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People protesting the repeal of American Christian Heritage Month bombarded the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday with antisemitic diatribes.

Their hate-filled speeches came on the heels of a unanimous decision by the supervisors on Sept. 19 to reverse course on their original July proclamation to support a countywide Christian heritage and history month.

At the following meeting a week later, at least eight people attending via Zoom expressed strong disapproval of the change while using antisemitic slurs and tropes.

This is part of an ongoing wave of targeted harassment by white supremacist trolls in which virtual callers, attending public meetings by Zoom, have gone on antisemitic rants. Many of the callers are affiliated with the white supremacist group Goyim Defense League, which has been prompting its followers to call in.

“I’m very disappointed that you took away Christian heritage month just because a bunch of Jews asked you to,” said one caller identified as V., who disguised their voice in the call. “Tell me how many Holocaust remembrance months we have. I know it’s more than one.”

A number of Jewish residents of the county as well as civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, opposed the original proclamation because it implied that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and ran afoul of the principle of the separation of church and state.

The callers on Tuesday unleashed a litany of well-trod, false antisemitic tropes, blaming Jews for the slave trade, saying Jews control the media and claiming the Holocaust is a Jewish hoax. Several callers also directly told people to seek out the website of the Goyim Defense League.

A caller who identified themself as “Ky,” part of a fake name with a coded antisemitic slur, also brought up Christian heritage month, saying that America was founded by Christian men and that, if Jews didn’t like that, “they have their own little ethno-state called Israel. They can go rule over their own people, but the fact is they won’t because they’re parasites and they want to leech off of us.”

Ryan Messano, a well-known white supremacist who specializes in disrupting public meetings, also spoke.

After more than 10 minutes of nonstop hate speech, a caller identified as Ken spoke out about his shock.

“I’m about ready to throw up based on the last four commenters,” he said. “What these people are saying and doing is outrageous.”

Although he had called in to discuss an entirely different topic, Ken said he felt he needed to lodge his protest.

“My father was at Dachau. The Holocaust was happening. He saw the stacks of bodies,” he said. “He was ordered there by General [Dwight] Eisenhower because Eisenhower suggested in 1945 that there will be people in the future who will try to deny that this ever occurred.”

However, immediately after his call, more callers returned to white supremacist talking points.

Midway through the calls, after hearing an antisemitic slur, Wendy Thomas, chair of the board of supervisors, turned to county counsel David Livingston.

“What is the ruling on explicit, I mean, foul language?” she said. “That’s just not acceptable.”

“Sadly, I don’t believe we have any rules of conduct that would address it,” Livingston replied. “The statements, while perhaps offensive, are not disruptive to the board’s meeting. I suspect at the end of this discussion you’ll be directing me and other staff members to consider some policy regarding hate speech at board meetings.”

I’m about ready to throw up based on the last four commenters. What these people are saying and doing is outrageous.

However, that was not the case.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the board was asked if they wanted county counsel to “explore options to address hate speech at board meetings.”

After a long silence, Supervisor Lori Parlin, who voted against the original Christian heritage month proclamation, spoke up.

“We usually get through these things. And why make ourselves more of a target?” she said. “So I hesitate. We’ll get through it. We have before.”

Supervisor John Hidahl, who introduced the original proclamation on Christian heritage month, said he believed the callers were exercising their First Amendment rights, a prerequisite of good governance.

“I just wish that some of the language was cleaned up,” he said. “I mean the message is fine, but the derogatory language to some extent is hard to take.”

Supervisor Brooke Laine asked whether the board had the ability to at least mute “foul language,” but Livingston said that is tricky.

“I’m sure you all know from conversations with your colleagues throughout the state the issue of how to control certain conduct in public meetings through adoption of rules of decorum or other codes of conduct can be challenging,” he said. “Not to say that it can’t be done, but again it’s challenging.”

But public safety may outweigh decorum issues.

One caller, a woman identified as Kelly who said she was the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, had a recommendation for the supervisors: It may be necessary to let antisemites talk in a public forum, but the supervisors don’t need to sit quietly.

“I would have certainly applauded all of you if you had excused yourself,” she said. “They can talk all they want. I don’t know if you’re required to listen.”