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.

  • @Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    12517 days ago

    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.

      • @LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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        717 days ago

        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.

        • @Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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          4517 days ago

          There is always a path towards peace.

          I’ll try to be polite and simply say this is incredibly naive and ignorant of human history.

          admit it may be unclear to me in the present moment but I’ll be searching for it in the coming years.

          You do that, while the Kansas National Guard is busy doorkicking for Latinos in New York.

          • @LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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            17 days ago

            I don’t know why you think this is naive. We might not be able to know or actualize the path the peace but that does not mean it isn’t there.

            The present danger doesn’t say anything about what is the most effective way to resist or diffuse this danger. Do you think you have the strength of arms to defeat the US military? Now that I would call naive.

            • @Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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              517 days ago

              I think its naive to think that every single armed conflict in history could have been avoided if only certain people had the vision to “take the path of peace,” whatever that means in the circumstance. Since peace requires at least two opposing parties, you can also derive it to mean “we would have peace if bad, violent people weren’t bad and violent” which is simply a waste of breath and keystrokes to say.

              Bad people are bad. Very rarely can we persuade them to be otherwise. Sometimes they have to be fought, because the alternative is to let them abuse and kill you.

              I’ll give you this, I think the only path to avoiding widespread violence in the near future is a mutual, peaceful secession of blue states. I think that is extremely unlikely given that the GOP has nearly all the cards and I believe is in no spirits to negotiate. And it basically says “fuck you, you’re on your own” to vulnerable people in red states.

              Do you think you have the strength of arms to defeat the US military? Now that I would call naive.

              The most I’m willing to say on a public forum right now is that circumstances will be more complex than you’re laying them out as.

            • @Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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              2917 days ago

              Project 2025 specifically mentions deputizing national guard units from red states to enforce their immigration law nationwide, specifically in blue states where the local LEOs and leadership there are likely to be less cooperative.

                • @Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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                  717 days ago

                  National Guard against National Guard isn’t a solution, it’s an escalation into Civil War II.

                  Voting trends among cops and military enlisted pretty heavily skew Trump last I checked, regardless of the state’s general affiliation. Nightmare scenario is that basically every org structure either defects to red entirely or is sabotaged into operational ineffectiveness by a minority of traitors.

                  I would not trust anyone in uniform to be on my side as things start to slide.

        • @grue@lemmy.world
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          917 days ago

          I don’t fucking care about peace; I care about justice. If the path to justice requires going through conflict, then anybody who says that bullshit you wrote is an enemy of it.

          • @LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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            17 days ago

            Then you are extremely naive about the horrors and harms a civil war would entail. We should all care.

            I don’t agree that justice requires going through war, nor that war is even likely to lead to justice.

        • @fukhueson@lemmy.world
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          1617 days ago

          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.

            • @fukhueson@lemmy.world
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              1717 days ago

              I will not advocate for violence or recommend people take to the streets armed, because that is exactly the kind of situation Trump would exploit to run them over with a truck in an official act of assholery.

    • @Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      2617 days ago

      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.

    • @octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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      1617 days ago

      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.

    • @Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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      1517 days ago

      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.

    • Nougat
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      717 days ago

      Yeah, don’t stand up against the fascists! Let them rule over you!

    • tired_n_bored
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      17 days ago

      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.

    • @stoly@lemmy.world
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      1217 days 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.

      • toomanypancakes
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        1517 days ago

        I still see a ton of trucks waving trump flags out here. The filth is everywhere, there’s no escaping it.

        • @stoly@lemmy.world
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          117 days 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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            517 days 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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              217 days 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.

  • @kautau@lemmy.world
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    5617 days 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.”

      • Lemminary
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        17 days ago

        And as a Latino, I don’t know what part of that spells Latino, but here we are with the fucking voter base.

  • @originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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    3817 days 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.

  • AItoothbrush
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    2017 days ago

    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.

  • Vanon
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    1517 days 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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      1117 days 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
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        17 days 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
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      517 days 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
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        217 days 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
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          215 days 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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    517 days 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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      617 days 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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    114 days 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.