Just days before Election 2024, amid a racially charged and contentious election season, a Black church in Houston’s Acres Homes burned to the ground, with arson suspected.
“On Oct. 23, 2024, at 8:30 a.m., Houston Fire Marshals came to our door to give us the devastating news that our church, Guiding Light Baptist Church, had been burned down.,” said Sheletta Brundidge, member of Guiding Light Baptist Church. “We don’t know who or why someone would do this, but we do know we can’t let the devil in hell think he won.”
The death threats and physical attacks on members of the Haitian community have happened not just in Springfield, Ohio, the city Donald Trump singled out while falsely criminalizing Haitians with his lie, “They’re eating the pets. They’re eating the dogs and cats,” but all across the country.
And as reported by Word In Black Education Reporter Quintessa Williams, “Just hours after President-elect Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency last week, dozens of Black K-12 and college students across the country began receiving racist text messages telling recipients to ‘return to the plantation and pick cotton.’”
Williams’ article revealed that two of the messages surfaced in Jacksonville, Florida, both sent to teenagers who attend the city’s public schools. The texts were sent directly to the children’s phones, and authorities say they have no idea how the sender got the phone numbers — or how they knew the recipients were Black.
But in a world where racist President-elects count as their closest allies racist big tech social media platform owners, anything is possible.
The mother of a 16-year-old told Williams that the messages speak to the reason many minority communities are so fearful of a second Trump administration.
“These racist texts are coordinated attacks aimed at intimidating and spreading fear among Black children and their families. They’re not just pro-racist, they are pro-Trump racist. And that’s even worse.” says the mother, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her son’s privacy.
Another Jacksonville parent, Charmaine Green, told a local news station, “I’m fearful because…who knows my son’s information?” Green said referring to her teen son. “It’s so saddening that someone would take the time to send this type of message to anyone, let alone a 15-year-old.”
It is unclear who is behind the reported texts, how many people have received them, or how the recipients were targeted. It was “aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country,” but that they are unclear on who or what group is behind the racist texts.
What is clear, at least to Black people, is more of this madness can be expected across the country, and in your neck of the woods.
