Opinion
Racism is Alive and Well Online
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Y
ou can run, but you can’t
hide from racism. I was
preparing to write a col-
umn on the Trans-Pacific Partner-
ship (TPP), the trade agreement
that President Barack Obama
wants to fast track through Con-
gress. I considered tackling the
Planned Parenthood kerfuffle, as
Republicans are targeting a most
important women’s health pro-
vider for political purposes. But
a friend sent me a link to a photo
uploaded by Atlanta native “Geris
Hilton” with a string of comments
that simply turned my stomach,
and I realized that the TPP would
have to wait. (It isn’t going any-
where until January anyway).
Hilton, whose legal name is
Gerod Roth, worked at the Polaris
Marketing Group in Atlanta, Ga.
There he took a selfie of himself
and a coworker’s child and posted
it on Facebook.
When one of his “friends” asked
why the child was running around
the office, Roth replied, “He was
feral.”
The dictionary defines “feral”
as “relating to, or suggestive of, a
wild beast”, and “not domesticat-
ed or cultivated – wild,” or “hav-
ing escaped from domestication
and become wild.” Excuse me?
Roth’s own daughter hangs out
at the office at the end of the day.
She plays with the adorable boy
whose innocent little face attract-
ed the most “feral” comments
from Roth’s intellectually chal-
lenged Facebook friends.
From one “friend”: “I didn’t
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
know you were a slave owner.”
Others commented about selling
enslaved people another suggest-
ed that Hilton “send him back,”
because they are “too expensive.”
Sydney Jade is three-year-old
Cayden’s loving, caring and hard
and wrote about the incident and
subsequent firing on Facebook.
I am among those who think it
should have taken less than two
weeks, but they deserve credit for
taking action instead of hiding be-
hind the “free speech” argument
that many make to defend their
racist employees. The Root report-
ed that others who made offend-
ing comments about Cayden were
also fired from their jobs. Yes!
Gerod Roth is one of those
pouty little racists who has now
described himself as the “victim”
in this matter. He “has been target-
ed”, he says. He whines that his
remarks were taken out of context.
He had neither the grace nor the good
sense to say, ‘I’m sorry and I’m out of
order’, and then shut up. Instead, he
tried to cover his insensitivity up
working mother. Gerod Roth
knew this, but he never corrected
his “friends” who described the
child as abandoned and worse.
Jade, started using the hash tag
#HisNameisCayden on Twitter to
affirm her child’s humanity and
to reject the caricature that Hil-
ton portrayed. She has received
an outpouring of love and support
from cyberspace.
Thumbs up to company exec-
utives at the Polaris Marketing
Group, who fired Roth about two
weeks after his offending selfie
He posted an “apology” that was
several paragraphs long attempt-
ing to “explain” how he happened
to post the selfie in the first place,
suggesting that young Cayden ac-
tually asked him to take the pic-
ture.
He had neither the grace nor the
good sense to say, “I’m sorry and
I’m out of order”, and then shut
up. Instead, he tried to cover his
insensitivity up.
Next thing you know, there will
be a group of folks rallying around
Roth who some would describe as
nothing more than a child molest-
er for his callous exploitation of
his coworker’s son. Those who
railed against this incident will be
told this occurrence is isolated.
The late, great writer Bebe
Moore Campbell once wrote an
essay about “race fatigue,” about
the many ways she was tired of
seeing, living, talking and writing
about race. She wrote about ignor-
ing slights she might once have
challenged, tamping down an
anger that might once have been
volcanic. In that particular essay,
she wrote about seeking a peace-
ful respite from race matters. We
all seek that respite, those days
when we don’t have to think about
the indignities of both institutional
racism and the micro-aggressions
that are difficult to quantify. We
seek, but we don’t find the respite
when cyberspace reveals life as
both gritty and grand.
While Roth is little more than
gas in the wind, not even a foot-
note in our nation’s history, he
merits attention, because there are
so many more of him, lurking out
there, fracturing peace because
they are so hateful. Who calls a
child “feral” and then describes
himself or herself as the victim?
And who, in the light of this kind
of nonsense, says we live in a
“post racial” space?
