Dr. Dennis Johnson just started [ [link removed] ]a petition to Zoom Video
Communications, Inc. to:

Create a solution to protect your users from racist cyber attacks!

[ [link removed] ]Sign now
[ [link removed] ]Profile image of Dr. Dennis Johnson dissertation slide

Dear John,

I just started a petition entitled "[ [link removed] ]Demand that Zoom immediately create
a solution to protect its users from racist cyber attacks!"

I'm a Black, first-generation college graduate from the Southside of
Chicago, who worked diligently to get to March 26th - the day I would
finally get to defend my dissertation and earn my doctorate of education
degree from California State University, Long Beach.

Due to the social distancing during the Coronavirus pandemic, the
University uses Zoom Video Conferencing for these types of presentations.
The chair of my committee made the introductions and I started presenting.
I spent the first 10 minutes gliding through my presentation. It was truly
a moment I felt ready for. As I moved into the section to discuss my
research participants, I noticed a red mark on my computer.

For a brief second I thought someone else was sharing their screen at the
same time as mine, but then more red marks appeared. Soon, more marks were
made to create the shape of a penis. I stopped my presentation and asked
my zoom facilitator if they could remove the marks. Seconds later, the
letters N-I-G-G-E-R were written on the screen followed by pictures and
videos of pornography. Like everyone else, I was shocked. My university’s
technology personnel and college department members began to scramble.
They were trying to figure out what was going on and how to take the
cyberattacker out of the Zoom meeting.

Minutes later, I along with my committee members, began to apologize to
the audience members for what has happened. I then continued with the
presentation as if nothing had happened.

After I was done with my presentation and my committee said
congratulations, "Dr. Dennis Johnson," I said thank you but I couldn’t
enjoy the moment. Truth be told, no matter how much I brushed it off, my
moment had been taken and there was nothing I could do about to get it
back. On one of my most remarkable moments of my life, I was called a
"nigger". My mother, grandmother, sister, spouse and many others were
shown images of pornography.

On Zoom’s website, the only help offered is an article on "How to Keep the
Party Crashers from Crashing Your Zoom Event". That is a slap in the face
to me. I've never been to a party where I was called a Nigger. These are
racist cyber attacks; not innocent party crashers just stopping by to say
hey.

I never want anyone to experience what happened to me. Unfortunately, this
is not the first time this has happened. Over the past few weeks, Black
people have been targeted disproportionately on Zoom by trolls who have
yelled “nigger” during children’s storytimes and professor’s open office
hours. The University of Southern California even issued an email to
professors warning them that Zoom classes had been disrupted by “racist
and vile language.”

It’s time for Zoom to create a real solution to this problem!

Ruha Benjamin, an associate professor of African American studies at
Princeton University, who has also experienced Zoombombing, has publicly
called on Zoom to change its default setting to “off” for screen sharing
to limit the potential for Zoombombing, which I support.

[ [link removed] ]Sign my petition to demand that Zoom immediately finds a solution to
prevent classrooms, organizations, POC, especially Black people from being
attacked on its platform!

Thank you,

Dr. Dennis Johnson 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[ [link removed] ]Sign now


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Join us and [ [link removed] ]start your own petition on OrganizeFor today!

[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.

<style type="text/css">

blockquote .original-only,
.WordSection1 .original-only
{
display: none !important;
}

</style>

<div class=".original-only">

You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]
</div>