Washington: A major civil rights group and the White House have condemned racist text messages referencing slavery that were sent anonymously to black Americans this week as the contentious US election drew to a close.
The messages urged recipients in multiple states, including Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, to report to a plantation to pick cotton, the NAACP said on Thursday.
The message is an offensive reference to past enslavement of black people in the United States.
Supporters at Kamala Harris’ concession speech at Howard University on Wednesday.Credit: AP
High school and college students were among the recipients, the Associated Press reported. Some school districts warned students about the racist messages and urged them to report any such texts received to school staff or local authorities.
Federal and state authorities were investigating, the White House said on Friday. The FBI said it was in touch with the US Justice Department and other federal authorities about the offensive, racist messages.
“These actions are not normal. And we refuse to let them be normalised,” NAACP president Derrick Johnson said in a statement from the organisation, which advocates for racial justice and rights for black Americans.
One of the racist texts being sent to black Americans.
Johnson said the messages were a reflection of Republican Donald Trump’s presidential election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, on Tuesday, which sent shockwaves through black American communities.
Many black Americans say they anticipate a rollback of civil rights after Trump pledged to end federal diversity and inclusion programs.
