The black mayor of Kansas City, Missouri said Monday that he received text messages containing a racial slur and what he called a “subtle death threat” after announcing a city-wide mask requirement to help prevent the spread. of the coronavirus.
Mayor Quinton Lucas posted a screenshot on Twitter of the text messages he received telling him to “swing from a tree” and calling it the N word.
“I am not threatening him, but I would love to see him,” said the message from an unidentified sender.
A text also called Lucas an “idiot,” saying he “walked with RIOTERS without wearing a mask,” apparently referring to the mayor’s involvement in the George Floyd protests.
The mayor also posted a photo of him holding a t-shirt for a radio station and next to it an altered version of the photo in which the t-shirt says “—- the police.”
On the side-by-side images, Lucas wrote: “Social media and the photography store are always fascinating. For the many text messages that scare me away from the fake photos circulating, I recommend that you don’t believe everything a muckraker sends you … and uses some judgment. “
Regarding the insult and the threat of texting, Lucas wrote: “Everyone, let’s do better.”
The mayor announced on Friday a new requirement to wear masks in the city when six feet of social distance is not possible, reported KSHB, an NBC affiliate in Kansas City. The rule went into effect on Monday in the city of 491,000 people, shortly after it registered the highest daily number of new cases.
Lucas told NBC News on Tuesday that the messages are “a sad reflection of where some people are in our country.”
“What the hell does someone with a mask policy have to do with dropping N bombs and talking about people hanging from a tree?” I ask. He also said he is frustrated by “how vitriolic the mask policy has become.”
Lucas called the shirt photo shoot “the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“OMG, am I at a point where I have to show that I’m not really a politician holding an ‘F the police’ shirt? It’s ridiculous,” said the mayor, adding that he believes he was “more upset by the fact that I felt the need to defend myself. “
Kansas City police told NBC News via email that the department is not investigating the incident.
“If a report were made to the police, we would be investigating. I am not aware of one at this time,” said a police spokesman.
