NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – Last Thursday the Northampton City Council meeting was abruptly disrupted by numerous anti-Semitic and racist remarks over zoom.
What was supposed to be a normal meeting on November 2nd to discuss an array of topics was quickly derailed during the public comments section because of some disturbing comments.
People over Zoom using fake names and their cameras turned off began making anti-Semitic and racist statements during their allotted two minutes. The Northampton Council members decided to take a break after hearing the appalling statements, but eventually got back to the meeting.
22News spoke to Stanley Moulton, one of the Council members, who doesn’t believe they should get rid of the public comment’s section but they should very much stay attentive to antisemitism and that all hate has no place in the City Council meetings. “The law does not require public bodies to have public comment, obviously it is desirable to have public comment and will continue to have public comment, so we need to continue to be vigilant about any hate speech,” Moulton stated.
And this unfortunately isn’t new to Northampton, a similar incident occurred at a Board of Health meeting in December of 2021, when there was also a string of anti-Semitic remarks.
The Northampton City Council met Thursday at 4:30 and one of their goals was to address how to stop people from ever doing this again, especially now as anti-Semitic hate is on the rise.
Heath Kalb is a reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since 2022. Follow Heath on X @HeathKalb and view his bio to see more of his work.
