FBI Probes Origins of Racist Text Messages

Federal officials announced on Thursday that they are investigating racist text messages targeting black Americans throughout the country.
Residents in New York, Alabama, California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Ohio have reported receiving hateful messages.
The anonymous messages told recipients that they had been selected to report to a plantation to pick cotton.
The texts, which have been widely shared on social media, varied in wording but had similar tones. Some of the texts instructed individuals to meet at a specific address with their belongings, while other messages did not provide a location.
Some texts mentioned the incoming administration.
California mother Tasha Dunham reported that her teenage daughter received the message the day after the election. The message, which even included her daughter’s name, instructed her to report to a plantation in North Carolina.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said the messages serve as a reminder that the struggle against racism and discrimination is far from over.
Nimrod Chapel, Jr., President of the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, called the messages an act of terrorism.
The FBI encouraged the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities.