'His name is Cayden': Mum hits back after racist post

The mother of a three-year-old has hit out at a man who ignited a social media storm when he posted a 'racist selfie' with the toddler.

Warning: Some readers may find below content disturbing

Gerod Roth posted the photo himself on Facebook with three-year-old Cayden, the son of former colleague Sydney Shelton at Polaris Marketing Group, standing behind him.

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The photo was not captioned, but it was the racist comments - including one from Roth - which gained attention online, causing the post to go viral.

“I didn’t know you were a slave owner,” one commenter wrote. “But Massuh, I dindu nuffin," said another.

When one friend wrote, “Dude where the hell did you get a black kid??” Roth responded, ”He was feral.“

Ms Shelton, a single mother to Cayden, posted a response to the hateful comments on her Facebook page, starting the hashtag #HisNameIsCayden.

“This is Cayden Jace! The love of my life, the apple in my eye, my EVERYTHING,” Ms Shelton wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

"When people hear about him, these are the pictures I want them to know about. Not that disturbing image and its comments."

The mother says she’s devastated, particularly because one commenter called her son Kunta Kinte, the name of a slave character in well known American novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

She told Fox 5 Atlanta:

“He is not a deaf child, he is not mute. He has never been abandoned. He is a well-loved, fun-loving hyperactive 3-year-old.”

Roth was an employee at Polaris Marketing Group in Atlanta, US, and when company president Michael Da Graca Pinto got word of the post, he called it “disgusting”.

On Friday, Mr Da Graca Pinto announced Roth had been fired and that the company 'would never do business with him again'.

“This morning I was disgusted to learn that one of my former employees made several racially charged comments on his personal Facebook page.

"Cayden visits my office almost every afternoon after daycare, he’s sat at my dinner table and I consider him a part of the PMG family."

According to the Atlanta Black Star, at least one person who wrote a racist comment was fired from her job, as well.

Roth, who has a daughter, told Fox 5 Atlanta on Tuesday:

“My entire post was taken out of context.

"I just really feel sad, not only with myself, but also with the character that was based off of the comments that my friends made.

"I feel as if not only has poor Cayden himself been victimised but also myself for being targeted.”