Part of me didn’t want to write this article, because I’d finally have to truly and completely admit to myself that we are 100 percent not living in a post-racial America.
This past week, the world was introduced to a 3-year-old boy named Cayden. Not for some amazing reason like his IQ is way above average, or that he’s the youngest contestant on Master Chef Junior, or something simpler like "Hey, watch this awesome kid play basketball or dance or just be an adorable kid!" We learned his name because an actual, conscious, clear thinking adult male somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties decided to take a picture of him (without his mother’s permission), post it on Facebook, and let his other adult seemingly clear-thinking friends hurl heinous racial slurs at him.
Let’s just sit and think about this. I really want people to feel the confusion I felt when I saw the most disgusting comments I have ever seen about basically anyone. The internet is full of terrible people, but it is quite rare to see actual faces behind disgusting comments. Does he have no friends that are people of color? Was he raised by KKK members? What is wrong with this man, what is wrong with his friends, and more importantly why was he taking a picture of someone else’s child? Everyone was having fun laughing at the poor black child who’s deaf mute; he is neither poor or deaf mute, instead of calling this grown man out on being disgusting and creepy.
I’m not sure who found his profile or exposed him, but as soon as black twitter got a hold of it he and his friends were righteously fired from their jobs. The only thing amusing about this whole situation is that most of the people making the racist comments live in Atlanta which in recent years has been dubbed “black Hollywood”. Who is going to hire them when a simple google search brings up their racist comments? No one, that’s who.
The ultimate injustice here has been committed against Cayden. I personally don’t see racism disappearing anytime soon, and it’s just heartbreaking that someone so innocent was subject to such vicious and disgusting words based on his skin color. His mother most likely has not told Cayden about what is happening and what is being said about him because it is impossible to explain that kind of hatred to a child.
Even as the racist commenters have been exposed, the man who posted the picture has gone on numerous news stations saying he feels victimized. That alone enrages me as well as many other people. Cayden and his mother Sydney are the only victims in this terrible situation.
Sydney and Cayden’s godmother have set up a Go Fund Me account to donate to Cayden’s college fund which I will link below. There is true hatred in this world and it’s sad that people of the modern age continue to act in repulsive fashion. Cayden didn’t deserve this, his mother didn’t deserve this, and no one in the world deserves to be degraded just because they’re a different skin color by a bunch of ignorant pigs.
Please donate to Cayden's Go Fund Me Campaign!
https://www.gofundme.com/795kqpnc
