Black folks all through the nation, in additional than 20 states, have been getting racist textual content messages that organize them to report back to a plantation for slave labor, and quite a few different shops. The texts reference “slave catchers” and “selecting cotton,” along with warning the recipients that they are going to be searched upon arrival.
Following the 2024 election, folks in Virginia, Georgia, and extra reported receiving racist textual content messages claiming they have been ‘chosen to choose cotton on the nearest plantation.’ pic.twitter.com/XUYTyaI1Su
— Advanced (@Advanced) November 8, 2024
These hate-filled messages have been acquired by each children and adults. The “texts look like focusing on Black and Brown people, together with college students,” New York’s lawyer common Letitia James stated. Numerous AG places of work from different states have additionally issued statements.
The texts all come from unknown cellphone numbers and commenced ramping after the election on Tuesday. NAACP president Derrick Johnson stated that “these messages signify an alarming enhance in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist teams throughout the nation, who now really feel emboldened to unfold hate and stoke the flames of concern that many people are feeling after Tuesday’s election outcomes.”
I’ve been made conscious of racist and vile spam textual content messages people have acquired all through Louisiana. I’ve directed the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation to completely examine the origins of those disgusting texts that solely intend to divide us. I urge anybody who acquired… pic.twitter.com/akz37kYbXq
— Legal professional Common Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) November 7, 2024
The mom of a College of Alabama pupil who acquired one of many messages stated that “it’s eerie that it’s the day after the election. It’s eerie that it got here to my daughter’s private cellphone. It’s eerie that it’s solely going to Black college students.”
A spokesperson for Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign wrote in an announcement that it “has completely nothing to do with these textual content messages.” The FBI in an announcement, noting that it’s been in “contact with the Justice Division and different federal authorities on the matter.”
It stays unclear who despatched the texts and the way they did it. The messages focused folks of shade, suggesting that the senders had biographical info on the recipients. Most of the messages have been despatched by way of TextNow, a free app that gives cellphone numbers, texting and calling companies.
TextNow advised CNN that it believes this can be a “widespread, coordinated assault.” The service lets folks join anonymously and sends texts by way of randomly-generated cellphone numbers. It says it has been busy “quickly disabling the associated accounts.” The corporate can be “working alongside our trade companions to uncover extra particulars and proceed to watch patterns to actively block any new accounts making an attempt to ship these messages.”
When you’ve got acquired considered one of these horrific texts, lawmakers encourage you to succeed in out to your state’s AG or e-mail . It’s at the moment unknown how many individuals have acquired the messages.
