Authorities across the United States are investigating after racist text messages – some with references to “slave catchers” and “picking cotton” reminiscent of the country’s painful and bigoted past – have been received by children,

The University of Tennessee is just one school where students reported getting racist text messages. Fisk University also said students received messages.

Several federal and state agencies are investigating how racist mass texts were sent to Black people across the country in the wake of the presidential election this week

Federal and state authorities are working to find the origins of racist text messages sent to Black people across the country threatening them with slavery and telling them they were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.

Racist texts with references to ‘picking cotton,’ ‘plantations’ and ‘slave catchers’ have been sent to Black people in at least 20 U.S. states shortly after the presidential election. The Trump campaign denies any involvement.

The FBI has initiated an investigation into racist text messages being sent to Black Americans across the United States. These messages began to surface following the announcement of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.