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Amid the dozens of racist comments made about a 3-year-old black boy in a Facebook thread in September — which ultimately ignited a viral backlash — was one hashtag: "#BlackLivesMatter."
The Atlanta man who wrote that, Skylar Felton, said he doesn't believe that his friend Gerod Roth, who originally posted the photo which ignited the thread, is a racist. But Roth clearly crossed a line in going along with the other commenters, Felton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"It was just a joke gone wrong, when it came to responding to the comments," said Felton, who is black.
Roth's photo was posted on Sept. 16 without a caption, Felton said — proof that it was an "innocent" image.
The thread of comments quickly turned nasty, according to screenshots. Users compared the boy, the son of Roth's coworker, named Cayden, to a slave, and Roth to a slave owner. They referred to Cayden as "Kunta Kinte" and "Sambo." At one point, Felton interjected himself with "#BlackLivesMatter" to help correct the tone of the thread, he said. (Roth "liked" the comment, he said.)
There may have been as many as 80 comments from a dozen people, Felton said.
Roth responded at one point with, "He (Cayden) was feral," according to screenshots.
In a screenshot that appears to be from a Facebook Messenger conversation, someone asked, “Why is he feral though?”
An avatar that appears to be Roth’s said, “Because he was abandoned in the Atlanta projects, to fend for himself, he is deaf mute, ca’t (sic) properly communicate and is in and out of a shelter home, that is the definition of feral.”
Roth "made a mistake," Felton said, and was spurred on by the other derogatory comments, as a kind of one-upmanship of what they thought was funny. (Felton said he was previously unaware of the comment Roth apparently made in the Facebook message.)
The thread was "definitely out of character" for Roth, who has spoken out numerous times on his Facebook about racial and marriage equality, including in support of the Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage, Felton said.
Roth is preparing a public apology, Felton said. The two recently spoke, and Felton has decided to forgive Roth, to give him the opportunity to make things right, though he said that doesn't mean everyone else has to.
"If we do forgive, we can work together. We can stop perpetuating this hate," he said.
The thread was taken out of context, Roth told Fox 5.
“I really feel upset, not only with myself, but also with the character that was based off of the comments that my friends made,” he said. “I feel as if, not only has poor Cayden been victimized but also myself for being targeted.”
The AJC has been unable to reach Roth for comment.
Roth's former employer, Atlanta-based Polaris Marketing Group, said it was "disgusted" by his post.
"The comments were horrible," Polaris President Michael Da Graca Pinto told the AJC. "What Sidney (Shelton, Cayden's mom and Roth's former coworker) was upset about is that he referred to her son in slanderous ways and didn't defend him."
Roth was fired from PMG on Sept. 29 for unrelated reasons, Pinto said. Shelton told the company about his post in October, Pinto said.
“Cayden is a child. He is not abandoned. He is not mute or dead. He is loved,” Shelton told the AJC. “Now I am about being able to stand up and talk about this. It hit home, because it is my child. I was afraid at first, but now people are hearing my voice. And if people are going to see my son, I want them to see my Cayden. I want them to get that image (posted by Roth) out of their heads.”
