DETROIT (WXYZ) — Imagine getting a text message and when you read it, it says you will be a slave and have to pick cotton.
While it may seem unrealistic, some people in metro Detroit actually got texts like that. People in other states also received the messages and the FBI is investigating.
“You are now one of our slaves at 12:00 a.m. you will be picked up in a black van. You will do everything we say and you will be raped,” Latasha Reed of Detroit said reading a text message.
Reed's 13-year-old daughter received the text from an unknown number on Wednesday.
I asked how she felt when she saw the text message.
“Instantly anger. No 13-year-old girl or boy should have to experience something like this. It terrified her, which made me angry,” Reed said.
Reed’s daughter isn’t the only one who got a disturbing text recently.
Lifelong Detroiter Renee Glenn-Bryant got a text that addressed her by name and was also sent by an unknown number.
“Good afternoon Renee! You have been chosen to pick cotton at your nearest plantation. Be ready at 10am with all your personal items & possessions because you will never see them again,” Glenn-Bryant said reading the text she received.
“I’m 68 years old. The last thing I want to be hearing about is things that happened in the past and definitely not going to a plantation and picking cotton,” Glenn-Bryant said.
It’s not known who is behind this wave of racist text messages.
What is known is that it appears only Black people have been receiving them.
People from across the country and of all ages have said they’ve received the texts.
“It’s discouraging. It says more about the state of where we are as a nation and where some people are,” said Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP Detroit Branch.
Anthony has a message for whoever is responsible for the texts.
“You’re going to get caught,” Anthony said. “What’s done in the dark is going to come to light. It’s going to take some time, but you’re going to be exposed.”
As for Reed, she is encouraging people to have conversations with their children about racism.
“I’m sitting here having to explain to my 13-year-old that people may not always like you and it’s not because of who you are, it’s just because of your skin color,” Reed said.
The Michigan attorney general's office sent this statement about the text:
“My department is aware of the disturbing, racist text messages that are being reported across the country. Anyone receiving these texts is encouraged to report them to local law enforcement if they suspect they have been threatened. We are contacting state and federal law enforcement agencies and the Anti-Robocall Multi-State Litigation Task Force to learn all we can about these potentially criminal messages and those responsible."
-Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel
