'Heinous' Death Threat, Racial Slurs On Zoom During Town Meetings

SOUTHOLD, NY —An inauguration day deemed historic in Southold Town was marred as a member of the public sent hate-filled comments and a racist death threat during a town board meeting held on Zoom.

According to Sonia Spar, co-chair of the Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force, a similar incident occurred during the group's December meeting. The ABTF has sent two letters to the town board and to the Southold Police Department asking for an investigation, which has been launched.

"Obviously these two incidents are very disturbing and very similar in nature," said Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley. "I know that the town is working hard to identify how their Zoom account is bring compromised. We are actively investigating these two incidents and conferring with computer crime units that we have access to."

Brian Mealy took his oath Tuesday, the first African-American man elected to hold public office. Speaking to Patch, said he was disappointed but, due to his past work as a school board and BOCES member, realizes that sometimes, hackers and others do compromise public computer systems.

"It was very disturbing, the things that were said. But we as a community have to reject those statements and stay as strong as possible," he said. "I know that's not what Southold is about."

While, he said, "it is hurtful," the incident has also brought the community together to speak out against such behavior.

The first letter sent by the ABTF by Spar, ABTF co-chair Val Shelby and secretary Christopher North, detailed the account of a "Zoom bombing" that took place on December 20.

"The teleconferencing session was hijacked by the repeated insertion of language that was extremely racist and obscene," the letter said.

That incident, she said, was a coordinated attack by three different individuals and Zoom users who were already present in the virtual room by the time the session started.

"As ABTF members were signing in, one of these three people requested to speak. Since the meeting is open to the public, his microphone was enabled and the person began yelling extreme racial slurs. His microphone was disabled immediately," the letter said.

Next, the letter said, the three individuals inserting obscene messages in the Q & A
and the chat space.

"This all continued until about four to five minutes later, when we were forced to close the meeting," they wrote.

The ABTF asked that the town's IT department track the users, so that they might be held accountable and potentially charged with harassment.

Two other members of the ABTF, Laura Held and Emily Geiger, also wrote a letter to the town board and police chief about the Jan. 4 town board meeting, saying the anonymous person inserted language that was "hateful, racist, obscene and also included a death threat."

They asked that the incident be investigated as a hate crime.

Of Tuesday's death threat, Spar said: "It is heinous! A death threat is a crime and the clear racist component makes it a hate crime and it should be investigated as such. Supervisor Russell denounced it and we as a community should come together to denounce it and all forms of hatred and bigotry."

Spar said the behavior should be decried particularly on the internet, "which has become a platform for those who feel emboldened to spew their racism and hate. We are stronger together and we need to speak out against it."

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said the town is investigating how the incident transpired.

"It's happened in the past, not just at town meetings but, other Zoom meetings I have been a part of. We set up Zoom so there is no chat option," he said. " Apparently, someone can get in and change the administrator which gives them the ability to activate the various Zoom functions. We are not sure how it happened yet. It may have been a glitch, human error or someone who was able to manipulate our account."

Russell said Zoom is intended to provide people with another option to communicate with the town board and for the board to interact with the public.

"You try to expand that communication and, sometimes, nameless, faceless cowards exploit that to spew their racist filth. Courage created by nothing more than a keyboard and a false name to hide behind. We will identify the problem and take any action necessary to prevent it from happening again," Russell said.

Mealy, when running, said he would be honored to represent all the people of Southold. "If I'm elected I would make history as the first African American man elected to Southold office," he said, in the weeks preceding the election. "With the help of the good people of Southold it would be such an honor to realize that historic moment."

Mealy said he will not let the incidents deter him from his commitment to "our beloved community."

Mealy said regardless of party, he believes in working together for all the people of Southold Town and that his focus is on community, not politics.

The Zoom incidents, he said, "do not distract from the good work" and the sense of hope the election brought, with the election of Democrats bringing balance to what had long been a mainly Republican board.

"The trajectory now is to move forward, for the Town of Southold," Mealy said. "In one of my first speeches, I said that Southold was a place of hope."

Spar said the work to stamp out hatred and racism will continue: "As individuals we need to make that choice. Not to remain silent. But to take action and when we do it, as a community we will support each other and work toward a mutual goal. While MLK said, 'It starts with me,' I am not alone in the fight for respect, dignity and decency."