Tasha Dunham of Lodi, California, said her 16-year-old daughter showed her one of the messages Wednesday evening before her basketball practice.

The messages tell recipients they have been selected "to pick cotton" or “chosen to be a slave", authorities say.

Federal and state officials say they are investigating the messages and urge people to report them

Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee, issued a statement calling the messages that targeted some of its students “deeply unsettling.” It urged calm and assured students that the texts likely were from bots or malicious actors with “no real intentions or credibility.”

Thousands of Black residents across several U.S. states reported that they received racist texts the day after the election. The reports have come out of at least 20 states, including California, according to CBS News.

Racist text messages were sent to scores of Black people the day after the election telling them they had been “selected” to pick cotton “at the nearest plantation.”

Federal authorities are looking into the source of racist mass text messages sent to Black people – including children – across America this week.