High school and college students in Massachusetts are among the people of color around the country who have been receiving racist texts following Election Day.
Stoughton Public Schools said several students of color at Stoughton High School reported receiving a racist message on Thursday. The text referred to slavery and the recipient being "selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation." These messages have been part of a nationwide trend, and the source is unknown.
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“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.
Stoughton police said six students received the racist text messages, which it is investigating with state police, including over whether the messages were targeting certain recipients. They asked anyone in Stoughton who's received a similar message to call them at 781-344-2424.
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"The Stoughton Police Department takes this abhorrent racist behavior extremely seriously, and we're committed to conducting a thorough investigation to try to determine the source of these messages," Police Chief Donna McNamara said in a statement. "Racism in any form has no place in our schools, our community, or our society, and we will stand firm in our efforts to eradicate it."
Students at Curry College have received similar messages, a representative for the school said Friday.
"Yes, some Curry College students did receive these upsetting and racist texts, and the College emailed all students, staff, and faculty to make them aware and to make sure any student affected knew how to reach out for support through our Office of Student Affairs and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging," the representative said in an email.
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.
Stoughton parents and Curry College students were horrified by the reports Friday.
"This isn't the first time where we've had a racial issue like this and it's crazy to me that it keeps happening and nobody's really doing anything about it," Curry College student Elizabeth Miller said.
The FBI is aware and 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.
Sending messages likes these used to be something spies would do, but technology has made it easier for almost anyone to be able to do, and extremely hard to track down, cybersecurity expert Justin Armstrong said.
"People don't realize how much of their private information is out there and just how easy it is to send a bunch of text messages to a whole list of people," he said.
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
