Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
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Title: Black people across the country have been getting racist texts about
slave plantations

Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:30:59 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/black-peopl...

Black people throughout the country, in more than 20 states, have been
getting racist text messages that order them to report to a plantation for
slave labor, according to reporting by CNN and numerous other outlets. The
texts reference ΓÇ£slave catchersΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£picking cotton,ΓÇ¥ in addition to
warning the recipients that they will be searched upon arrival.

Following the 2024 election, people in Virginia, Georgia, and more reported
receiving racist text messages claiming they were ΓÇÿselected to pick cotton
at the nearest plantation.ΓÇÖ pic.twitter.com/XUYTyaI1Su

ΓÇö Complex (@Complex) November 8, 2024

These hate-filled messages have been received by both kids and adults. The
ΓÇ£texts appear to be targeting Black and Brown individuals, including
students,ΓÇ¥ New YorkΓÇÖs attorney general Letitia James said. Various AG
offices from other states have also issued statements.

The texts all come from unknown phone numbers and began ramping after the
election on Tuesday. NAACP president Derrick Johnson said that ΓÇ£these
messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from
racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and
stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after TuesdayΓÇÖs
election results.ΓÇ¥

I have been made aware of racist and vile spam text messages individuals have
received throughout Louisiana. I have directed the Louisiana Bureau of
Investigation to fully investigate the origins of these disgusting texts that
only intend to divide us. I urge anyone who received…
pic.twitter.com/akz37kYbXq

ΓÇö Attorney General Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) November 7, 2024

The mother of a University of Alabama student who received one of the
messages said that ΓÇ£itΓÇÖs eerie that itΓÇÖs the day after the election.
ItΓÇÖs eerie that it came to my daughterΓÇÖs personal phone. ItΓÇÖs eerie
that itΓÇÖs only going to Black students.ΓÇ¥

A spokesperson for Donald TrumpΓÇÖs presidential campaign wrote in a
statement that it ΓÇ£has absolutely nothing to do with these text
messages.ΓÇ¥ The FBI has addressed the situation in a statement, noting that
itΓÇÖs been in ΓÇ£contact with the Justice Department and other federal
authorities on the matter.ΓÇ¥

FBI Statement on Offensive and Racist Text Messageshttps://t.co/vpQYAO6LT7
pic.twitter.com/iDtN36WhX4

ΓÇö FBI (@FBI) November 7, 2024

It remains unclear who sent the texts and how they did it. The messages
targeted people of color, suggesting that the senders had biographical
information on the recipients. Many of the messages were sent through
TextNow, a free app that provides phone numbers, texting and calling
services.

TextNow told CNN that it believes this is a ΓÇ£widespread, coordinated
attack.ΓÇ¥ The service lets people sign up anonymously and sends texts via
randomly-generated phone numbers. It says it has been busy ΓÇ£rapidly
disabling the related accounts.ΓÇ¥ The company is also ΓÇ£working alongside
our industry partners to uncover more details and continue to monitor
patterns to actively block any new accounts attempting to send these
messages.ΓÇ¥

If you have received one of these horrific texts, lawmakers encourage you to
reach out to your stateΓÇÖs AG or email OAGCivilRights@dc.gov. ItΓÇÖs
currently unknown how many people have received the messages.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-
tech/black-people-across-the-country-have-been-getting-racist-texts-about-
slave-plantations-173059798.html?src=rss

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