Latest news with #ShilohHendrix
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Time of India
Crowdfunding hate: Shiloh Hendrix raises $790K after racist slur on child; donors post Nazi symbols
Source- GiveSendGo Shiloh Hendrix, a white woman from Minnesota, who went viral after she was caught on camera using a racial slur sgainst a 5-year-old child at a park on 28 April, has received unexpected support—more than $790,000 in online donations. The money came through GiveSendGo, a platform known for hosting fundraisers linked to far-right causes. Her campaign drew over 30,000 supporters, many of whom left donation messages containing racial slurs and Nazi symbols. . In her fundraiser description, Hendrix wrote: 'My name is Shiloh and I have been put into a very dire situation. I recently had a kid steal from my 18-month-old son's diaper bag at a park. I called the kid out for what he was. Another man, whom we recently found out has had a history with law enforcement, proceeded to record me and follow me to my car. He then posted these videos online, which have caused my family and me great turmoil… My eldest child may not be going back to school. Even where I exercise has been exposed.' Woman captured in viral video hurling the N-word on a Minnesota playground In later posts, Hendrix thanked donors and said the fundraiser was life-changing. 'We have a wonderful support team on our side… We can now work on starting a new life. Amazing things can happen when like-minded individuals work together. We have proven just how powerful and great we are,' she wrote. Hendrix case reflects a wider shift in the US since Donald Trump's political rise. Such statements and the support that followed have alarmed critics. Between 2016 and 2022, extremist-linked campaigns on platforms like GiveSendGo raised more than $6 million, according to Anti-Defamation League. Mark Dwyer from the Anti-Defamation League said this kind of crowdfunding is no longer limited to organised far-right groups. It also attracts everyday people who may not see racism as a problem. 'They don't view what she did as wrong. For many, this might be the first action they take beyond posting on social media—donating money to show support,' The Guardian quoted Dwyer as saying. GiveSendGo has defended hosting the fundraiser, saying to The Guardian it supports 'personal choice' even in controversial cases. 'GiveSendGo is not a place of judgment but a place of generosity,' a spokesperson said.
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- The Guardian
Go viral for racist behavior, receive $750,000: inside the new extremist crowdfunding campaigns
Shiloh Hendrix, a white woman based in Rochester, Minnesota, went viral after admitting in a video that she called a 5-year-old Black child the N-word while at a local park on 28 April. Though Hendrix was met with widespread condemnation and denouncement after the incident, she also raised over $750,000 on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo, commonly used by extremists to fundraise for far-right causes. Many contributors to Hendrix's campaign, which was created to 'protect [Hendrix's] family' after backlash, used racial slurs and Nazi symbols in their donation names. As of 1 June, over 30,000 people had donated to Hendrix's fundraiser. The support and funding Hendrix received for her racist actions raised alarm bells for many, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which flagged the fundraiser as being used to 'spread hateful talking points and legitimize their ideas'. Experts say the response to her campaign signals the rise of more overt, public support for racist actions, versus their condemnation. Hendrix isn't the first white person to become infamous for racist behavior and receive financial support from members of the public. A legal defense fund for Daniel Penny, a white veteran who killed Jordan Neely, a Black unhoused man, on a New York City subway in 2023, raised over $3.3m on GiveSendGo. The fund was created by Penny's defense lawyers. A similar campaign was started for Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a 2020 demonstration against the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. That crowdfunding drive was started by Friends of Kyle Rittenhouse, a group based in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised more than $585,000. Several fundraisers for participants of the 2021 capital insurrection are currently hosted on the website. But experts say that the grassroots nature of Hendrix's fundraiser is concerning. Compared to the success of fundraisers like Rittenhouse or Penny that were largely driven by media attention and conservative politicians, Hendrix's campaign is in support of her usage of a racial slur and was spread by white supremacist circles. 