Another targeted racist email was sent to Black students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), mocking the investigation’s failure.

Offensive insults and taunts were made in the email in connection with an investigation into racist emails earlier this year.

According to Masslive, the sender mocked the students for a delay in progress in an ongoing investigation concerning similar racist anonymous emails sent to Black students during the fall semester.

In the email, Black students are referred to as animals and claim that they are allowed to hate and look down upon Black students by the First Amendment.

“Thanks for the protests, we grew our membership, the word often used by our new members to describe you is “animal,” the email read. “So this is an email simply to say thank you. By the way, our group is 100% legal and protected by the first amendment, we are allowed to hate you, look down upon you as well as to insult you. It’s sad that Black people are so sensitive you need constant protection (ironically usually from white people in superior positions).”

 

The anonymous sender then refers to the investigation of the original racist emails, admitting that the investigation didn’t lead anywhere since the police and school administration were allegedly involved.

“It’s funny how the ‘investigation” into our group went nowhere. Wonder why? It’s because we are the police, we are in the administration, we are in the geo. We made sure that the umpd (University of Massachusetts Police Department) investigation went cold (its not hard to trace an email) and sent dummy data to Stroz Friedberg,” the email read. ” When you went ape in whitmore some of our associates made sure to lock you out. By the way there is no point in restricting access to the student directory…we have access. The university responded exactly as we predicted and gave the expected lip service with a few token apologies.”

Stroz Friedberg Digital Forensics, a national cybersecurity firm, was hired by UMass to investigate emails from the fall. Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said Tuesday that the probe has been unsuccessful since then.

The sender mocks the students for “attacking” a school professor while acknowledging new faculty members and undergrads. An anonymous sender concludes the letter with more insults directed toward Black students in the school, threatening to reprimand them.

“Don’t show proper respect to your natural superiors and you will be reprimanded officially by one of us or socially ostracized by one of our students,” the email read. “All we ask is you assimilate to American society and stop being jungle bunnies. Every other race except for blacks have assimilated. You are not in Africa anymore.”

Law enforcement is investigating messages sent to at least four Black student groups, several Black students, and one campus office, Chancellor Subbaswamy said Tuesday night.

“We have alerted law enforcement to seek assistance in identifying the source of this new anti-Black racist email, and will do everything within our power to hold the racist, hateful coward who sent it accountable,” Subbaswamy said. “Investigations into such incidents, law enforcement experts say, are often difficult. The investigation into the original email from the fall of 2021 has thus far been inconclusive. That investigation is a collaborative effort undertaken by the UMass Police Department, the campus office of Information Technology, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, and independent experts from Stroz Friedberg Digital Forensics. This multi-faceted approach ensures that the investigation is as comprehensive and independent as possible. It has assessed the online targeting of the UMass community across multiple sources, including dark websites, and leveraged custom tools as well as proprietary and commercial datasets.” 

Subbaswamy noted that he understands the frustration that the students must be feeling during this time, acknowledging his anger as well. 

“I realize how frustrating the slow progress of the investigation is and how profoundly disturbing it is that our Black students have been targeted again,” Subbaswamy said. “I am angry and frustrated as well.”

In case a faculty member or student of the school is found to be the culprit, the Chancellor promises that they will be punished severely.

“If that person is someone in the campus community, they will face severe university sanctions,” Subbaaswamy said. “up to and including expulsion or employment termination, as well as a referral to the District Attorney for criminal prosecution.”

In a statement, District Attorney David Sullivan said that the racist email sent Tuesday contained misinformation about law enforcement’s role in the investigation.

“Late yesterday, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office received word from University of Massachusetts officials that a racist, hate-filled, and misinformation-laden email was received by four Black student groups as well as individual Black students and a UMass office,” Sullivan said. “This email was similar in tone to one sent out last semester, but this one also contained mistruths about law enforcement’s role in the investigation that I seek to correct now.”

 

Sullivan stated that law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office are taking the case with the utmost seriousness and care and that hate speech should not be permitted.

“The Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, along with its law enforcement partners, approaches this investigation with the utmost seriousness, care and attention,” Sullivan said. “Free speech is rightly held dear in this country, but it does not permit hate speech that threatens and intimidates in a way that interferes with a right to education.”

The district attorney stated that UMass is a strong community, and he stands with Chancellor Subbaswamy.

“I believe the UMass community is far stronger and smarter than the writers of this email seem to think,” Sullivan said. “Like Chancellor Subbaswamy, I stand in solidarity with people of color who are targets of this hate campaign.”

Blavity-UBlavity-U-Newsumass amherst