A MAN ON FACEBOOK
POSTED A SELFIE OF HIMSELF AND A THREE-YEAR-OLD BLACK BOY, AND
CONTINUED TO MOCK THE BOY ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
NOT ONLY DID HE
MOCK THE BLACK BOY, BUT A NUMBER OF HIS COLLEAGUES DID AS
WELL.
THE MEN HERE IS GEROD ROTH, KNOWN ON FACEBOOK AS GERIS HILTON,
AND THE ADORABLE BOY IN
THE BACK IS CAYDEN JACE.
HE POSTED THIS ON FACEBOOK, AND YOU
READ SOME OF THE HORRIBLE COMMENTS THAT PEOPLE WROTE.
ONE
PERSON WROTE, "I WILL FEED YOU,
BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A SELFIE."
ANOTHER COMMENTER, BY THE NAME
OF TIM ZHENG, DESCRIBED THE YOUNG BOY AS FERAL.
THIS WENT
VIRAL VERY QUICKLY, AND WHAT IS BEING REFERRED TO AS BLACK
TWITTER CAUGHT WIND OF THIS, AND IT LED TO AN UNDERSTANDABLE AMOUNT
OF OUTRAGE.
THE BOY'S MOTHER, SYDNEY, POSTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA AS WELL.
"ABOVE ALL OF THIS NONSENSE THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON, CAYDEN
AND I TRULY APPRECIATE ALL OF THE LOVE THAT WE HAVE BEEN SHOWN
IN THE LAST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS" "YOU GUYS WARM MY HEART MORE
THAN WORDS COULD EVER EXPRESS.
THIS LITTLE GUY HAS EVERY PIECE
OF MY HEART, HE IS MY WORLD AND HIS NAME IS CAYDEN."
THE EMPLOYER OF THE GUY WHO POSTED THAT PICTURE DECIDED
TO FIRE HIM, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO COMMENTED ON THAT PHOTO
ALSO GOT FIRED.
INCLUDING EMILY IRENE RED, WHO WROTE IN THAT POST,
"I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE A SLAVE
OWNER."
SO BLACK TWITTER, WHICH CLEARLY SHOULD BE SOME KIND OF
SUPERHERO, JUMPED IN, AND ñ LOOK, IT DOESN'T MEAN I AGREE WITH
EVERYTHING "BLACK TWITTER" DOES
ñ IT'S LIKE IT'S A PERSON ñ THEY JUMPED IN AND SAID TO HER
EMPLOYER, THIS IS WHAT SHE WROTE, AND SHE GOT FIRED.
I'M A LITTLE BIT HESITANT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA VIGILANTISM.
MAYBE YOU ARE GOING TO GET INTO SOMEONE'S
INSIDE JOKE, SO IT'S A LITTLE BIT DANGEROUS.
BUT THIS IS A CASE WHERE IT IS SO STARK THAT IT IS HARD
NOT TO APPLY.
YEAH, THIS GUY IS NOT A TEENAGE TROLL ON TWITTER.
HE IS A PROFESSIONAL ADULT WORKING IN MARKETING, AND THIS
WAS NOT SOME RANDOM KID THAT HE DECIDED TO TAKE A PICTURE WITH.
IT IS ACTUALLY A COLLEAGUEíS SON.
HE WORKS WITH THIS WOMAN, WHO BRINGS HER SON INTO WORK
FROM TIME TO TIME, AND HE WROTE THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
IT IS INCREDIBLE HOW STUPID HE IS, AND HOW BRAZEN HE IS
ABOUT HIS OWN RACISM.
THAT IS THE PART THAT IS MYSTIFYING TO ME.
AFTER ALL OF
THIS TIME, I AM STILL A BIT NAœVE BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW THE
MIND OF A RACIST.
WHEN I FIRST SAW THE PICTURE I DID NOT UNDERSTAND
WHAT HE WAS GETTING AT.
I DID NOT UNDERSTAND, SO OF COURSE I
STARTED READING THE STORY, I UNDERSTOOD THAT PEOPLE WERE MAD,
BUT UNTIL THIS MOMENT I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW SOMEBODY SEES A
BLACK KID AND THEY START TALKING ABOUT SLAVERY.
I AM BLOWN AWAY
BY THAT.
CAN YOU IMAGINE, YOU TAKE A PICTURE WITH A
THREE-YEAR-OLD BLACK KID AND THEN PEOPLE START WRITING IN,
SEND HIM BACK, THOSE FUCKERS ARE EXPENSIVE, MY MIND DOES NOT
COMPREHEND IT.
THEY SEE A BLACK KID ñ I DID NOT GROW UP IN THIS
CONTEXT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT CONTEXT YOU GREW UP IN ñ I
CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THEY SEE A BLACK KID, AND THAT IS THE
ASSUMPTIONS THEY MAKE.
THAT IS IMMEDIATELY WHAT THEY GO TO.
WHY DON'T THEY ASSUME, WHAT A LOVELY KID?
I DON'T GET IT EITHER, BUT ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LOOK AT
THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS VERY VIDEO AND YOU WILL SEE MORE
OF THE SAME.
PEOPLE DENY IT, BUT HOW MANY EXAMPLES DO WE HAVE
TO BRING UP ON THIS SHOW TO SHOW THAT WE HAVE SERIOUS RACIAL
ISSUES IN THIS COUNTRY?
IT IS
RACE BAITING?
REALLY?
ARE WE THE ONES WHO DECIDED TO POST THIS
PICTURE ON FACEBOOK AND WRITE RACIST THINGS?
ARE WE THE ONES
WHO DECIDED TO SUSPEND A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD BLACK STUDENT IN
OHIO BECAUSE HE HAD THE AUDACITY TO HAVE A STARING CONTEST WITH A
WHITE TEENAGE GIRL?
RACISM EXISTS, IT IS THERE.
THEY ARE
EVEN MORE WRONG THAN THEY REALIZE.
I WOULDN'T HAVE
EVEN THOUGHT TO "RACE BAIT" ON THIS.
IF YOU HAD SHOWN ME THIS
PICTURE I WOULD HAVE SAID, LOVELY PICTURE, LET'S MOVE ON.
IT WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED TO ME THAT THIS IS A RACIAL ISSUE,
BECAUSE WHEN I SEE A BLACK KID I SEE A KID.
WHEN THEY SEE A
BLACK KID, THEY SEE BLACK.
THAT ACTUALLY GIVES ME A CHILL
DOWN MY SPINE, WHEN I THINK
ABOUT IT THAT WAY.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND THESE PEOPLE.
THEY LIVE IN A STATE OF MIND THAT IS SO MALICIOUS THAT I
CANNOT EVEN COMPREHEND IT.