EVANSTON, IL — City officials are considering changes to rules for public meetings after a hate group organized a group of people to speak during the portion of last week’s City Council meeting reserved for comments from the public.
Mayor Daniel Biss cut off public comment Thursday with the unanimous consent of councilmembers after a string of speakers over Zoom made antisemitic remarks, concluding after one used a racial slur toward an audience member who interrupted.
“I firmly believe in folks’ right to freedom of speech, but it’s undeniable that the comments today were disgusting,” said Ald. Devon Reid, 8th Ward.
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“It’s undeniable that there’s a coordinated effort to make those disgusting comments,” said Reid, who had encouraged the mayor to close comments, noting that the minimum 45 minutes allocated by council rules had already elapsed.
While most of the commenters seemingly coordinated by the Goyim Defense League, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, spoke over the video-teleconferencing software with their cameras disabled, one came to the lectern wearing dark glasses and a ballcap with the group’s logo.
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After arguing in favor of the right to hate speech, the speaker veered into antisemitic conspiracy theories before the mayor interrupted him and asked him to refrain from “any attacks based upon racial or ethnic or religious or other identities.”
Thursday’s meeting is not the first time that a public meeting in Evanston has been disrupted by the broadcast of racist hate speech or child sexual abuse materials.
The same hate group has previously been blamed for distributing its antisemitic propaganda in plastic bags weighed down with rice.
The group’s Florida-based founder was sentenced to 30 days in jail in November following a conviction for “attempted littering” in connection with the distribution of antisemitic propaganda in West Palm Beach earlier last year.
On Monday, Evanston’s city manager, city clerk and every member of its City Council issued a joint statement describing the incident as “extremely disturbing.”
City officials said there was no indication that any of the speakers whose comments contained “antisemitic conspiracy theories, racial epithets, graphic and vulgar hateful fantasies, and other offensive and dangerous rhetoric” were residents of Evanston.
“All of us were deeply troubled and shaken by this display, which has been particularly traumatic for our Jewish community,” they said in the joint statement.
“Rhetoric like this is incompatible not only with our community’s values (and basic human decency) but also with our commitment to holding inclusive Council meetings where all residents feel comfortable and safe expressing their views,” the officials continued.
“Therefore, we will explore legal options to further protect the community from this type of abuse,” the statement continued. “That said, the First Amendment, as well as the Open Meetings Act, impose serious constraints on what we can do about this, and we will always maintain our commitment to follow all applicable laws.”
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