In the background, there was the faint sound of chatter and laughter from two people seemingly unaware that they were not muffled.
“I love how her accent comes out … and speaks words she thinks are spoken,” said one woman, commenting on how Navarro had pronounced the words “represent” and “hologram.”
A man replied with a chuckle, “I heard ‘hologram’, and I thought, ‘That’s quite interesting.”
“So cute,” the woman replied with a new smile.
After the meeting, Navarro’s staff told her what had happened. She took a moment to process everything. Then she felt exhausted and angry.
“This type of comment is completely inappropriate and inappropriate,” Navarro wrote in a memo to her city council colleagues following the incident. “It’s a loud commentary on the toxicity and culture of disrespect directed at leaders and members of the community of color.”
Employers of individuals condemned their behavior
The woman speaking was a Montgomery County Council employee, according to council spokesman Sonya Healy. The man was an intern at Montgomery Community Media, an organization contracted with the city to help organize virtual meetings.
Neither was identified by officials.
Healy said the case had been turned over to the county’s personnel office for investigation.
The council said in a statement that it “would again commit us to train our staff and promote a culture that is absolutely respectful, free from bigotry, and reflects the values of Montgomery County.”
Montgomery Community Media also condemned the comments, calling the exchange a form of microaggression.
Navarro is a Venezuelan immigrant
Navarro was born in Venezuela and came to the United States when she was 10. Although her family eventually moved back, Navarro returned to the US to study at the age of 17. She and her husband moved to Montgomery County in the early 1990’s, and they’ve lived there ever since.
To Navarro, the context in which the comments about her accent were made was shocking.
“The juxtaposition of the fact that we were going through a very important moment here, spoke something that was so important to this province,” she told CNN. “… It was just really interesting how this was superimposed at that particular moment.”
What happened at this week’s rally made her all the more concerned about the way the local government served its non-white voters.
“When they talk about this elected official, what does it mean in terms of the impact this has on the delivery of government services to a community like this?” she added.
Navarro hopes this incident will prompt people to reflect on the impact of their words and actions. And ultimately, she hopes the board will step up its efforts to hire staff that reflect the diversity in its community.