MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis branch of the NAACP has become the target of persistent phone calls filled with racial slurs.

“The first time he called he was kind of ranting and raving about the n-word you know, f-the n-word,” said Vickie Terry, executive director of the Memphis branch of the NAACP.

The calls started about two weeks ago. The man mentioned the election.

Terry says he left multiple hateful messages. Most of them have been deleted, but in one, he says one racial slur before hanging up.

Monday morning, he called again, once again using derogatory words to another employee. Terry tracked his number and called back.

“And I asked him, ‘did he need the NAACP for a reason?’ And that’s when he told me again his choice words and then told me we have too many blacks here,” Terry said. “So, I told him, ‘OK we’re going to talk to the police’.”

Minutes later Memphis Police showed up to take a report. The phone number was tracked to Lexington, Kentucky.

Since calling the police, Terry and her team haven’t heard from the man. Police did an extra check of the building on Election Day, and the branch has added security.

Throughout the process Terry has tried to stay calm.

“And I know that these people are sick, really they are, and I just try to make sure that really we are taken care of,” Terry said.

“You read about stories about this happening in the 60s and you just think, ‘well that’s in the history books’ and to actually have something like that occur in 2020 is pretty alarming,” said Van Turner, Memphis NAACP president. “It’s disappointing, but you know we’re committed to moving forward on our mission.”

They’re not letting hateful phone calls deter them.

“We’re just kind of sick and tired of dealing with these racial insults, slurs or whatever and we’re not going to continue to put up with it,” Terry said. “And I just think something needs to be done to people who think they can do this.”

So far, we have not heard if the caller has been tracked down.