Racist texts about picking cotton target Michigan students after presidential election

This story has been updated with new information and a new image.

In the wake of Republican Donald Trump winning the presidential election, scores of Black students across the country — including many in Michigan — have reported being threatened and racially harassed in disturbing text messages that warn of being sent to a plantation to pick cotton.

The Detroit Free Press has learned of multiple such incidents in Michigan, including four Black female students at North Farmington High School, four teens in Grand Rapids and five students at Grand Valley State University, including one who reported being threatened and racially harassed by a group of people on campus after the election. Elderly folks are being targeted, too.

The source of the text message threats remain unknown as many texts are coming from different phone numbers across the country, making them difficult to trace, though they include a common theme: that the recipient "has been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation." One sent to a teenage girl in the Grand Rapids area included #MAGA. Another stated this:

“Greetings! You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation,” the message reads. “PLEASE be ready by 12 am November 15,2024! NO EXCEPTIONS !! Bring all of your belongs our Exclusive slaves will be there by 11:45 to pick you up in a Large Brown van, Be prepared to get searched and patted down once inside of the plantation A 1st cabin to your right ! -Thank you.”

A follow-up text to the same girl reads: "Please note that anyone who runs away or doesn't show up will be killed."

The girl's aunt, who lives in Grand Rapids, expressed fear and outrage.

"It's a scary time in our world, and it's a scary time in the United States," Frances Carmona, the teen's aunt, said to the Free Press on Friday. "This is America, and it shouldn’t be like this. It's just sad. And I knew weird things were going to happen after the election, but I didn't think it was going happen the next day."

According to Carmona, her niece received the text at 4:55 p.m. Wednesday while she was in her bedroom. She came down to show her mom, who then shared the text with Carmona.

"I looked at it. I was like speechless for a second," Carmona said, noting her temperament quickly changed to angry and fearful, with all sorts of bad thoughts going through her head. "But the Catholic in me came out and said, 'No Frannie, no that’s not what Pope Francis wants. That's what the devil wants.' "

After calming down, her sister called the police. When the officers arrived, Carmona said, her niece had a troubled look on her face.

"She looked distorted — like, 'Why is this happening to me?' — and I didn’t know what to tell her. I still don't know what to tell her," Carmona said, adding: "We live in an age where I thought we were past all that."

Carmona said her niece, who is biracial, and three members of her friend group all got racists texts that day, and that all were people of color. She said her niece is doing relatively well considering, though she stayed home from school Friday. She said she's doing better, too, but, she noted: "That first night, none of us got sleep, none of us."

Multiple students at the University of Alabama received similar texts, including this one:

“Be ready at 1:00 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 entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group C. Good day.” Multiple such texts were reported at the University of Alabama, according to the Crimson White.

This alarming national trend has fallen on the radar of the FBI, though the nation's top law enforcement agency will neither confirm nor deny an investigation into these texts, stating only:

"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. As always, we encourage members of the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities."

The FBI Detroit branch would not comment on any specifics of any complaints, nor would it confirm or deny that there is a local investigation into these text message threats.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, meanwhile, is urging anyone receiving these texts to report them to law enforcement.

"My department is aware of the disturbing, racist text messages that are being reported across the country," Nessel said in a statement. "We are contacting state and federal law enforcement agencies and the Anti-Robocall Multi-State Litigation Task Force to learn all we can about these potentially criminal messages and those responsible.”

Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes condemned the texts and called it “absolute nonsense” to link the president to the messages.

“If we can find the origin of these messages which promote this kind of ugliness in our name we will obviously take legal action to stop it,” Hughes said in a statement to NBC News.

“President Trump built a diverse and broad coalition of support, with voters of all races and backgrounds,” he added. “The result was a landslide victory for his common sense mandate for change. This will result in a second term that is beneficial to every working man and woman in our nation.”

Mass text messages are typically sent through companies that specialize in this service, though one such company in Michigan called TextSpot said it flagged an attempt this week to send racist messages through its platform, and blocked the effort.

"The attempt was made but no messages were sent from our system," Lance Beaudry, CEO of Grand Rapids-based TextSpot, told the Columbus Dispatch.

According to Beaudry, a new user signed up for TextSpot on Wednesday under the name "Amy jones," and listed an account phone number with a 215 area code, which is in Philadelphia. The user tried to send a message to the 215 number and a number with a Wisconsin area code. The message contained phrases "be prepared to be searched down" and "pick cotton at the nearest plantation."

Beaudry said TextSpot uses artificial intelligence to flag potential problems, particularly from new accounts, though he noted that not all blast text software platforms do this. After flagging the suspicious texts, the company relayed the information to the Grand Rapids police.

Beaudry said his team told him that targeting certain demographic groups, such as Black Americans, could potentially be done by acquiring data that had been leaked.

Meanwhile, school officials, parents and students are expressing alarm and outrage over the trend, and fear for the safety of minority students.

"These reports are heart wrenching and we are obviously taking them very seriously," Grand Valley State University officials Jenny Hall-Jones and Robert Shorty wrote in an email to students Friday. "Investigations into these reports began immediately, including alerting our state’s Attorney General and the FBI. Importantly, we are also providing care and resources to these students and will continue to support them following these incidents."

The GVSU statement stressed that it shared the information "to ensure that everyone is aware of the harassment, the steps that are being taken to hold the offenders accountable, and the resources available to those affected by the offensive behavior or need to report more such incidents.

"Choosing to care is the bedrock of who we are and we hope and encourage you all to care for each other," the GVSU statement reads. "As a community, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

Officials at North Farmington High School in Farmington Hills have not yet responded for comment.

Carmona, meanwhile, is urging all young people to stay safe. And she has a message for whoever is behind this hate campaign that targeted her niece: "Shame on them, targeting teenagers, especially female teenagers."

Contact Tresa Baldas: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Racist texts part of national trend after presidential election ends