Racist and anti-LGBTQ+ texts target Americans across US, including teens [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Fri 15 Nov 2024 18.18 EST
Last modified on Fri 15 Nov 2024 21.04 EST


Racist text messages targeting Black people across the US just hours after Donald Trump won a second presidency have now expanded to the Hispanic communities – and homophobic versions have been aimed at LGBTQ+ people, the FBI said on Friday.

Authorities say they are investigating the messages – which now include emails – and that they have not received reports of violent acts stemming from the hateful messages. The recipients of the messages include high school students being told that they have been “selected for deportation or to report to a re-education camp”, the FBI said in a statement.

After the 5 November US presidential election saw Trump returned to the White House, Black Americans reported receiving racist text messages telling them they had been “selected” to pick cotton and needed to report to the “nearest plantation”.

Black people in states including Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Nevada, and in Washington DC and elsewhere, reported receiving the messages. The messages were sent to Black adults and students. Some of the texts were signed “a Trump supporter”. Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, said the campaign “has absolutely nothing to do with these text messages”.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/homophobic-anti-migrant-texts-election-fbi