Bay Valley Chinese School in Danville, California had its virtual Lunar New Year celebration on Zoom interrupted by racist language and lewd images, Mercury News reports.
The celebration started off normally until “Zoom-bombers” took over the virtual celebration.
Vivien, who was watching with her five-year-old daughter, told NBC Bay Area she saw a message in the chatroom that said “ching chong.”
“Then the racial music started and we saw nudity,” she said.
The school reported the incident to the Danville police and released a statement in response, according to Mercury News.
“At this point, through witnesses and available Zoom recording, BVCS identified some possible offenders, showing lewd images and verbalizing racial slurs in the background. We are very frustrated about the hard-to-dodge cybercrime in virtual community events like this and understand the anxiety this incident might have caused our students and guests,” the statement said.
San Ramon Valley Unified Board President Susanna Wong Ordway was invited to attend the virtual event. She released her own statement condemning the attack on the celebration.
“I am very saddened and angry at the racist incident that happened at the virtual event celebrating the Chinese New Year in our community. This is one of too many incidents that have targeted Asians and Asian Americans, including the violent attacks in San Francisco, Oakland and throughout our country,” Ordway said in a statement.
The Zoom hacking is just the latest in a string of attacks on Asian Americans in the Bay Area.
“Shame on you, you can’t tear us down,” Vivien told NBC Bay Area. “We are part of the community, this is uncalled for and you’re going to be found.”
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff, or making a financial contribution to support us.