In a recent San Bernardino, California, city council meeting, a Black woman named Amy Malone was subjected to racial slurs.
The incident has since sparked criticism of leadership’s response.
During the meeting on Oct 18, Malone expressed her concerns regarding the hiring of Charles Montoya as the city manager.
However, her statement was interrupted by two men on Zoom who used derogatory terms, including the N-word, as reported by NBC Los Angeles.
The audio during the meeting was muted due to the offensive language. Nonetheless, NBC Los Angeles confirmed that one of the men told Malone to “Go back to Africa,” while both repeatedly used racial slurs.
In response to the racial slurs, Malone called on city officials to apologize instead of being told to wait by Mayor Pro Tem Fred Shorett.
Malone expressed her disappointment with how city officials addressed the situation, stating that she had hoped they would take control, stop the incident, and allow her to regain composure.
“I was hoping that the people in charge were going to take control and really stop everything for a moment and shut it down and allow me to get myself together, and that’s not what happened,” she said.
The local police are investigating the incident and have gathered the men’s IP addresses. The local NAACP chapter also criticized the “disgusting” comments.
City leaders, including Mayor Helen Tran, held an event to publicly denounce the remarks and issued an apology. They mentioned that they are reviewing remote comment protocols to prevent such incidents from happening again. Mayor Tran emphasized that the comments of two individuals do not reflect the values of the city of San Bernardino.
Amy Malone has called for the individuals responsible for the racial slurs to be charged.
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