COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is investigating reports of text messages sent to Black Americans in Ohio and college students across the country.
A text message was sent to people the day after Election Day, asking them to report to a plantation to pick cotton.
The wording of the messages varies slightly and comes from different numbers, but is generally worded as such:
Greetings,
You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 pm sharp with your belongings. Our executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you've enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W.
Colleges across the country received reports from students receiving similar text messages, including Clemson University, Missouri State University and University of Alabama.
A spokesperson for The Ohio State University said some students have received the “disparaging text messages.”
“We have reported the messages to the Office of Institutional Equity and are offering support services. We are aware that this is happening nationally,” the spokesperson said.
The FBI and attorney generals in several states confirmed people have received racist text messages. In a statement, Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares added that he “unequivocally condemns” them.
"It is so unfortunate that in this day and time, with all of the advances of this country and the world that we still have this kind of thought and practice in our day-to-day society,” Victor Davis, second vice president of the NAACP Columbus branch, said.
Davis said he first heard about the racist text messages Thursday morning. He said Nana Watson, NAACP Columbus branch president, informed him along with other members of the executive board.
"She had received a complaint about these text messages that were being sent out, actually to children,” Davis said.
Davis added after this week, he’s feeling mentally drained.
"I would say to whoever sent that text out, how would they feel if their child received that text?... I would hope that people would teach their children how to treat everybody as an equal human,” Davis said.
Spokespersons at the FBI’s Norfolk and Houston field offices said that, per policy, they “can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.” However, they ask anyone receiving the messages to report them to the FBI or local law enforcement.
It wasn't yet clear who was behind the messages and there was no comprehensive list of where they were sent, but high school and college students were among the recipients.