Julianne Malveaux is author and
economist based in Washington,
DC. Her new book “Are We Bet-
ter Off? Race, Obama and Public
Policy” is available for pre-order
at www.juliannemalveaux.com.
Salute to Rev. Jackson on his 75th Birthday
eventy-five years ago a free-
dom fighter was born in
Greenville, South Carolina.
His name is Jesse Louis Jackson,
Sr. and I need to say something
about this brother that I have
known and worked with for de-
cades in the ongoing Civil Rights
Movement in the U. S. and in the
overall freedom struggle interna-
tionally.
Too often, particularly among
Black American leaders, we are
too quick to say something nega-
tive about each other, and too late
to say a positive word about that
leader while they’re still alive.
Yes, I am talking about Black
unity among Black leaders. It’s a
subject or a call that is rarely men-
tioned today. Why?
Some would argue that the di-
vision or lack of operational unity
among Black American leaders
today is a symptom or byproduct
of centuries of racial, economic
and political oppression. I believe
that is partly true. But on the oth-
er hand, disunity is not something
that we are born with. It is socially
generated. My point here is sim-
ply to remind all of us that we
need more unity not just among
our leaders, but we also need more
unity in the Black American com-
munity in general.
I was in Detroit, Michigan re-
cently to attend the 16th Annual
Rainbow PUSH Global Automo-
tive Summit on Oct. 8, 2015 on
behalf of the National Newspaper
S
Page 2 October 14, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner
Benjamin F.
Chavis, Jr.
NNPA
President and
CEO
Publishers Association (NNPA).
Sister Glenda Gill, another strong
freedom fighter and the Executive
Director of the Rainbow PUSH/
CEF Automotive Project made
sure that the audience was made
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) in the 1960s.
At the automotive summit in
front of industry corporate exec-
utives, Rev. Jackson challenged
everyone to understand that there
is a difference between winning
freedom and establishing equali-
ty, in particular economic equali-
ty and equal opportunity to fulfill
one’s true God-given potential in
life. Rev. Jackson stated, “Rain-
bow PUSH will continue to en-
gage with the auto manufacturers
to protect consumers and continue
the quest for equity and fairness.”
I have been a firsthand witness to
the remarkable, game-changing
leadership and irrepressible spirit of our
brother leader
aware that the day was Rev. Jack-
son’s 75th birthday.
As I watched and listened to the
Rev. Jackson take the podium at
the kick off reception, it brought
back many positive memories
of the past. I have been a first-
hand witness to the remarkable,
game-changing leadership and
irrepressible spirit of our brother
leader. Although I was just a little
younger, we both had the privilege
and awesome pleasure and re-
sponsibility to work with the Rev.
From the early days of SCLC’s
Operation Breadbasket in Chicago
in the 1960s to the 2015 auto sum-
mit in Detroit, Rev. Jackson has
been the most consistent Black
American leader on the question
of economic justice and equali-
ty for Black Americans and for
all people throughout the world.
Black Americans, according to the
Nielsen research company, have
an estimated collective buying
power of $1.1 trillion in the Unit-
ed States. Yet, too many of our
communities remain in poverty.
Thus, the quest today for eco-
nomic equity and parity should
be priorities for all our national
organizations and movements. I
also remember when Rev. Jack-
son decided to run to be President
of the United States in 1984. His
campaign became both a political
and spiritual crusade to lift the as-
pirations and hopes of millions of
people across the nation as part of
an emerging Rainbow Coalition.
The Reverend Wyatt T. Walker
and I were the national clergy co-
ordinators for Rev. Jackson’s 1984
political empowerment campaign.
“Run Jesse Run” became the
proud theme for millions of peo-
ple who were crying out for free-
dom, justice and equality.
The truth must be told. Rev.
Jackson’s 1984 campaign opened
the door wider for the subsequent,
successful historic political cam-
paign that led to the election of
President Barack H. Obama in
2008. During the past 60 years we
have made progress, but we still
have a long way to go to fulfill
Dr. King’s dream. We all should
be vocal and grateful that Rev.
Jackson is still on the case with
outstanding leadership.
We thank you, Jesse Louis Jack-
son, Sr. We salute you, we respect
you and may we work today to
raise up a new generation of free-
dom fighters who know what it
means to advance the cause of
freedom and equality for all.