Ohio AG opens inquiry into ‘despicable’ racist text campaign

FILE - Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost speaks during an election night watch party, Nov. 8, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. A coalition of voting-rights groups is vowing to fight on after Yost issued his second rejection Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, of petition language it has submitted for a proposed constitutional amendment. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

FILE - Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost speaks during an election night watch party, Nov. 8, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. A coalition of voting-rights groups is vowing to fight on after Yost issued his second rejection Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, of petition language it has submitted for a proposed constitutional amendment. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
Crime & Law
By
Updated Nov 12, 2024
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The Ohio Attorney General’s Office opened an inquiry over the weekend following news that an unspecified number of Black Ohioans were reached by a racist, nationwide text campaign that threatened or implied the return of slavery.

The messages, sent anonymously after the election and reported in Ohio and five other states, targeted Black men, women and students, including some as young as middle school.

In some instances, the recipients were directed to report to plantations. Some instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time “with your belongings,” while others didn’t include a location. Some of them mentioned the incoming presidential administration.

The texts have spurred inquiries from the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who posted on social media calling the messages “despicable” and said his office is looking into it.

“Other people have no First Amendment right to your phone and free speech doesn’t protect telephone harassment,” Yost posted on X. His office has not yet provided details on the inquiry.

Tom Roberts, president of the Ohio NAACP and a former Dayton-area lawmaker, called the messages an act of intimidation and said he wants whoever is responsible for the messages to be held accountable.

In front of the Ohio Statehouse, Tom Roberts, President of the Ohio Conference of the NAACP, makes a point at a vigil marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Capitol insurrection., Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. About 50 people attended the Columbus event, which included several speakers and was one of more than 220 planned in cities across the country. Roberts lives in Dayton. (Doral Chenoweth/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Credit: Doral Chenoweth

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Credit: Doral Chenoweth

“We have to take it serious, investigate it and prosecute it to the full extent of the law,” he said.

Roberts told this news outlet that he has not personally heard from any Ohioan who received the text, but he did hear from an Ohio mother who raised concerns about a newfound anxiety in her school-age child.

“Her daughter came to her and said, ‘Are we going to be slaves again?’” Roberts relayed.

“I think we need to anticipate more of our children having these concerns,” Roberts said. He noted that he wants the Ohio NAACP to do more work to communicate with younger audiences and remind them of America’s racial protections, namely the 14th Amendment, which forbids slavery.

Derrick Foward is reinstated president of the Dayton Unit NAACP after he briefly stepped down to run for public office. AIMEE HANCOCK/STAFF

Credit: Aimee Hancock

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Credit: Aimee Hancock

Derrick Foward, the president of the Dayton-unit NAACP, told this news outlet that he’s been in contact with the FBI and hopes, too, that those responsible are held accountable.

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