Racist Cyberbullying Attack Targets Black College Students

'I am petrified and all I want to do is cry'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 11, 2016 6:38 PM CST
Black College Freshmen Targeted by Racist Messages
University of Pennsylvania students protest Friday after black freshman were targeted by a barrage of racist messages and photos.   (Twitter)

Dozens and dozens of black freshmen at the University of Pennsylvania were bombarded with racist words and images Friday after being unwittingly added to group text messages with the titles "N***** Lynching," "Mud Men," and "Trump is Love," the Verge reports. The messages, which appeared on mobile messaging app GroupMe, contained "violent, racist, and thoroughly repugnant images and messages," CBS News quotes the university as saying in a statement. Images included multiple photos of lynchings, including one with the caption "I love America," Philly.com reports. They also included a "daily lynching" calendar event. The messages appear to have originated at the University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State University and are possibly connected to a fraternity.

"I am petrified and all I want to do is cry," one black Penn student writes on Twitter. "I just can't stop crying. I feel sick to my stomach. I don't feel safe," adds another on Facebook. "This is not an isolated incident, this is a reaction to the candidate that won," Penn student Tunmise Fawole tells Philly.com. Donald Trump attended Penn, and the racist messages started with someone going by "Daddy Trump." A statement from the university calls the incident "deplorable." It's unclear how many black students were targeted, but it could be more than 150. Whoever is behind the messages may have used a Facebook group for Penn freshmen. "We really have to find out what is the challenge that white people...fundamentally have with black people in America," a Penn expert on race relations says. (More racism stories.)

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