“Other people have no First Amendment right to your phone and free speech doesn’t protect telephone harassment.”

Attorney General Dave Yost posted those words on social media after opening an inquiry into a series of hateful texts that reached Ohioans. They were part of a nationwide text effort that threatened black men, women and children and implied a return of slavery was imminent.

Students as young as middle school reported receiving the texts.

According to a report by The Journal-News, some of the texts included instructions for reporting to plantations and mentioned picking cotton. Others suggested the receiver should show up at a particular time “with your belongings.”

Yost rightly called the texts “despicable” as he joined the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission in opening inquiries.

They are more than that, they are horrifying.

Ohio NAACP President Tom Roberts told The Journal-News the texts were an act of intimidation, and recounted hearing from a woman whose school-aged daughter asked “Are we going to be slaves again?”

No child should be living with that kind of anxiety.

No one should have to pretend to be comfortable with public speakers who defiantly use language that decent people have understood for decades is outdated at best, and hurtful and offensive at worst. No one should have to worry what hate is coming their way via text message or any other means.

Yost and leaders of the other agencies digging in to this incident must not let up the pressure, and must heed Roberts’ advice:

“We have to take it serious, investigate it and prosecute it to the full extent of the law.”