It was a racist text message sent to thousands of black individuals across the country the day after the election. While federal authorities investigate the source of the disturbing message, Southern California families and school districts are reeling from the experience, as Southland residents have also been affected.

Black Santa Monica students were among those targeted by the text. Although this is a national issue, one parent is calling for local action.

Ericka Lesley has been speaking out for five days about the post-election racist text messages. When asked if she could read aloud the text her son received last Wednesday, it was too overwhelming.

“It really does something when you read it when you read it out loud as a parent, because I didn’t know it was going to hit like that,” Lesley said.

Lesley tells NBC4 that her teenage sons were among at least dozens of black students she identified at Santa Monica High School who received the message telling them they were “chosen to pick cotton” on a “plantation” .

She says through her parent network, she determined that a local middle school and Santa Monica College got the message, too. Meanwhile, from California to Kentucky, from Florida to Washington DC, young people of color received similar messages the day after the election. The wording was slightly different, but the message was essentially the same.

“It’s just chilling to go through your body to think you know, hey, this is something that targets black kids … but now, you’re on a national scale as well,” Lesley said. “What else am I planning?”

Law enforcement officials, including the FBI, are investigating the messages. Lesley calls for increased security for black children in Santa Monica schools.

“We want increased safety measures in place for our children,” she said.

Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District Superintendent Antonio Shelton issued a statement Friday that said in part: “Targeting our students with racist messages is incomprehensible. Whoever or whatever group started this campaign must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If we learn that an SMMUSD student is involved at the local level, they will face disciplinary action to the full extent of the Education Code and school board policy.”

The Santa Monica Police Department told NBC4 they are aware of the text messages, but Lt. Erika Aklufi said she was not aware of any reports to SMPD.

Aklufi encourages anyone who receives such a message to report it to the police.

Neither Santa Monia Police nor SMMUSD indicated any plan to increase school security in light of the text messages.