The outcome of Tuesday's presidential election has inspired a new wave of hate speech across the United States, both online and in real life. Friday morning, black University of Pennsylvania students were reportedly targeted by unknown perpetrators using the GroupMe app. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the messages in question included "scheduled" lynchings for specific students under the group name "N***** Lynching."
A preliminary investigation, which is said to have included local law enforcement and "information security officials," revealed the racist and violent messages "appeared" to originate from college students in Oklahoma. The first message, which reportedly read "Sup N*****s," was sent using the "Daddy Trump" alias, a reference to the president-elect. Someone using the name "GORT" also reportedly sent a message reading "Heil Trump."
In response, students at UPenn and elsewhere are uniting in solidarity:
The school, which counts the president-elect among its alumni, has released multiple statements in light of these targeted attacks. A statement from Penn officials shared across Twitter urged impacted students to contact the Vice Provost for University Life, promising that officials were "taking every step possible" to ensure the perpetrators were identified and that safety was established:
President Amy Gutmann, Provost Vincent Price, and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli issued a joint statement to the Penn community Friday afternoon. "This is absolutely vile material and completely offensive to everyone on our campus," the statement reads. "We are both angry and saddened that it was directed to our students or to anyone. The people responsible for this are reprehensible. We have increased campus safety and are reaching out to support the affected students in every way we can, and want them to know that the entire Penn community stands with them."
