"An attack on our Asian-American community is an attack on all of us"
Boston Globe reports that a Chinese class at Newton South High School was ‘Zoom-bombed’ with racist abuse.
Officials stated that hackers infiltrated the online class, which was using Zoo, with “vile, hate-filled images and speech.”
Due to self-isolating as a result of the Coronavirus, people are using Zoom to communicate and hold meetings and lectures.
In March, the company announced it had over 200 million users, – a staggering increase from its usual 10 million.
Officials added that the hack was an example of the increasing racism towards the Asian American community.
Rep Judy Chu recently revealed there are 100 incidents of targeted racial hate a day towards Asian Americans as a consequence of Coronavirus racism.
Joel Stembridge, Newton South’s principal, wrote to the school community Thursday morning, calling the episode “clearly racist, hateful, and horrible.”
“This was a traumatic experience for our teacher and students, and we will continue to offer support to everyone involved,” Stembridge said via e-mail.
“To be clear, an attack on members of our NSHS Asian-American community is an attack on all of us. We will be working on a plan for responding — I will share more about this soon.”
The school cancelled Zoom meetings on Thursday as its IT department checked security protocols. Online classes are set to resume on Friday.
“Our counseling staff is reaching out to every student today,” McDonough said. “We are scheduling a meeting with student leaders and teachers to plan a response. Hate speech and racism have no place at South and won’t be tolerated.”
Local police are investigating the incident with the help of teachers and students.
“This is a trying time for all of us, and events such as these underscore the fragility of this new environment in which we are working,” Stembridge wrote.
“We’ll have more work to do to ensure that we can continue to support students and build a safe, connected online community.”
In related news, a group of men were seen spitting at the front-door of a house belonging to Asian Americans amid the Coronavirus pandemic.