Racist Messages Received by Belmont Students

Across the country and at Belmont University racist messages have been received by black students from anonymous sources. 

These messages have included racist messages “calling for black people to report for slavery,” according to the New York Times. These messages have been received by students across the country including at Fisk and, Belmont universities and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville since Wednesday.  

“It's really disappointing that so many people feel so comfortable just speaking so plainly like that, towards people that they’re neighbors with,” said Shae South, chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility board with Bruin recruiters. 

The messages started appearing in people’s inboxes on Wednesday and they’ve been sent to a variety of Black middle school, high school and college students across the country.  

Nobody knows where the messages are coming from because they’re being sent through spoofing software. 

“At least two Belmont students have received such messages. This content is designed to invoke fear and anger, and we would encourage anyone who has received communications of this nature to report them to The HUB, Student Formation and/or Campus Security,” said the Office of Hope, Unity and Belonging in a statement. 

The messages have varied in their phrasing to individuals but have all had roughly the same theme of inciting fear among black people across the country, according to the New York Times. 

“Campus Security is working with MNPD and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the source of these messages. We ask that anyone who has received an email or text related to this incident to let us know so we can add it to our investigation,” said Campus Chief of Security Mark Labbe in a statement to the Vision. 

The HUB also said in its statement that while these messages have been investigated and aren’t coming from someone in the Belmont community directly, the messages have no place at Belmont. 

“It is important to reiterate that we as a University unequivocally reject any such language that is rooted in racism or bigotry,” said the HUB. “This is not free speech this is hate speech.” 

The FBI is currently working with other federal agencies and is undergoing an investigation to figure out the origin of these messages, it said in a statement on X. 

“The two students that reported receiving the text message received an offer of assistance letter from The HUB. This letter outlines the resources we have for students who experience situations like these, and we invite them to speak with a member of our team to further support their needs,” said D’Angelo Taylor, vice president of the office of Hope, Unity and Belonging.  

Some students are concerned with what these messages could mean going forward for student safety. 

“I think that at the very least, keeping people safe is of the amongst importance at a time where we already see so much violent speech coming out. Unfortunately, that might come with action. And so, just keeping an eye out for one another,” said South. 

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This article was written by Braden Simmons