More than $340,000 has been raised for the autistic 5-year-old boy who was called the N-word by a White Minnesota mom during a confrontation at a playground in Rochester last week.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Shiloh Hendrix was recorded calling the minor the racial slur, and the man who witnessed her actions was identified as Sharmake Omar.
In the aftermath of the incident, Hendrix, who also admitted to hurling the racial slur at the minor, set up a fundraiser to raise money to enable her to relocate with her family because they were allegedly being threatened. She also claimed their relocation was necessary because her personal details had been leaked. More than $600,000 has since been raised for her.
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The GoFundMe for the 5-year-old was set up by the Rochester Branch NAACP. In a statement on May 3, the organization stated they had closed the page to honor the minor’s family’s wishes, the Grand Forks Herald reported. The $341,484 that was raised surpassed the campaign’s $200,000 goal.
The statement explained that the funds were going to be channeled toward “legal redress and social justice efforts in support of the child and family” as well as “legal advocacy, accountability, and restorative efforts, also in support of the child and family.”
“From the beginning, this campaign was rooted in a powerful truth: no child should ever be dehumanized, and love must always be louder than hate,” the statement added. “People from across the country and around the world responded, sending a clear message that this child, this family, and this moment matter.”
The organization in its statement also emphatically stated that the entire money – minus the standard GoFundMe charges – was going to be given to the minor’s family “in a trust account with the parents serving as executors.”
“The responsibility of the trust account will rest solely with the family, as it should,” the statement said. “The creation of this trust reflects the spirit in which these donations were made—out of love, protection, and a desire to support the long-term well-being of the child and family. No member of the Rochester Branch of the NAACP has received – or will receive – funds from these donations.”
Hendrix went viral on social media for her actions. In the video in question, Omar, who is also Black, is heard confronting Hendrix after she allegedly hurled the racial slur at the minor. When Omar asks Hendrix if she indeed used that offensive language, she replies “Yeah.”
“He took my son’s stuff,” Hendrix is heard saying. Omar is also heard asking her if the minor’s actions warranted her use of the racial slur. “If that’s what he’s going to act like,” she is heard saying before she repeatedly hurls out the N-word again at Omar.
In an interview with NBC News, Omar said the 5-year-old suffers from autism and his parents hail from Somalia. He also said the minor’s parents were attending to their three other children when Hendrix confronted the boy.
“That little boy … was visibly upset by the incident,” Omar recalled. Besides using the racial slur, Hendrix is also accused of telling Omar that he and his wife should stop conceiving more children because they are negatively impacting the welfare system. Minnesota is known for being a refugee haven.
And though Hendrix in her fundraiser claimed that Omar had a criminal record, information from the state court disclosed that she had also been convicted of crimes including driving under the influence, disorderly conduct, and brawling, the New York Post reported.
The Rochester Police Department has since launched an investigation into the incident.