'This particular case stands out because of the horrifying, vile slur that is being defended,' said Brian Levin, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. He added: 'It's illustrative of something that we've seen with regard to online organizing with respect to 'dyed-in-the-wool' racists, as opposed to just more controversial political expression.' Organizations and individuals explicitly supporting white supremacy, anti-LGBTQ+, and QAnon conspiracies raised over $6m on fundraising sites, including GiveSendGo, between 2016 and 2022, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. GiveSendGo hosted the majority of fundraisers, about 86.5% of the money tracked by the ADL. Other experts say that the Hendrix campaign demonstrates a shift in public opinion following Donald Trump's latest electoral victory, one where bigoted acts receive more open, tangible support than ever before. 'There's evidence that in the last few years, we've really seen a normalization of explicitly racialized politics,' said Jennifer Chudy, an assistant professor of political science at Wesleyan University. 'I think the person in the White House has emboldened people who may have felt silently sympathetic in the past towards this white woman, to now be more open about it, to not have any kind of sense of embarrassment or shame [since] this is a position that many in our upper echelons of power endorse and profess.' In many ways, the success of Hendrix's crowdfunding campaign represents an 'anomaly', said Mark Dwyer, an extremism funding investigator with the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. For one, a small group of users on X, known for spreading racist rhetoric online, claimed that they created the fundraiser on GiveSendGo and then reached out to Hendrix, offering her support, said Dwyer. What's more, Hendrix's crowdfunding came after a viral fundraising campaign for Karmelo Anthony on the same platform. Anthony, a Black teenager from Frisco, Texas, allegedly stabbed and killed Austin Metcalf, a white teenager from a rival school, during a track meet. White supremacists encouraged people to donate to Hendrix's fund as a rebuttal to money raised for Anthony's legal defense fund, which Dwyer said likely boosted the campaign's success. Hendrix's video also served as a form of recruitment and camaraderie for folks who may have bigoted views but are not white supremacists. '[Hendrix's video] got in front of millions and millions and millions of eyes. It drove donors that might not necessarily be the hardcore white supremacist, but in their eyes, they don't see what she did as a problem,' said Dwyer. He added: 'People are voting on their views with their dollar. [For] a lot of people, this might be their first action outside of posting on social media to push their views and making a donation.' This latest incident represents a sharp contrast in how the public reacted to racist incidents just a few years ago. With the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, many white people began facing public outrage over problematic behavior, including their harassment of Black people in public spaces. Jennifer Schulte, nicknamed 'Barbecue Becky', was widely criticized in 2018 after calling 911 on a Black family who was barbecuing in an Oakland, California, park. Amy Cooper was fired from her job after a trending video proved that she falsely claimed that a Black birdwatcher threatened her and her dog. 'Karen' quickly became a moniker to describe an entitled, nosy white woman as racial justice protests spread across the globe in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. But Chudy said that high levels of support for the Black Lives Matter movement among white people was also due to a confluence of unusual forces, including the Covid-19 pandemic and viral video of Floyd's murder. She added: 'You had white people who were stuck at home, [with the] typical distractions of their daily life suspended and so they would watch their screens and they saw an unambiguous, violent, lethal interaction between a white police officer and a Black man. We were always going to kind of revert to the norm.' Backlash to support of racial justice also came quickly, best illustrated by the political rise and election of Trump in 2016. 'Trump emerges on the national stage with an explicitly racial agenda of talking about Obama's birth certificate and where he's from,' said Chudy. 'Because Trump is so visible, because he's served in the highest political office in the land twice, that's just a lot of visibility to entrench new norms.' Meanwhile, individuals who were previously sympathetic to racial justice causes largely reduced their support. 