News @lemmy.world MicroWave @lemmy.world 17h ago

Detroit area women get 'plantation group' texts, among wave of racist messages nationwide

www.fox2detroit.com Detroit area women get 'plantation group' texts, among wave of racist messages nationwide

Racist messages telling people that they were selected to pick cotton for a plantation group have been received across the country -- including in the Detroit area.

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.

61 comments

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."
- they believe that the nation is now a white supremacist fascist nation.
  
  Apparently it is.
  
  And as a Latino, I don't know what part of that spells Latino, but here we are with the fucking voter base.
Yeah, 2015/16 was full of me being told to go back to China, really looking forward how this shit show is going to be.
- 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.
- 🙄 sigh. Good luck man, maybe get outta that area if that's possible. West coast seems to be ok (just don't go inland).
  
  I still see a ton of trucks waving trump flags out here. The filth is everywhere, there's no escaping it.
- At what point does that start to sound like the better option? Is that even an option available to you?
  
  Good lord, China would never be an option.
Just the beginning. If you thought 2016 empowered the racists, buckle up.
Russia wants a civil war. They want people scared and angry. They want people taking to the streets armed. Don't fall into this trap - the propaganda machine is going strong, even here on Lemmy.
- Russia may have not conquered Ukraine, but it surely conquered the USA. We lost the cold war.
  
  But seriously, what is the difference between being under Trump or under Putin? The former is identical to the latter and will also share with him all intelligence data. The US will be Belarus 2.
- As plainly laid out in The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia
  
  Yup, the KGB struck back
- Trump openly said he will be a dictator and will not follow the rule of law. The damage is done man, Putin got what he wanted. I'm not really sure any ways out. We either fall into an authoritarian dictatorship, or we will probably eventually have a civil war. I'm not really sure what else can be done about that. You can't vote yourself out of a dictatorship... So what else is there for people to do?
  
  There is always a path towards peace. I admit it may be unclear to me in the present moment but I’ll be searching for it in the coming years.
  
  We certainly don’t need to do anything to accelerate civil conflict, inevitable or not.
- Especially here on Lemmy.
  
  Part of me can't help but think that a lot of these "that guy" tankies are really just MAGA honeypots trying to incite the communist Boogeyman they want to use to justify their radical agenda.
- Russia doesn't have to lift a finger. We elected the king of the racist bigots, and now for four years (and more) we're going to have to constantly push back against them, because they will will think they can do whatever they want.
- Russia wants you fighting for your life, so to get that smug satisfaction of not giving your enemy what they want, you should instead not fight for your life even when all sense says you should.
  
  I get tempering your emotions, being patient, and trying to see the bigger picture. But there may come a point where it simply does not matter what our geopolitical enemies want or do not want. We've been avoiding this fight since we bungled Reconstruction, honestly.
- We fucking deserve it.
- Yeah, don’t stand up against the fascists! Let them rule over you!
Yup. We're going to have this going on for 4 years.

Racists are going to target Blacks, Hispanics, Asians with racial slurs and more.

Xenophobes will antagonize immigrants and other people of ethnic backgrounds.

Bigots will target LGBTQ as usual.

Yeah, wonderful...
- Arm yourselves.
  
  Let them be the first to draw blood but do not go down without a fight.
  
  They want a war, they've spent decades screaming about it, and stockpiling weapons.
  
  They will be emboldened to violence.
  
  Arm yourselves.
  
  Calm down satan
- Yeah but latinos and black men were uncomfortable with voting a woman
  
  Young white men were BIGLY for Trump. If I were young and single I'd be joining the 4B movement after having them sell my rights down the river
You see they say violence isnt a solution but i wouldnt use it as a solution, i just wanna commit it against whoever is doing this.
- Violence is never the answer.
  
  It's a question, and the answer is "yes."
  
  Maxim 6: If violence wasn't your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
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.
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.
- My question is where can we buy lists of Trump supporters so we can find easy ways to ~~leach money from them~~ market products
  
  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!)
- 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.
  
  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.
A black friend of mine got it as well.
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.
- 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.
Hot damn, burn it all down.

61 comments