FBI and authorities in several US states are investigating racist messages sent to African-Americans across the country. Unknown men threatened people that they would be "brought to the plantations", forced to work in slavery and "pick cotton".
This was reported by The Washington Post.
Residents of at least 12 states and the District of Columbia were notified. It is not known who the offender is and how many are injured. The authors of some letters claimed to be supporters of Donald Trump or representatives of his administration. The US president-elect denies any connection with these incidents.
"[Donald Trumpʼs] campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these text messages," a spokeswoman for the Republicanʼs campaign Caroline Leavitt told The Washington Post.
Residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Nevada told law enforcement officers about online threats. According to media reports, people from California, Wisconsin, Ohio, South Carolina, Michigan, Georgia and Alabama were also affected.
In particular, college students and schoolchildren received threats. The perpetrators worded the messages in different ways, but they all ordered the victims to work as slaves on the plantations. Relatives of the victims called the numbers from which the text messages came, but no one answered. Forging mailing numbers is a common type of fraud in the United States, the publication writes.
The messages came not only after, but also in the run-up to the election, when presidential campaigns collected a lot of personal data to advertise and promote candidates.
A representative of the rights group Color of Change Portia Allen-Kyle says that the incidents may be caused by data security violations. She called on digital and cellular companies to help identify those responsible for the threats.
“This act of racism is aimed at intimidation, but itʼs not just the senders who should be concerned. The lack of privacy when sharing personal information has facilitated this process and put African Americans at risk,” says Portia Allen-Kyle.
The US presidential election
In the United States, on November 5, the election of the 47th president of the country was held. Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Party representative Kamala Harris competed for a seat in the White House.
The President of the United States is elected by the Electoral College. These are officials, congressmen, party figures, whom the voters grant the right to vote for one or another candidate. There are 538 people in the collegium, and to become president, a candidate must get 270 votes. The number of voters varies depending on the population of the state. According to the American electoral system, the votes of the collegium "weigh" more than the direct votes of the voters. Almost all states have a winner-take-all system, where all of the stateʼs electoral votes go to the candidate with the most votes.
Republican Donald Trump won more than 270 electoral votes — meaning he effectively won. The Electoral College will make a formal decision on the election of the 47th president of the United States on December 17, 2024, and the inauguration will take place on January 20, 2025.
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