The NAACP on Thursday condemned racist text messages referencing slavery that were sent anonymously to Black Americans this week as a contentious election was coming to an end in the United States. The messages urged recipients in multiple states,

Federal and state authorities are working to find the origins of racist text messages sent to Black people across the country referencing slavery and telling them they were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.

The texts instructed recipients to “board a bus” that would transport them to a “plantation” to work as slaves, officials said.

The NAACP civil rights group and the White House condemned racist text messages referencing slavery that were sent anonymously to Black Americans this week as a contentious U.S. election drew to a close in the United States.