Racist text messages invoking slavery raised alarm across the country this week after they were sent to Black men, women and students, including middle schoolers, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other agencies.

Summary

Racist text messages invoking slavery were anonymously sent to Black individuals across several U.S. states, sparking investigations by the FBI, FCC, and local law enforcement.

The messages, received in states like New York, Alabama, and California, varied in wording but shared a disturbing tone, with some directing recipients to report to specific locations.

Civil rights groups, including the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center, condemned the messages, calling them deeply disturbing and perpetuating a legacy of evil.

Wireless providers are working to block the messages, which officials believe could be the work of bots or malicious actors.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 days ago

      I think it’s important to point out that this is more terrifying than it looks on the face of it. Think about it for a minute. Mass text messages going out in multiple Municipal areas harassing women of color. This ain’t your grandpappies racists. Your Average bigoted Yokel doesn’t have access to the technology to do that or the information to do that. And seeing as the FBI is on the table to be gutted soon. I don’t expect much from the investigation. And even if something comes out and they try to claim it is a single isolated person with administrator access at one of the major carriers. I would consider them more Patsy than anything. That a company would play fast and loose with that kind of access and data. Is a company that shouldn’t be allowed to exist. This should be a wake-up call to everyone to get their privacy fucking sorted. The Gestapo is watching.

      • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        6 days ago

        Trump is a symptom. Don’t get me wrong, the sooner he succumbs to his decades long suicide-by-cheeseburger the better, but shit isn’t going to get better once he finally fucks off.

        After seeing him in action for 4 years and hearing all the Nazi shit he’s said since, the average voter decided they like him even more than they did the first time - they fucking love that evil shit, and that’s the problem. When Trump is gone, some other evil fucker will step into the spotlight and the 73 million Nazis that voted to burn our country down will just focus their support over to the new guy.

        And it’s not going away with boomers or any other generation either. I had high hopes for Z, but it turns out a lot of them are little Nazis too.

        Humans are trash, and we’ll continue to live in a dumpster until we’re extinct.

    • ivn@jlai.lu
      0·
      6 days ago

      Never get used to this. I get what you are saying but I don’t think this is the right response.

        • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          6 days ago

          Yeah. I’m feeling so much contempt for my country right now, part of me feels like, had I known this about us, I’d have welcomed Trump long ago, because clearly we deserve this. Let’s just let everything get so bad they are forced to confront the wretched failure of the society they have wrought.

          What’s going to happen is in a few years the balance of power will shift, saving them from the worst consequences of the failures of far right policy, and they will learn nothing.

          Nope. Let’s not any more. Let them fucking have it. Let them fucking destroy everything just so, at the end, they can appreciate that the devastation and misery surrounding them is a monument to their own stupidity and failure.

          I sort of understand Trumpists right now. I’m so angry that I’m willing to endure misery as long as I know it’s hurting them, too.

          • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            0·
            6 days ago

            Let’s just let everything get so bad they are forced to confront the wretched failure of the society they have wrought.

            They never will.

          • DancingBear@midwest.social
            0·
            6 days ago

            I highly doubt Trump will do anything that would destabilize the stock market, never forget how self centered he is although his cronies hmmm 🤔

            • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
              0·
              6 days ago

              I mean 30% tariffs across the board will be fucking devastating to our economy. I don’t know if that will hurt stock prices themselves, but as Americans become poorer, I’m not sure where they will make up the difference. Fire more people, I guess?

              • Joeffect@lemmy.world
                0·
                6 days ago

                Stocks can only go up don’t you know the whole thing is basically rigged at this point… But seriously everyone made so much money the last time he was president… Except the people who didn’t and all that was basically wiped away with inflation so I expect that to happen again this time …