Racist texts mentioning slavery sent to students in Stoughton
People of color around the country have been receiving racist texts following Election Day, including students at Stoughton High School.
Stoughton police said several students of color at Stoughton High School reported receiving a racist message on Thursday. The text referred to slavery and being "selected to pick cotton." These messages have been part of a nationwide trend, and the source is unknown.
"We understand that receiving a message like this is profoundly disturbing and can cause emotional distress and fear, especially for our students and staff of color," wrote Stoughton Public Schools in a statement , calling the trend abhorrent and disturbing.
These messages have been popping up other states, including New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Some have included addresses and mentioned the incoming presidential administration, according to the Associated Press .
Stoughton Public Schools encouraged anyone who received a text to report it to the current administration and they have referred the matter to the Stoughton Police Department.
The FBI is aware and now investigating, according to an official statement Thursday . They are in contact with the Justice Department and others regarding the messages and encourage people to report threats to their local authorities.
Nick Ludlum, a senior vice president for the wireless industry trade group CTIA, said: "Wireless providers are aware of these threatening spam messages and are aggressively working to block them and the numbers that they are coming from."
David Brody, director of the Digital Justice Initiative at The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said that they aren't sure who is behind the messages but estimated they had been sent to more than 10 states, including most Southern states, Maryland, Oklahoma and even the District of Columbia. The district's Metropolitan Police force said in a statement that its intelligence unit was investigating the origins of the message.
Brody said a number of civil rights laws can be applied to hate-related incidents. The leaders of several other civil rights organizations condemned the messages, including Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who said , "Hate speech has no place in the South or our nation."
"The threat — and the mention of slavery in 2024 — is not only deeply disturbing, but perpetuates a legacy of evil that dates back to before the Jim Crow era, and now seeks to prevent Black Americans from enjoying the same freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness," said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. "These actions are not normal. And we refuse to let them be normalized."
.Associated Press reporter Summer Ballentine contributed to this report
