MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Local leaders say they are concerned about the state of public discourse in the country after, yet another Montgomery County official was made the target of cyberbullying.
The Montgomery County Board of Education is expected to vote on whether to make masking optional in its schools on March 8. One week ago, at a board meeting, Montgomery County School Board Member Hana O’Looney voiced her support for keeping the mask mandate in schools.
O’Looney, who is an 18-year-old senior at Richard Montgomery High School and the elected student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education, said she did not want to create anxiety for some students who are still concerned about falling ill from the coronavirus.
“I'm really afraid that if we get rid of the mask mandate, it's going to cause a lot of fear for our students and families,” she said.
Shortly after O’Looney made her comments, she said someone took a 15-second snippet of her three-minute-long speech and posted it to Twitter. That clip soon went viral.
The National Review, a conservative magazine and website, would even follow up with a story on O’Looney’s comments. It did not mention that O’Looney was a student member of the board and that she formed her opinion after speaking with other classmates in the county.
O’Looney said she received many messages from people on social media who disagreed with her opinion. She said some of the messages were offensive.
“Others have taken it to a new level where they were saying this is why we shouldn't elect Asian-Americans to public office. I can't imagine being married to this woman. Let's get her recalled. Asking for me to self-harm myself,” she said. “Just a myriad of quite offensive and aggressive comments.”
O’Looney said she decided to stop using social media for a day after receiving derogatory comments over the weekend.
She said the rhetoric made it hard for her to focus on anything else.
“That was not good for my mental well-being and was not helping me be a productive member of the board,” she said. “I'm always open to constructive criticism and hearing from people who disagree with me. But when it comes to the point where you're attacking my identity, and asking me to harm myself, that's where I draw the line.”
O’Looney’s colleagues on the Montgomery County Board of Education immediately came to her defense after the attacks against her proliferated on social media.
“This behavior is reprehensible, particularly when adults are targeting a student,” reads a MCPS statement. “We are committed to respectful discourse about the important issues affecting Montgomery County Public Schools.”
This is not the first time a Montgomery County public official has been targeted with offensive language over the internet.
In February, a person hacked into a Zoom meeting with Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando and called him racist slurs.
Last year, Montgomery County Chief Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles suddenly resigned from his role as the county’s top public health officer. Gayles said he received dozens of emails with racist and homophobic threats during his tenure. However, Gayles added the harassment he suffered played no role in his decision to resign.
Montgomery County Council President Gabe Albornoz revealed Tuesday the county has had issues finding a person to replace Gayles due to safety concerns.
“It was recently brought to my attention that a second finalist for public health officer physician in here Montgomery County went through the hiring process and ultimately turned the position down for fears and concern over the rhetoric at the national level and the impact of that rhetoric to them and their family,” he said.
O’Looney said she is concerned about the effects of online harassment on teenagers and public officials.
“When you can hide behind a username and an anonymous profile, it becomes much easier to spread negative things to other people,” she said. “And, I have definitely seen that effect in my generation where social media has caused a lot of people to doubt themselves [and] sometimes hurt themselves.”
O’Looney added she is becoming worried about the country’s ability to have an effective public discourse.
“When you start dehumanizing the opposition, then it becomes much more difficult to have productive discourse, and just more difficult to come to a solution that could make more people happy,” she said. “So, I encourage people to think critically about how they're communicating and what the best way to get their message across is because I can almost guarantee it's not best done through personal insults and attacks.”
The state of public discourse has worried parents in Montgomery County too. Montgomery County Laura Mitchell and other parents are looking to create a countywide campaign to encourage residents to be kind.
The idea is named #BeKindMoCo.
Mitchell said the parents hope the campaign to partner with MCPS and county government.
"We are a group of parents who are concerned about how our children are impacted by the negativity we see, and the treatment Ms. O'Looney received recently made it clear that we needed to make being kind intentional #BeKindMoCo," she said.