A portion of a racist text message received by several people across the country. (Wisconsin Examiner photo illustration)

Along with people in other communities across the nation, some Wisconsinites woke up Thursday morning to racist text messages ordering them to report to “the nearest plantation.” The texts came less than 48 hours after former President Donald Trump won the presidential race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Lydia, a mother in Milwaukee who didn’t want her last name published, received the text just before 2:30 a.m. She saw it two hours later, when she woke up about 4:30 a.m. The message addressed her by name. 

“You have been selected to pick cutton [sic] at the nearest plantation,” the message reads. “Be ready at 12PM SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group S.”

After seeing the text, Lydia posted the text online and searched to see if they had appeared elsewhere. “The crazy thing about it is they spelled cotton wrong,” she told Wisconsin Examiner with a chuckle. Still, she found the text message startling and chilling. 

“I mean obviously, I knew the election was on the fence,” she said. “So, to have this happen right after the president is elected…” 

Lydia said that she understood “where we were at with everything, like I kind of knew it could go this way.” After receiving the text message, however, “slowly I felt violated, felt fearful because it’s like a lot of supporters are really, you know, wanting to go back to that…To that 1800’s vibe…I was very concerned.” The text made her, and others in her community, feel threatened and disgusted, she said. 

Similar text messages have been reported in Alabama, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and elsewhere. Although not word-for-word copies, the text messages all say that the recipient has been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation, that a van — sometimes brown, sometimes white — driven by “our executive slaves” will be picking recipients up to take them to a plantation where they will be searched. 

All the text messages appear to assign the recipient to a different “plantation group” organized by letters. Some of the texts end with “sincerely, the Trump Administration.”

Wisconsin Examiner attempted to contact two of the numbers sending out the texts. One was no longer in service, and another led to a generic voicemail box.

Lydia said the text reminded her of the rally Trump held at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Oct. 27, nine days before Election Day. There, comedian Tony Hedgecliff called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” said that Puerto Ricans “love making babies” and made remarks involving Black people and watermelon before a crowd of laughing Trump supporters.

Trump, who will take office Jan. 20, 2025,  has continued to rail against immigration from across the southern border and has branded “left wing lunatics” as “the enemy within.” The rally was compared to a Nazi rally held in 1939 in Madison Square Garden. 

“There’s just certain things you just don’t say,” said Lydia. “It doesn’t feel safe being Black in America. But now that he is president, it’s really out there. And people are really concerned, and people are really scared.”

People enter a voting precinct to vote in the Michigan primary election at Trombly School Aug. 7, 2018, in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano | Getty Images)

In Kenosha, the local Democratic Party office has received calls about residents who put up yard signs supporting Vice President Kamala Harris receiving letters, warning of reprisal and biblical hell fire if they don’t vote for former President Donald Trump.  

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, said that people have been reporting the letters to the Kenosha Police Department. “There’s a couple different versions of it, but most people I know have gotten both of them,” Hawkins told Wisconsin Examiner. 

One of the letters, images of which were shared with Wisconsin Examiner, opens with the line, “We see that you have Democrat signs on your property.” The letter asks, “are you not aware that when you die that you will be held accountable before almighty God for voting for an open border that allows millions of illegal immigrants to freely enter, many of which are felons and evil people that have been doing deadly harm and will continue to do so [?]” The letter goes on to warn that voters will be held accountable by God “for voting for communism to take over America,” ending that “we don’t want anyone going to horrible hell, but you are on a fast path to it.” 

After receiving multiple reports about the letters, Hawkins said that the Kenosha County Democratic Party decided to make a social media post, to ensure that people knew that they weren’t alone. The letters are typed and unsigned. “We know that the people who are putting these letters in mailboxes really believe the topics or the issues that are in the letters, and they’re probably doing it because they are fearful,” said Hawkins. “We know that it’s a bigger organization that’s fomenting this kind of fear, and playing to people’s anxieties and worries.” 

Hawkins feels that the letters are “twisting the platform of Democrats who are on the ballot in a way that is, you know, pretty vile and false.” Hawkins has also received reports of Democratic yard and barn signs being slashed, defaced, driven over, or stolen. “And let’s be clear, I have heard and seen none of that happening with the large political signs belonging to Republican Party candidates,” said Hawkins. “So this is just an attempt to silence people, and make people fearful.”

Still, hundreds of people turned out for recent canvassing days held by the Kenosha County Democratic Party. Nancy Locante, a volunteer with the Kenosha County Democratic Party, received one of the letters, mailed to her with no return address. “America is at a crossroads,” one of the letters she received stated. The letter described “transgender ideology infecting our children’s schools,” high grocery bills, immigration, and persecution of “Christian values.” The letter urged Locante to vote for “biblical truths.” Locante said, “that’s quite a bit of intimidation, but of course they don’t have the guts to put their names on it. It can be a little unsettling knowing that they are watching you. But it’s unfortunate that these people’s beliefs are so misguided.” Locante hasn’t been deterred. “I’m walking around with all my buttons and merch on,” she said. 

Locante plans to continue helping the Kenosha County Democratic Party canvass neighborhoods ahead of Nov. 5. 

In Milwaukee, Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) have knocked on over 600,000 doors urging people to get out and vote. LIT’s organizers said they have received reports of identical letters in communities between Milwaukee and Kenosha. 

In early October, the Milwaukee suburban city of Wauwatosa experienced a string of sign vandalism, which targeted Democratic-endorsed yard signs. From Wauwatosa’s southeastern corner near 55th street and Wisconsin, all the way up to the northwestern corner of 81st street and Meinecke avenue, signs were defaced with red spray paint. The Republican Party of Milwaukee County denounced the vandalism in Wauwatosa, and said those responsible should be held accountable. In September, red spray paint was used to deface Democratic signs in Madison. 

Both presidential campaigns continue to focus heavily on Wisconsin. Harris and Trump held competing rallies in Milwaukee Friday night ahead of Election Day on Tuesday.