Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of potentially triggering situations, including hateful language and racism.
Multiple Black IU students reported receiving racist messages telling students they had been “selected as a slave” from unknown numbers Wednesday and Thursday.
It is not immediately clear who sent the messages, but Black people across the country have received them, including students at the University of Alabama, Clemson University and in Indianapolis, Ohio and Virginia.
The messages vary in detail but contain the same general script, saying the receiver had been selected to “pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”
IU Communications Manager Mary Keck told the Indiana Daily Student in an email that the IU Police Department received a “report of harassment” from a student at IU concerning a text message with “racially-biased content” sent to them and others.
“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,” FBI Indianapolis Public Affairs Specialist Chris Bavender wrote in a message to the Indiana Daily Student.
She also wrote people can report “threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities.”
The IU Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion did not immediately respond for comment.
One IU student received a message addressing him by name. He requested anonymity because he did not want an online search of his name to associate him “with something as hateful as this,” he wrote in an Instagram message to the IDS.
“When I received the message I was very confused and thought it had to have been a joke from my friends,” he wrote in an Instagram message to the IDS.
The student wrote he thought the message’s proximity to the election and its basis on his race made it not random and not a coincidence.
At least one message in another state said it was signed by a “Trump supporter,” and one sent to someone in Washington D.C. said it was signed by “Trump Administration.”
Many people who received the messages are speculating online that the timing of the texts with President-elect Donald Trump’s victory is not a coincidence. Trump previously failed to disavow white nationalists and other extremist groups who have endorsed him, including a notable exchange during a debate with Joe Biden in 2020 and hosting a dinner with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
Co-director of IU’s Cybersecurity and Global Policy Program Isak Nti Asare who also serves on the Bloomington City Council, said in an email to the IDS it’s important to not overlook how easily victims’ phone numbers were procured. Asare wrote perpetrators could have accessed people’s information through data brokers and sent messages through third-party apps, which would all be legal.
“No one should endure this kind of psychological and racist attack,” Asare wrote. “Yet, until we establish real, comprehensive protections for our personal data — protections that currently do not exist in the U.S. — citizens remain vulnerable to these invasions of privacy and attacks on dignity.”
UPDATE: This story was updated with comment from Isak Nti Asari.
Nicole Blevins contributed to this reporting.
