$650K Raised for Woman Who Called Child the N-Word

A Minnesota woman who was caught on video after allegedly calling a young Black boy the n-word is more than halfway to a million dollars after she launched a crowdfunding campaign for herself in the wake of the incident. Shiloh Hendrix was at a playground in Rochester, Minnesota, when, she says on her GiveSendGo campaign page, she noticed another child touching her own child's diaper bag. That's when the n-word allegedly came out, and then Sharmake Omar, 30, who knows the child's family, started filming Hendrix. Details:

• The slur: Omar can be heard asking Hendrix if she used the racist slur against the child, to which Hendrix replies in the affirmative. She also uses the slur multiple times against Omar, NBC News reports.

• Her justification for the slur: Omar asks on the video if "digging" through her diaper bag warranted the use of the n-word, to which Hendrix replies, "If that's what he's going to act like." On her crowdfunding page, Hendrix claims, "I recently had a kid steal from my 18month old sons diaper bag at a park. I called the kid out for what he was."
• Her reasoning for the crowdfunding campaign: She says her identity, social security number, address, phone number, and even the place she exercises have all been leaked, and she needs the money to protect her family from "attacks" or possibly even relocate. "No one has been harmed, and we are getting by," she says in an update on the page. "We are taking the proper procedures in order to stay safe from these constant threats. I'm still very frightened, and I don't think I will feel safe until we can escape completely."
• Who's donating to her campaign: The comments from supporters on the fundraising page were initially full of far-right, racist comments, including comments referencing white nationalism and Holocaust denial. GiveSendGo ultimately turned comments off, but the fundraiser is still active, and has raised more than $650,000 as of this writing.
• Police response: The city says it is aware of the incident and calls the video "deeply disturbing." It says the local police department is investigating, the Washington Post reports.
• Counter-fundraiser: The Rochester branch of the NAACP launched its own crowdfunding campaign for the family of the boy, who reportedly has autism spectrum disorder, but closed the campaign at the family's request after it had raised more than $340,000, KTTC reports.

(More Minnesota stories.)