Authorities in the United States are investigating after several people, including children and students, reported receiving racist text messages from unknown phone numbers in recent days.

Texts were reported in states like Maryland, New Jersey, Alabama, Michigan and South Carolina. CNN has reached out to state officials for additional information about the text messages.

“The FBI is aware of offensive and racist text messages being sent to individuals across the country and is in contact with the Department of Justice and other federal authorities regarding this matter,” the FBI said in a statement Thursday.

School board officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, say local law enforcement and the FBI are aware of people, including their students, receiving the messages and that “police in some areas have said they are treating the messages as low-level threats.” , according to a statement from Montgomery County Public Schools.

“We recognize that the emotional and psychological impact on our students, staff and especially our communities of color is profound. We stand in solidarity with those who feel targeted and hurt by these actions,” the school board said in a statement.

Talaya Jones, a black woman who lives in Piscataway, New Jersey, said she was “shocked” to receive a message Wednesday informing her that she had been “chosen to pick cotton from the nearest plantation,” a she told CNN on Thursday.

The text also refers to “executive slave catchers,” according to a screenshot Jones shared with CNN.

“My initial reaction was probably like disbelief, like I thought it was like a joke,” said Jones, who forwarded the text message to loved ones. “It shows that we haven’t come as far as everyone thought we had as a nation from when slavery was still a thing,” Jones said.

Virginia news station WVEC-TV said one of his photographers, Sam Burwell, received a text message from an unknown phone number addressing him by name and, like the message Jones received, the text told him he had been “selected to pick cotton from the nearest plantation”.

Burwell said in an article posted by WVEC-TV that he was concerned about receiving a text message a day after the election.

“I feel like it’s a spam message (and) I feel disappointed in the message that I’m sending out a day after the election,” Burwell said.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Thursday that “racist and vile spam text messages” have also spread in her state, she wrote. in a statement by X.

“We have directed the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation to fully investigate the origins of these disgusting texts that are only intended to divide us,” Murrill said, urging anyone affected to report the messages to her office.

Officials in Virginia and Washington, DC told CNN on Thursday that they are also looking into racist text messages.

The Washington, DC, attorney general’s office is “aware of the racist text messages sent to District residents and unequivocally condemns them,” said communications director Gabriel Shoglow-Rubenstein.

“Anyone receiving these messages should contact our civil rights section by calling 202-727-3400 or emailing [email protected]. If you believe your safety is at risk, please contact local law enforcement,” he said in a statement to CNN.

The Virginia Attorney General’s office is also “aware of these text messages and condemns them unequivocally,” press secretary Chloe Smith said, noting that “anyone who feels threatened should not hesitate to contact local law enforcement, as well as the local FBI. field office.”

CNN has reached out to the Federal Communications Commission for comment.

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