Online Louisville youth anti-violence conference disrupted by 'vulgar', 'racist' imagery

An online Louisville youth conference focusing on violence prevention was interrupted Saturday by "vulgar images" and "racist words," according to officails.

The inaugural "502Con" event was organized by local youth leaders in partnership with Louisville officials and scheduled from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday via Hopin, an online events platform.

The conference, which was forced to go virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic, was focused primarily on violence prevention among youth as part of National Youth Violence Prevention Week.

But other topics like education, local and state politics, economic development, arts, networking and the 2020 Census were also among the discussion topics.

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At some point midway through Saturday's event, an unidentified person or persons disrupted the live stream with "vulgar images" and "racist words," according to U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, who was among the local, state and federal officials speaking during 502Con.

Additional details were not immediately available.

"The cowardice of these ignorant bigots—those who hide their hate behind virtual anonymity & get satisfaction from attacking those uniting in compassion—is really just pathetic," Yarmuth tweeted Saturday. "I remain inspired by the leaders of @502_con who came together to combat hatred and violence and refuse to back down in the face of it."

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who partnered with local youth leaders Imani Smith, Jailen Leavell and Ahmaad Edmund as well as the Metro Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods and the Youth Violence Prevention Research Center to organize the event, expressed similar sentiment.

"I am so proud of and inspired by the young people who organized today’s @502_con. The sick person who disrupted the event will never disrupt the commitment and will of these strong young people," Fischer tweeted. "I stand with them as they continue working to combat hate and violence."

502Con was inspired by YARD CON, a national conference for black students.

Individuals from the ages of 13 to 30 years old were encouraged to participate in 502Con, according to a news release, although anyone could register for the free event.

“Our hope is for 502Con to raise public awareness surrounding the issues of violence in the city by bringing together youth from all neighborhoods to discuss the crucial problems and root causes that lead to violence of all types across all demographics,” said Imani Smith, a member of the Mayor’s Youth Implementation Team, in the news release of Saturday's event.

Bayley Amburgey, a recent University of Louisville graduate and community organizer who attended the conference, posted a video to Instagram after the incident, which she said featured someone blasting music featuring the "N-word" with the hard "r."

"Graphic porn" was also shown as part of the interruption, Amburgey said, adding that the intrusive material was shared after the conference had moved to Zoom following technical difficulties on the Tunein platform.

Amburgey told The Courier Journal in an email that she made the video as "a young black woman who has faced very blatant first hand racism" and "because I wanted folks to truly understand the impact that situations like this have on black people like myself and many of the others present in that chat."

She is also encouraging others to contact Zoom and demand the technology company better respond to incidents of "white supremacy" on its video platforms.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com or 502-582-7030. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.