The FBI says it’s aware of the offensive and racist text messages being received by Black college and high school students, and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter.
Black college and high school students report receiving racist texts about being “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”
Federal, state, and local authorities are investigating the offensive messages that have been sent over the last two days.
“It’s sick and it’s wrong,” says St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones. Her 17-year old son, a high school student, received the text Wednesday night.
“This awful message that children around the country have been receiving about turning them into slaves and picking them up in an unmarked brown van,” she says. “I was furious.”
Her father, the student’s grandfather, Virvus Jones, posted the message on social media.
He says it is no joking matter to harken back to something as horrible as slvry.
“I know they may think it’s funny, but I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1947 when Jim Crow was legal, so it’s not funny to me.” he says.
Virvus Jones takes note of the timing of the texts, coming a day after a contentious, and dark, election.
He added, “What it says about this country is that there are a lot of people who would like to take us back to some form of slvry or some form of being subservient to wh*te supremacy.”
The Jones family is reporting the message, which appeared to come from a local phone number, to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
