Illinois Attorney General condemns racist text messages sent to Black residents
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A federal investigation is under way after racist text messages were sent to Black people all across the country—including some in Illinois.
There were a number of variations of the messages using similar language, telling the recipient they had been "selected for cotton picking" or to become "a slave." All of the texts included instructions, times and dates to "be ready" and references to being picked up in a van. Some included the recipient's name or general location, according to people who received the texts and screenshots reviewed by CBS News.
The Illinois Attorney General's office responded Friday to the disturbing, racist text messages, calling them offensive. CBS News Chicago also heard from universities in Illinois that were targeted.
David Williams received a message reading: "Greetings, David. You've been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation in Atlanta." Sherika Mallory's daughter received a similar text.
"They had a lot of slavery messages in there about her picking cotton, and they were going to come pick her up in a black truck, and she had a plantation letter and a plantation number," said Mallory.
Black students at several colleges, including Eastern Illinois University, have reported receiving the anonymous texts.
The university condemned the messages, saying in a statement in part, "There is no reason to believe these messages originated locally or are connected in any way to EIU or any member of the EIU community."
"We're reminding the students to be safe; to take all threats seriously," said Teresa Haley a former president of the NAACP Illinois State Conference and Springfield Branch.
Haley said college students have reached out after receiving the racist texts.
"I think they are trying to remind us that racism is well and alive today," she said.
Some of the messages were sent through TextNow, which offers free phone numbers. In a statement, the service said it shut down accounts as soon as it became aware.
"I felt, scared, sad, kind of shaken by it," said Devereaux Adams, who received a racist text message. "If this was not during the election, I probably would've laughed it off. But I don't know, it hit me different."
Anyone who lives in Illinois and received one of the racist text message is urged by the Illinois Attorney General to contact law enforcement, or the Help Stop Hate hotline at 877-458-4283 or 877-458-HATE, or file a complaint with the AG's office.
A CBS News team was able to reach one of the people who sent one of the texts from a Fort Wayne, Indiana area code. That person said, "The message was a prank," before abruptly ending the call.