Vallejo City Council bombarded with racist, antisemitic public comments

VALLEJO – A series of racist and antisemitic public comments made over Zoom during the Vallejo City Council meeting on Tuesday night prompted the council to discuss the limits of free speech at the community forum. 

The apparently organized campaign included several speakers who used racial slurs and one who espoused Holocaust denial. They expressed sentiment against efforts to promote racial equity and anti-immigrant sentiment. Several callers defended their actions by citing their right to free speech. 

One speaker played a song against reparations for slavery which included an anti-Black slur, which enraged Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz. 

“You need to get a life! One thing is to have free speech, but this is out of control! Get a life! Get a job! Do something with your life instead of calling in and offending people,” she said.

The comments appear to be part of a nationwide campaign to troll online forums with bigoted content. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism says that it has been tracking a trend of people using public comment at online meetings, especially those with the option to call in virtually, to push antisemitic, white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ+ narratives.

In the Bay Area, that has led several cities to end remote public comment, a practice that started in Vallejo during the COVID-19 pandemic when City Council meetings were held online. Tuesday night’s disruption led the Vallejo council to consider taking similar steps, particularly as remote comment allows comments from outside the city or immediate area.

City manager Mike Malone said that it was his understanding that the comments need to relate to issues that are under the purview of the council, but Mayor Robert McConnell said that it is not clear if speech can be limited on that basis.

City Attorney Veronica Nebb suggested that the staff agendize an information session and discussion of whether or not to continue taking public comment on-line and McConnell affirmed that he would like staff to agendize the item.

Resident Anne Carr, who regularly participates in council meetings over Zoom, pointed out that online public comment allows for a wider variety of the community to participate. She said that people who have transportation challenges or need to take care of children at home should not be blocked from participating because some commenters abuse the process.