'White people might feel like, 'Oh, we already discussed those issues. We already read the books, did the marches. So why is there still something to be upset about?'', said Chudy. In the midst of shifting support, platforms like GiveSendGo have been used as a fundraising tool by 'alt-right' extremists to fund causes. The website advertises itself as a free, philanthropic platform which emphasizes 'providing hope for people's spiritual needs', according to the group's website. 'The most valuable currency is God's love', the website reads, noting that GiveSendGo also partners with 'individuals and organizations dedicated to praying over our campaigns'. In a statement to the Guardian, a GiveSendGo representative defended the platform's choice to house Hendrix's fundraiser. 'Even in situations where we do not personally agree with an individual's past actions or beliefs, we still believe in the importance of personal choice,' said Alex Shipley, the site's communications director. 'Those who agree with the campaign's purpose are free to give, and those who disagree are free not to participate. GiveSendGo is not a place of judgment but a place of generosity, where people can choose how they wish to respond.' Shipley added that the website has a 'terms of service' where content would be subject to moderation or removal. But GiveSendGo has continually maintained a 'laissez-faire' attitude towards racist and bigoted campaigns on their platform, said Dwyer. 'They aren't going to de-platform people, no matter how reprehensible it is, until it reaches a bar of their choosing,' he said. As other regressions in racial progress happen – rollbacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and racist language in politics – open support for folks like Hendrix might become commonplace. 'Based on social media chatter, this was an empowering moment [for white supremacists],' Dwyer said of the Hendrix fundraiser. 'It increases the likelihood of something like this happening again.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
No charging decision made yet in case related to viral video
Jun. 10—ROCHESTER — The Rochester City Attorney's Office has not made a charging decision for the case involving Shiloh Hendrix, a woman caught on video using a racial slur at a Rochester park. According to City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage, the office has no updates to report yet, as of Monday, June 9. The viral video's case was referred to the city attorney's office on May 5 after the Rochester Police Department completed its investigation. The original video, which was posted on April 28, depicted a man confronting the woman for calling a Black child a racial slur at a Soldiers Field Park playground. Though the original video was deleted, social media influencers had reposted the video with their own commentary. One user's repost on TikTok has since garnered 14.2 million views and 1.3 million likes. The woman in the video identified herself as Shiloh Hendrix in a crowdfunding campaign, asking the public to help her family relocate after their personal information was leaked. As of Tuesday, June 10, Hendrix's campaign has raised more than $790,000. In response to her fundraising efforts, the Rochester branch of the NAACP created a GoFundMe to raise $340,000 for the child in the video and his family. Days after the video was posted, a town hall and protests were held to encourage the city attorney's office to press charges against Hendrix. At the time, Spindler-Krage said it would be premature to estimate when a final decision would be made but that his office would release its decision publicly. The Rochester branch of the NAACP urged the city attorney's office and Olmsted County Attorney's Office "to act with urgency, seriousness, thoroughness, and expediency." The statement listed seven Minnesota criminal statutes the organization believes would apply to the case. The case marks the second completed investigation into a high-profile incident involving race in Rochester over the last year. On April 14, 2024, a racial slur was spelled out using plastic cups in the chain-link fence on the pedestrian bridge over East Circle Drive. The Rochester Police Department identified the four teenagers responsible for the act and referred the case to the Olmsted County Attorney's Office on June 3, 2024. Three days later, former County Attorney Mark Ostrem said his office would not file charges. While the incident was offensive, Ostrem wrote at the time, it has protection under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In August 2024, a state representative found racist graffiti painted on her shed, a swastika on a window of her home, and paint over all but one of the surveillance cameras around her house. The investigation has not been completed.
