Racial Comments on Facebook
By Kayli Denson
No one likes a racist comment, or at least they shouldn’t in our politically correct society.
I’m talking about how racist and harsh comments made on the Facebook platform are offensive and disrespectful. The most offensive comments I have read are from users that do not have profile pictures. They have avatars. An avatar is a picture that does not show the Facebook users face. They literally get to hide.
I am a young white college student who uses Facebook many times a day. I am from the generation that made Facebook popular. I enjoy this form of social media 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, I observe other users. They say harsh racist comments. First, people of every color start bashing each other over a political or social confrontation. It then ends up with confrontation about skin color.
I mean can you imagine being a young male trying voicing your opinion about gun control? Then a racist comment is made to you? Then you are being cussed at and disqualified about your argument, because of skin color?
I think people are talking to each other in this manner because they are hiding behind a computer screen. I mean we do have freedom of speech, but they would never say this to a person’s face. James McGraw, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of the book, Life Strategies for Dealing With Bullies, says, “ Bullies like to have an audience watching them while they act out. Technology has given them a bigger audience than ever before.”
One of the most recent stories that have come up with racist comments on Facebook is the story about a racist post that targets a coworker’s child. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported several employees started a social media war at an Atlanta marketing company for saying racist slurs on Facebook about a coworker’s son. Here are some examples of what they said about the son named Cayden: They called him a “slave” and referenced him to a black character in the children’s book, “Little Black Sombo”. They also had conversations saying, Cayden is “feral”. They continued with sick justification of calling him “feral” by saying, “Because he was abandoned in the Atlanta projects, to fend for himself, he is deaf mute, ca’t (cq) properly communicate and is in and out of a shelter home, that is the definition of feral.”
I do not know what these white people are trying to accomplish by making fun of this young boy. They are showing how rude people are over Facebook. Cayden’s mother, Shelton, responded by saying “I never imagined something like this happening in a million years. At 25, I am just trying to work and support my son.”
It is stories like that make my blood boil. Thankfully these racist people were fired from this Atlanta marketing company. Racist and harsh comments on the Facebook platform are offensive and disrespectful.
It is going to be difficult for some people to stop being racist. They have grown up with this type of life from the influence from their parents. It is going to take some courage, but we must keep pointing out when people are being offensive and rude. We must keep speaking about this. We can fight this and change by showing people the right way to treat each other. Word count: 600
