Massachusetts students receive ‘racist’ texts after election, police investigating

Local police are investigating “abhorrent racist” text messages that were sent to students as part of a nationwide trend after the election.

Stoughton Public Schools administrators on Thursday were alerted that six students, including students of color, received the racist text messages.

The anonymous messages have also been reported in several states, including Alabama, California, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

Stoughton Public Schools contacted Stoughton Police, and the department began an investigation. Police are investigating whether the text messages were targeted toward certain students.

“The Stoughton Police Department takes this abhorrent racist behavior extremely seriously, and we’re committed to conducting a thorough investigation to try to determine the source of these messages,” Police Chief Donna McNamara said in a statement.

“Racism in any form has no place in our schools, our community, or our society, and we will stand firm in our efforts to eradicate it,” the police chief added.

Stoughton Police are working with Massachusetts State Police and the Commonwealth Fusion Center to share information and investigate the matter. Stoughton Police are also continuing to collaborate with Stoughton Public Schools.

Police are urging any Stoughton students who received a similar text message to contact Stoughton Police at 781-344-2424.

The FBI issued a statement on Thursday about the racist text message nationwide trend.

“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 FBI said in a statement.

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

The Associated Press reported that some of the texts instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time “with your belongings,” while others didn’t include a location. Some of them mentioned the incoming Trump administration.

Tasha Dunham of Lodi, California, told the AP that her 16-year-old daughter showed her one of the messages Wednesday evening.

The text not only used her daughter’s name, but it directed her to report to a “plantation” in North Carolina, where Dunham said they’ve never lived. When they looked up the address, it was the location of a museum.

Missouri NAACP President Nimrod Chapel said Black students who are members of the organization’s Missouri State University chapter received texts citing Trump’s win and calling them out by name as being “selected to pick cotton” next Tuesday.

“This is terrorism plain and simple,” Chapel said in a statement. “It points to a well-organized and resourced group that has decided to target Americans on our home soil based on the color of our skin. The schools that were targeted and law enforcement need to take these reports seriously and act quickly to prevent the escalation to physical violence.”

Herald wire services were used in this report.