staff and allies.”
The meeting took place about 1 p.m. Thursday on the online meeting platform known as Zoom. The meeting was attended by Black Student Union members from all three of the district’s comprehensive high schools, as well as some prospective members and advisers to the group.
About 30 people attended the meeting, said adviser Sara Foppiano, who teaches visual arts at North Thurston High School.
Foppiano said the focus of the meeting was multi-faceted: recruit new members, have some fun in the form of a raffle, and continue a self-care discussion they had started earlier in the month covering pandemic fatigue, academic stress and the “racially tense climate in our country.”
Shortly after the meeting started, an unidentified user entered the meeting and remained silent. It’s typical of students online to remain quiet online, so initially Foppiano didn’t think anything of it, she said.
Then other unidentified users joined the meeting. When they didn’t introduce themselves, they were deleted from the meeting, Foppiano said. Then, those users logged back in and said the n-word aloud a couple of times, Foppiano said. That was followed by someone typing the n-word into a chat box.
By then, the advisers were scrambling to set up a new link to move the students into a different online meeting. As they helped students transition to the new meeting, Foppiano said she stayed behind in the old online meeting and someone said the n-word aloud again.
Once everyone was in the new meeting, they spent until about 2:30 p.m. “processing what had happened and how upsetting it was,” she said.
A student and two other advisers communicated with The Olympian about the incident.
“I was upset about the Zoom bombing, but not surprised,” said Tylar Alexander, a sophomore at River Ridge High School and a member of the Black Student Union.
“People are still racist and think it’s funny to make fun of people of color, and then they mask it by saying it’s dark humor,” Alexander said in a text. “Or, by saying, ‘It’s just a joke.’ I think that needs to be addressed more: knowing the difference between a joke and being racist.”
The sad part is, this is what Black Student Union members expect, this is their life experience, said adviser Christie Tran.
“This is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed at North Thurston Public Schools and in Lacey,” said Tran, who teaches visual arts at River Ridge. “We are seeking a broader impact on addressing racism in our district and in our city.”
Alliniece Andino, an adviser who teaches English and journalism, said what happened at the meeting was hurtful, shocking and painful.
“As a Black person, I purposefully avoid that word,” she said in reference to what was said during the meeting. “I hate that word.”
After the incident, Foppiano said she called Lacey police, and the advisers reached out to the district’s technology department for help in tracking down the Zoom users, but all three advisers said they were disappointed in the response. There was little that could be done, they were told by police and the help desk.
Undeterred, Foppiano said she filed an Internet crime complaint with the FBI. The advisers also explored Zoom themselves and found email addresses associated with schools outside the district. Those have been shared with the district administration, they said.
The advisers were appreciative of the message that was sent to parents on Friday, but they wish it had been shared with teachers, because those Black Student Union members are in their classes, too.
Foppiano said the incident would act as a reminder for teachers to be “hyper-vigilant” with their online Zoom meetings.
The advisers also wish the message to parents had included a stronger statement regarding social justice and support for ethnic studies. Andino thinks the district needs to hire an assistant superintendent of diversity and equity.
“I’m personally surprised and shocked at the emotional impact it has had on me,” she said about the incident. “I didn’t expect it to cut so deeply.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 5:45 AM with the headline "North Thurston’s Black Student Union meeting ‘Zoom bombed’ with hate speech, slurs."
