We’ve finally entered the find-out phase of this timeline. And unsurprisingly, the final boss looks a lot like the first boss—American Racism. Yes, it’s the racism. Not the economy, not the gender gap, not even the thorny intersectionality of identity politics. The culprit is the same force that has always roiled this racist nation: the enduring, shape-shifting undercurrent of white supremacy.
The recent wave of racist text messages targeting Black individuals across the United States is a cliché reminder. These messages, rife with references to slavery and laced with degrading language, may dominate a few news cycles. But they won’t likely leave much of a mark beyond the headlines and think pieces.
This isn’t one of those think pieces.
Dr. James B. Peterson
This is a direct message to the owner of those so-called “executive slaves,” the architects of these vile messages who believe they are clever, anonymous, and invincible.
We see you.
You can hide behind the cloak of artificial intelligence, weaponize the inherent biases baked into those systems, or sow racial disinformation into the cultural bloodstream. But we see you. And while you might imagine your actions as a revival of some bygone "golden age" of white supremacy, they’re little more than desperate flares from a dying ideology. For anyone who thinks one election result licenses them to indulge in their racist fantasies, we rebuke you. And then we move on.
These text messages—sent to Black Americans in states like Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—are the latest iteration of the same old racist playbook. According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, recipients were addressed by name and bombarded with statements like:
