St. Louis mayor also received racist messages invoking slavery

ST. LOUIS — The flood of racist messages sent to Black people in several states in recent days has reached Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, a spokesperson said Friday.

Spokesperson Conner Kerrigan said Jones received emails on personal and official accounts Friday morning from an anonymous sender, who greeted her with a racial slur. The messages went on to say that with the recent reelection of President-elect Donald Trump, Jones had been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. “Be ready at 12AM, NOVEMBER 13 SHARP w/ your belongings,” the emails read.



“Our guys will come get you in a van, be prepared to be searched down once you enter the plantation. You are in Plantation Group A.” The messages, sent via an encrypted email service, read much like the anonymous texts sent this week to Black men, women and students across several states, including New York, Alabama, Ohio, California and Missouri .

The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have said they are investigating the texts, one of which went to the mayor's teenage son . St. Louis police spokesperson Mitch McCoy said his department, which provides a protection detail for Jones, is also aware of the messages.

He referred further questions about the investigation to the FBI's St. Louis field office. A spokesperson there reiterated that the bureau is aware of the racist messages, and is working with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter.

Kerrigan, the mayor's spokesperson, said Jones had no comment on the messages Friday. But he noted she previously denounced the message her son received, saying she was “furious that someone thought it was OK to send messages like that to children, or anyone else.” “We still have a lot of work to do to get rid of this kind of ugliness in our country,” Jones said in the statement Thursday.

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