Attorney General James: 'Disgusting' racist texts sent to Black adults, students

Black adults and students across New York — including middle schoolers — have been the targets of anonymous "racist text messages," the state attorney general said Thursday.

Over the past few days, "Black and Brown individuals" in New York and elsewhere in the nation have received texts from unidentified senders informing them they have been "selected to pick cotton at [their] nearest plantation" or "chosen to be a slave," according to a news release from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The messages "may include personal information about the recipient such as their name or location," according to the attorney general's office.

The anonymous sender of one such message knew the first, middle and last name and address of a 15-year-old Longwood High School student, the teen’s mother, 40, of Ridge, told Newsday on Friday afternoon. Newsday is not naming the son and parent for security reasons.

A review of the text exchange between the student and the unknown sender that began at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday indicates the teen was told he would be “picked up in a white van with a Trump representative” from his area. He was told to reply, “or we will come to your house tomorrow morning to come get you.” Former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's presidential election.

After the boy responded, the sender said “we will indeed bring heavy duty armor to your house” and be at an unclear location at 6 a.m. “or else we will take matters into our own hands.”

The boy told his mother about the exchange later Wednesday night. She described reading the exchange as “very scary.”

“I didn’t even know what to do. I didn’t know if I should send him to school. I was out of my mind,” she said.

The past two mornings, the mother said she accompanied her son to his bus stop, had him text her upon his safe arrival at school, had him call her when he exited his bus in the afternoon and talk to her until he walked into their home and locked the door behind him.

“We shouldn’t be living like this,” the mother said. “He didn’t even want to go to school, he was scared.”

The mother said she filed a Suffolk County police report Thursday and told her son to report the incident to a school official on Friday. A spokesperson for the Longwood Central School District was not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.

"The racist text messages targeting New Yorkers, including middle school, high school and college students, are disgusting and unacceptable," James said in a statement, who encouraged those who received the texts to report it to her office.

Anonymous text messages sent to Black individuals also have been reported in Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee and have prompted investigations by the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies, according to The Associated Press.

New York residents who received an anonymous text message of this nature can report it to the attorney general’s Civil Rights Bureau, according to the release, by filing an online complaint, calling 800-771-7755 or sending an email to civil.rights@ag.ny.gov.