Communities across Middle Tennessee are on edge after racist, threatening text messages were sent to several young people.
Parents are questioning how strangers obtained their children’s phone numbers and why they’re being targeted.
“I think we should take it seriously because it’s going around the world,” said Sherika Mallory, whose 15-year-old daughter, Shania, received an unsettling message on Wednesday.
Mallory expressed her distress over the incident. “It makes me angry over angry,” she said.
The text sent to Shania included graphic and offensive language.
You can watch Shania and Sherika react to that message in the player above.
“It had a lot of slavery messages in there about her picking cotton, and they were going to come pick her up in a black truck,” Mallory said. “She had a plantation letter and number.”
Shania is not alone.
Many young people across Middle Tennessee and the country have reported receiving similar messages, venting their frustration on social media.