By Steve Neavling
The FBI and other federal agencies have launched investigations into a wave of anonymous, racist text messages invoking slavery that have alarmed Black men, women, and students — including middle schoolers — across the country this week.
Reports of these messages have emerged from states such as New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, the Associated Press reports. The messages share a menacing tone, though their wording varies.
Some texts directed recipients to show up at specific locations “with your belongings,” while others did not include an address. Several messages also referenced the incoming presidential administration.
Authorities have yet to identify who is behind the messages, and there is no comprehensive list of affected areas. High school and college students were among those targeted.
The FBI confirmed that it is working with the Justice Department, while the Federal Communications Commission said it is investigating the texts “alongside federal and state law enforcement.” The Ohio Attorney General’s office has also begun an inquiry.
In Lodi, Calif., Tasha Dunham said her 16-year-old daughter received one of the messages on Wednesday evening before basketball practice.
The text, which included her daughter’s name, directed her to report to a “plantation” in North Carolina — a place Dunham said they had never lived. The address they looked up turned out to be a museum.
“It was very disturbing,” Dunham said. “Everybody’s just trying to figure out what does this all mean for me? So, I definitely had a lot of fear and concern.”
Dunham’s daughter initially thought the message was a prank, but in the tense aftermath of Tuesday’s presidential election, the family feared it could be more sinister and reported it to local law enforcement.
“I wasn’t in slavery. My mother wasn’t in slavery. But we’re a couple of generations away. So, when you think about how brutal and awful slavery was for our people, it’s awful and concerning,” Dunham said.
In Montgomery County, Pa., about six middle school students received similar messages, according to Megan Shafer, acting superintendent of the Lower Merion School District.
“The racist nature of these text messages is extremely disturbing, made even more so by the fact that children have been targeted,” she wrote in a letter to parents.
Students at major universities, including Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Alabama, also reported receiving the messages. The Clemson Police Department confirmed that it had been notified about the “deplorable racially motivated text and email messages” and urged recipients to report any incidents.
Fisk University, a historically Black institution in Nashville, Tennessee, described the targeting of its students as “deeply unsettling” in a statement. The university called for calm, suggesting that the messages were likely sent by bots or malicious actors without “real intentions or credibility.”
Nimrod Chapel, President of the Missouri NAACP, reported that Black students involved in the organization’s chapter at Missouri State University received texts referencing Trump’s victory and naming them as “selected to pick cotton” the following Tuesday. Chapel confirmed that police in Springfield, Missouri, where the university is located, have been notified.
