African Americans across the country and the St. Louis region have received racist text messages since Election Day saying they have been “selected to pick cotton.”
Black parents posted the messages Wednesday to social media to see if other children had received the texts. Variations of the messages came from different area codes, and some included the recipients' names. Many read: "Greetings. You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12AM NOVEMBER 13 SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you've entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group D."
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones was with her 17-year-old son on Wednesday night when he received the hateful message. She said in a statement that she is furious about the messages to children.
“It is completely unacceptable that anyone should have to deal with being referred to as property or less than any other human being, especially in a society where Black and Brown people have always been treated as second-class citizens, if we’ve been treated as citizens at all,” Jones said. “The fact that this message is going around, is a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do to get rid of this kind of ugliness in our country. I’m afraid it is only going to get worse, as our nation is once again about to have a man at the top of our government who, time and time again, degrades other human beings because of their race, gender, or disability.”
Jones received a similar message Friday morning to her work and personal emails with the subject line “Greetings Nigger.” She posted a screenshot of the message to her personal Instagram account with the caption: “Come for me if you want to. I promise you, you will NOT like it if you try.”
Cal Brown, the stepmother of Michael Brown Jr., said her 15-year-old son received one of the racist text messages on Wednesday after he got home from school. She did not react immediately because she did not want to upset her children.
Many of the texts include specific “plantation” groups categorized from A to D that Black people would be subjected to. After reading the texts, she thought that the sender purposefully targeted teens to get a rise out of them, but she said her son was not affected by the message.
“It’s 2024 now, we should be trying to work together, because racism is not only [affecting] Black people,” Brown said.
For Brown, hurtful threats toward her family is not new. Since the killing of Michael Brown Jr., she said her family has received hate mail and other racist and life-threatening messages. She encourages parents to talk with their children about racism and listen to them, because they often have positive perspectives to add to the conversation.
Schools in the region are on high alert after students have reported the messages. Ladue School Superintendent Jim Wipke reassured the community that the school district is aware of the messages and will not tolerate hate in its schools.
“Historically, when nationwide swatting incidents have occurred, copycat threats have shortly followed, which not only interfere with the learning environment but also cause anxiety for our students, families, staff, and community,” Wipke said in an email Thursday evening to parents and staff. “Rest assured, the safety of Ladue students is our number one priority.”
TextNow, the online site that provides free phone numbers, said on Friday in an email that it has discovered that one or more of its accounts were used to send text messages that violated their terms of service. The company says its trust and safety team has disabled related accounts.
“As part of our investigation into these messages, we learned they have been sent through multiple carriers across the US and we are working with partners and law enforcement cooperatively to investigate this attack,” a spokesperson said. “We do not tolerate or condone the use of our service to send messages that are intended to harass or spam others and will work with the authorities to prevent these individuals from doing so in the future.”
The FBI and local authorities are investigating these offensive text messages and are encouraging people to report physical threats to local law enforcement agencies.
Local civil rights groups have also sent some of the messages to local authorities. The NAACP St. Louis County chapter says it saw an increase in racist rhetoric and hate speech in area schools after the 2016 election, and leaders expect to see a continual rise over the next four years.
Divisiveness has been put into place during this political season, NAACP St. Louis County chapter President John Bowman said.
“It emboldens people who have suppressed thoughts of racism to go public, but then not really, because they don't sign their names to it,’ he said. “This is how cowards operate, and the one thing you cannot do is allow cowards to think that they have placed fear in your heart and you can’t go about your day-to-day lifestyle.”
Marissanne Lewis-Thompson contributed to this report.
