Lorgia Garcia Peña, the Roy G. Clouse Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, participated in a virtual guest lecture about violence against women of color with three professors at the University of Georgia that was attacked by a Zoombomber.
The approximately 40-minute lecture by Dr. Garcia Peña discussed how the killing of Black Dominican feminists, in an attempt to silence their activism, was countered by the kinship and community networks of the larger Afro-Dominican Diaspora.
The Zoombombing lasted about five minutes. Dr. Garcia Peña and three organizing professors from the University of Georgia were called racial slurs, had death threats made against their families and repeatedly had their home addresses posted in the Zoom chat. One speaker shouted they were members of the Ku Klux Klan, and a video of a dismembered body was also shown.
University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead issued a statement that read, “The vitriol spewed forth in last night’s Zoom lecture targeting members of our University community — specifically our Latinx, Black and LGBTQ members — is despicable. I abhor this disgusting behavior and stand with those across campus who were subjected to this outrageous act.”
