After being targeted online by racist comments, an African-American Rhode Island State Senate candidate has urged citizens to speak openly about race.

Jennifer Rourke, a Democrat running to represent District 29 in Warwick, held an online town hall event on Wednesday, May 27, on the video conferencing platform Zoom alongside fellow progressive Senate District 30 candidate Jeanine Calkin and Nicholas Delmonico. However, anonymous trolls used the Zoom chat log and the Q&A feature to make racist remarks towards Rourke.

“Seventeen minutes in, we were bombarded with really nasty comments,” Rourke said Monday. “They were sending paragraphs and paragraphs of the n-word and other nasty stuff.”

In addition to being called racial slurs, the racist commentators told Rourke to get lynched.

“I’ve been called the n-word my entire life. But being told to be lynched, it was lynch, lynch, lynch, that has never happened to me,” Rourke explained. “Being a mixed-race kid, you deal with a lot, but that hurts the most.”

The racist remarks come in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American man in Minnesota who died after a white police officer kneeled on his throat for over eight minutes. The officer has since been charged with murder, while protests against police brutality have erupted across the country.

In order to prevent similar events in the future, Rourke said that people all backgrounds need to begin speaking more openly about race and oppression.

“People don’t want to have that conversation [about race] because it is very uncomfortable,” she said. “But we can’t deny that it is happening. We can teach the next generation to be better.”

Rourke also recommended analyzing the source of one’s prejudices, and to not judge a book by its cover.

“Don’t look at people and just assume something because of the color of their skin,” she said. “Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper.”

The trolls also used the Q&A function of the Zoom event to make sexist remarks towards Rourke and Calkin, including “When are you going to get back into the kitchen?” and “Women don’t deserve rights.”

Rourke previously ran for District 29’s seat in 2018 but lost to Sen. Michael McCaffrey. Her childhood in low-income housing, her grandfather’s passing from cancer and the veterans in her family have made income inequality, health care and veteran’s affairs important issues in her campaign.

Despite the disruptive comments, Rourke has found support within her community. Some commentators typed messages one word at a time in the chat in order to delay the racist and sexist taunts. Others reached out to her later online or over the phone to show support.

“It’s been overwhelming, not going to lie,” she said. “Phone calls and emails, it’s been a lot. A lot of people are really, really supportive.”

On Twitter, McCaffrey condemned the behavior of the online trolls.

“I’m appalled and saddened to learn @JenRourke29 was subjected to racist attacks while discussing her @RISenate candidacy,” McCaffrey tweeted on Thursday. “There is no room for such abhorrent abuse in our society. I categorically denounce these attacks and threats. Be better, RI. Diversity brings us strength.”

The Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus, a progressive caucus of which Rourke is a member, also released a statement condemning the attacks.

“With these disturbing incidents fresh on our minds, the racist attacks on Ms. Rourke are made all the more troubling,” the statement read. “These were not strangers playing a prank, but followers of her campaign who deliberately sought to harass, humiliate and intimidate a political candidate who is a woman of color.”