FBI Investigates Racist Texts Sent Across US After the Election

The FBI on Thursday said the bureau is investigating reports of several racist text messages sent across the nation to Black Americans, including children.

“The FBI is aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter,” the bureau said in a statement.

“As always, we encourage members of the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities,” it added.

The Associated Press (AP) reported that the messages were sent to Black people, including women and children, in states including Alabama, California, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee. CNN reported that people in Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina also said they received texts.

The Federal Communications Commission also said it was looking into the matter, as did the Ohio attorney general’s office, according to the AP.

NBC News reported that dozens of Black people around the country have said they received the messages, which were sent shortly after the 2024 presidential election.

President-elect Donald Trump won the race by notching 295 Electoral College votes, easily clearing the 270-vote threshold required to seal the presidency. Results from Arizona and Nevada are still pending.

According to NBC, the text messages sent to Black people included slurs referencing slavery, cotton-picking and plantations.

Among those targeted were in college, high school and middle school, the AP reported.

One woman, Monèt Miller, told NBC News that she received a text on Wednesday morning, shortly after the election was called for Trump.

“Greetings Monet M, You have been selected to pick cutton [sic] at the nearest plantation,” the text message said, per a screenshot provided to NBC. “Be ready at 12PM 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 [sic] the plantation. You are in Plantation Group S.”

The FBI has not released any information about who was responsible for sending the texts, nor is it clear where they originated.

Another woman who lives in California told the AP that her 16-year-old daughter received a text telling her to go to a “plantation” in North Carolina.

The texts have sparked fear and concern among people in marginalized communities who often found themselves targeted by Trump and his surrogates during a heated election season.

When reached for comment on the FBI investigation, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung sent the following statement via email to Newsweek: “Are you accusing the campaign of having anything to do with these texts? If so, I’d like to speak with the legal counsel for Newsweek because that’s an asinine and defamatory accusation.”

The president-elect drew backlash for questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity during the campaign.

“And now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said while addressing the National Association of Black Journalists in August. “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

Harris is biracial; her mother was Indian and her father is Black.

In 2020, during his first term, Trump also suggested that he had “done more for Black Americans than anybody, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. Nobody has even been close.”

As the George Floyd protests erupted in 2020, Trump fielded blowback over his handling of the demonstrations, at one point writing on X, formerly Twitter, that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

The president-elect ran his 2024 campaign on the pledge to initiate mass deportations on “Day 1” of his presidency, and he drew sharp scrutiny for spreading the falsehood that Haitian migrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets.

Update 11/07/24, 9:55 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.