Furious families speak out against racist texts received by SFUSD students and others across US
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A town hall was held Sunday condemning the racist text messages sent to Black children and adults in San Francisco and across the country.
The anonymous texts invoked slavery, addressing people by name in the days following the election.
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San Francisco's NAACP held the town hall at Third Baptist Church after messages were sent to SFUSD students.
"Let's do this. I'm ready. As mother a grandmother we can't let us do this to our children," San Francisco resident Paulette Brown said.
Officials in more than a dozen states say residents including children received text messages from unknown numbers saying they've been selected to pick cotton.
RELATED: SF Unified students among victims who received racist text messages across US
"We have to look at how to establish policy to deal with this so that people know if they do this there is a consequence. There are steps that need to be taken," another San Francisco resident Linda Martley-Jordan said.
San Francisco Reverend Amos Brown is calling on the community to show up in support of the students at this Tuesday's school board meeting.
"City officials, pastors, democratic clubs, need to speak up and speak out and cannot be silent if you are silent it suggests you are complicit with evil," Reverend Brown said.
In Durham, North Carolina, a mother shared the message her teenage son received a day after the election.
RELATED: Authorities work to find source of racist texts sent to Black people nationwide after election
"It said good evening his first and last name you and your family have been selected to stay at the Stagville Plantation on December the 8th," Durham County resident Rhonda Neven said.
Sam Berwell, a student in Virginia, said he got a similar message.
"The first message I saw was someone greeting me saying they would be there to pick me up for the cotton field," Berwell said.
Federal investigators are racing to find the source of the messages, saying they believe some of the texts can be traced back to an anonymous web address in Poland.
However, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill says the the original source is still unknown and that her cyber team discovered the connection.
"We have no way of knowing where the individual who's actually sending the emails but we will continue to investigate it," Murrill said. "Don't click on it. Delete it. And if you wish you can report it to my office."
