By Abby Knox, Newswire Intern

In the weeks following the election, offensive text messages have been sent targeting Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This has led some to believe that a hate-group has piggybacked on political text messages common during the election season.

Although it is not completely clear where the messages are coming from, many have been sent through the app TextNow, which offers free texting and calling while on Wi-Fi. 

These texts have been sent to people in at least 32 different states. The FBI has been involved in this case, but they have not gotten any leads as to who is sending the texts.

The messages sent to Black people threaten individuals with enslavement. The texts do not only use the individual’s name, but it also give a place to meet at, and a specific time where they will be picked up by the “executive slaves.”

“I think those texts are not funny. We’re already not taught all the horrible tragedies about slavery and still find out something new every day,” first year marketing major Alanis Job said. 

Latinx individuals have also received texts where they are informed that they are “set to be deported” by immigration officers. 

“I think that the recent racist texts to both African American and Latino people are sickening and honestly sad. It’s hurtful and traumatic for people of color to constantly be reminded of the prejudice and discrimination we face because of our race or ethnicity, it’s dehumanizing,” junior psychology major Amayah Vital said. 

“You would think that people as a whole would be past all of this. I Can’t say I’m not shocked that we aren’t though. I wish things could be different as it’s tiring to be fighting a battle that should already be won,” she said.

Members of the LGBTQ+ community have also been targeted as they were told that they would be picked up and sent to a “re-education camp.”

  Many people are confused about how the senders of these texts knew the user’s race or identity. Many suspect that this is how the senders accessed their information.