St. Louis mayor targeted by racist message campaign

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and her son were targeted by racist text messages sent to Black residents across several U.S. states over recent days, prompting an investigation involving the FBI and other authorities.

Investigators report these messages were sent anonymously, mentioning the elected presidency of Donald Trump and themes of slavery. Messages have reportedly been sent to Black men, women and students, including middle schoolers, in several U.S. states.

The St. Louis Mayor's Office tells FOX 2 that her son received a message on Wednesday and Mayor Jones herself received an email with a similar message Friday morning.

Following these messages, a communications spokesperson for the Mayor's Office sent this statement on behalf of Jones:

"I’m furious that someone thought it was OK to send messages like that to children, or anyone else. I happened to be with my son when he got it, and I’d seen it before, so I was ready to talk to him and tell him that it was a cruel hoax. It is completely unacceptable that anyone should have to deal with being referred to as property or less than any other human being, especially in a society where Black and Brown people have always been treated as second-class citizens, if we’ve been treated as citizens at all. The fact that this message is going around is a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do to get rid of this kind of ugliness in our country. I’m afraid it is only going to get worse, as our nation is once again about to have a man at the top of our government who, time and time again, degrades other human beings because of their race, gender, or disability.”

The mayor's office also sent a screenshot of an email message sent to Tishaura Jones, which FOX 2 is not sharing due to its sensitive nature.

The message that Jones received did not address her by name, but addressed the recipient with an expletive and says the recipient "has been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation." The message told the recipient to be ready with belongings and claimed someone would pick them up and search them down. It also acknowledged Trump as being the president elect.

According to the Associated Press, leaders of several other civil rights organizations have condemned these messages, including Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who said, “Hate speech has no place in the South or our nation.”