Black UA students reported receiving racist text messages from a slew of anonymous phone numbers Wednesday.
The messages, each seemingly coming from a different phone number with area codes inside and outside of Alabama, said recipients were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”
“Be ready at 1:00 pm SHARP with your belongings,” read one of the messages, which was posted in a screenshot to Facebook by a parent. “Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation. You are in Plantation Group C.”
Texts received by other students appeared to contain slight variations, although the general message was the same.
“Alyse called me in tears after receiving this message on her personal cell phone,” Arleta McCall said in the Facebook post. “She said that numerous @univofalabama black students received similar messages. I will not sit still until SOMETHING is done!!”
McCall said in an interview that her daughter, who is a freshman, did not attend her class Wednesday out of fears for her safety and that as a parent, the messages made her feel “uneasy,” “disappointed” and “unsafe.”
She remains unsure how the sender got her daughter’s number and knew she was Black.
“At first, I thought it was a joke, but everybody else was getting them. People were texting, posting on their stories, saying they got them,” said Hailey Welch, a freshman biology student who received a similar text.
After finding out other people had received these messages, Welch began to believe they were more than just a joke.
“I was just stressed out, and I was scared because I didn’t know what was happening,” she said.
After receiving the message, Welch also decided to not go to her class out of fears for her safety.
This message was only the first encounter with racism Welch faced Wednesday.
While walking outside of her dorm, she saw two men wearing MAGA hats shouting in support of President-elect Donald Trump, whom the AP called as winning the 2024 presidential election Wednesday morning.
“They started yelling at me and calling me racial slurs and said go back where I came from, even though I was born here and I’m American,” Welch said, adding that the men, who appeared to be students, then seemingly used their ACT cards to get into the residence hall.
Genesis Russell, a freshman biology major and member of the Black Student Union, said the racist messages were “dehumanizing.”
“It’s just very disgusting to me, especially with knowing how the election played out, just knowing that there are people who saw the election results and thought, ‘OK, now is the time to do something like this,’” Russell said.
McCall’s Facebook post had over 800 comments and 3,600 shares as of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Many commenters reported knowing students at The University of Alabama and other universities who had received the messages.
At this time, it is unclear who sent the messages. Upon calling the phone number listed in the screenshot on Facebook, the call went to an automatic reply stating “the TextNow subscriber you are trying to reach is unavailable.” TextNow is a free text messaging service that allows users to create a “burner” phone number.
“It is our understanding that individuals across the country have received these disgusting messages,” said Deidre Simmons, executive director of communications for the University. “This has been reported to authorities, and we’re asking anyone who may have information regarding these messages to report it to the appropriate authorities. UA students who have seen or received such messages are also encouraged to contact the Office of Student Care and Well-Being for any additional support that may be needed.”
Simmons did not immediately respond to a follow-up request for comment regarding Welch’s encounter with the two men.
McCall contacted the office of the Dean of Students Wednesday, which provided her a statement similar to Simmons’.
While McCall said she feels the University is doing what it can to investigate the matter, she would like the University to release a public statement about the incident.
“This might be a nationwide thing,” McCall said. “But the thing is, it happened to my daughter at The University of Alabama.”
McCall agreed with Russell that the timing of the racist texts appeared to be no coincidence, adding that she believed that Trump allowing a comedian to make racist jokes at a recent rally sent the message to racists that discriminatory remarks are acceptable.
Russell said the texts are indicative of a culture change.
“People are going to be emboldened to say and do things like this because they feel that they’re protected now,” Russell said.
