Summary

Women across Detroit and other U.S. locations, including Virginia and universities in Alabama and South Carolina, have reported receiving racist text messages instructing them to “pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”

The messages, which include threats and references to white supremacist groups, have raised concerns among recipients.

FOX 2 Detroit received multiple reports from affected women, with similar cases reported by news outlets in Atlanta and Virginia.

The source and motive behind these messages remain unclear, with some online speculation suggesting possible foreign interference aimed at sowing division in the U.S.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I was born in Spokane, WA. Am white but with a Celtic name. People have also told me to go back where I come from. This goes beyond pure racism but it’s obvious that the story here and yours are caused by racism.

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      🙄 sigh. Good luck man, maybe get outta that area if that’s possible. West coast seems to be ok (just don’t go inland).

        • stoly@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Stick to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego and you won’t see it unless you enter the suburbs. LA is a bit more mixed but probably still decent

          • mean_bean279@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Just drove around the bay (Concord to Atherton, Santa Cruz to San Jose, and then back to SF before going back home). There was a lot of trump flags and supporters on bridges and vehicles driving around. There’s a lot of Trump supporters even in Progressive Bay Area regions. Lots of tech bros now are big Trump supporters. That said, the west coast has far, far less than other regions.

            • stoly@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              I’m referring not to each region but rather the cities themselves. That said, there are probably a lot of tech bros who worship Savage.

    • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      At what point does that start to sound like the better option? Is that even an option available to you?

  • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    The obvious racism of this aside this is a direct consequence of data brokers and surveillance capitalism making it trivial and cheap to send out texts to minority women in Detroit. That’s an insane thing. Someone probably paid a pittance for these targeted texts.

  • kautau@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    At this time, it is unknown who is sending the text messages or why they are doing it.

    Racists. Racists are sending the text message.

    They are doing it to instill fear because they believe that the nation is now a white supremacist fascist nation.

    Gotta love “journalism.”

  • Vanon@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    It seems like soon enough, we will all just be blocking everything except contacts from messages and calls. It is absolutely ridiculous how much spam and fraud is sent, and how easily our data is mined and sold.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      My question is where can we buy lists of Trump supporters so we can find easy ways to leach money from them market products

      • Vanon@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Cards Against Humanity apparently bought a list of how the entire country voted in 2020. I bet they would know how to acquire such lists. (And I guess the fascists have lists of us, too. Fun!)

    • Jonathan@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I already block all non-contact calls and messages, well, I filter them out and check them every few days to make sure nothing important has happened. Just like my spam folder in my email. If I let spam calls actually ring-through on my phone it would drive me insane because I get at least a dozen bullshit calls a day.

      • Vanon@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Same here. Anyone new needs to let me know, email or message me somewhere else. But a lot of people need these things open, and I feel bad for them, and how terribly these things (and the rest of fed gov) are rotting.

        • Jonathan@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          We need to get rid of the old phone system entirely and switch to something authenticated that can’t be spoofed or abused as easily as our current phone system can be. When I think about it, it’s kind of weird that we haven’t done that yet. Probably because it would cost too much for the big phone carriers to do and then they wouldn’t get their billion dollar bonuses at the end of the year.

  • PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Well much to my dismay I actually read the article and surprise surprise Fox 2 is just regurgitating Reddit post without doing any actual fucking journalism. Great job team.

    • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      No. They are regurgitating info from people who personally contacted them which is in the lede. They also are reporting about it in other parts of the country and from kids attending universities.

      The Reddit part was regarding speculating about who is sending them.

  • Chip_Rat@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Is there a YouTube video that explains to me how we can’t know who sent those texts. Somebody paid for that number (not the spoofed number, they actually had to have one to be connected to the lines right?). How can spoofing happen without the carrier knowing/enabling? Your carrier used their lines to deliver it to you. How is this not trackable?

    I want a 1h26 minute Technology Connections or whoever, because this has never made sence to me.