Kiwiblog
17-05-2025
- Kiwiblog
Don't reward appalling behaviour
The Free Press reports: Last Wednesday, a video went viral of a white woman defending her actions after calling a 5-year-old black boy the N-word because, allegedly, the kid had tried to steal from her son's diaper bag. There are no circumstances in which it is okay for an adult to call a five year old black kid a ni**er. The video spread lightning-fast from TikTok to Instagram to X. Almost immediately, the woman in question was identified by online sleuths as Shiloh Hendrix of Rochester, Minnesota. Commenters disgusted by her racism called on the internet to 'make her famous.' Now you can't call a five year old the n word and expect no consequences. However you can also agree that some people on the Internet went too far by publishing her home address and social security number etc. Hendrix, surely sensing an opportunity, started a fundraising campaign on GiveSendGo, a GoFundMe-like platform that self-identifies as the '#1 Free Christian Crowdfunding Site.' … Meanwhile, Shiloh raised her fundraising goal to $100,000. Then to $150,000. Then to $250,000. Then she surpassed that goal. Now, Hendrix is seeking $1 million—you know, for moving expenses. Currently, she's raised over $670,000. She's now at $760,000. You shouldn't get almost a million dollars for calling a 5 year old black kid a ni**er and being called out on it. Yes you can agree her doxxing shouldn't have happened, but two wrongs don't make a right.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The so-called ‘woke right' is just old-school racism by another name
Shiloh Hendrix, a white Minnesota woman, went viral after repeatedly calling a child on a playground the N-word. The financial windfall she then received — reportedly over $700,000 — from crowdfunding donors, many of whom apparently saw in the unrepentant racist a fearless hero, is a despicable and miserable commentary on the current state of America's soul. But it isn't shocking. Far-right racism and white grievance culture have been ascendant and increasingly mainstreamed for at least a decade. Their most influential avatar — President Donald Trump — is once again in power. (It doesn't get more mainstream than the presidency.) But to many of those I call 'MAGA centrists' — ostensibly nonconservatives who blame the left for making them either Trump supporters or very Trump-sympathetic — unabashed right-wing racism is a terrible, but entirely new, phenomenon. And wouldn't you know it, they say 'wokeness' is to blame. They've even coined a name for Hendrix and her donors' style of racism: 'the woke right.' In the MAGA centrists' telling, the woke left is obsessed with identity politics and clings to a perpetual victim mentality, a desire to cancel its adversaries and an adherence to bonkers conspiracy theories, and it rewrites historical facts to suit its political agenda. The woke right, they say, is merely an unfortunate mirror reaction to that. An article by River Page published this week in The Free Press — among the most influential Trump-friendly sites that insists it's nonpartisan despite ample evidence to the contrary — argued that 'the excesses of the left — canceling all those innocent Americans — has triggered an equal and opposite reaction on the right, which has become more and more extreme in railing against cancel culture.' Page added, 'Basically: The left cried wolf, and now the wolf is here on your phone, calling a little boy in Minnesota the N-word on camera — and there's a new, identity politics-obsessed far right waiting in the wings to reward her for it.' This argument, to put it politely, combines an outrageous rewriting of history with a monomaniacal worldview that assumes the left is all-powerful and the far right has no agency. This isn't the first time The Free Press has put the responsibility of overt right-wing racism at the feet of the woke left. In February, amid a spate of what looked like Nazi-esque salutes from powerful MAGA figures including Steve Bannon and Elon Musk, The Free Press published an essay by Richard Hanania, who previously wrote vile, racist content under a pseudonym for the alt-right's flagship website. Explaining his past association with this particular racist, antisemitic, Trump-supporting movement, he wrote, 'To understand where this comes from you need to go back to the 2010s. Back then, online rightists reacted to the Great Awokening by leaning into performative racism, sexism, and homophobia through edgy memes and jokes.' Once again, the identity politics and victim grievance culture of right-wing racists, sexists and homophobes are waved away as unthreatening and understandable (though unpleasant) responses to left-wing wokeness. As far as other traits ascribed to the woke right by the MAGA centrists — rewriting history, dividing people by their identity groups and pushing conspiracy theories — I can think of a few people who fit that bill who can't be dismissed as insignificant internet trolls. How about Tucker Carlson repeatedly pushing the racist and antisemitic 'great replacement' theory on his top-rated Fox News show? How about Vice President JD Vance, who as a candidate last year chose to amplify what he knew was a racist lie that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were kidnapping their neighbors' pets and eating them? How about Trump, in his first term, telling U.S.-born members of Congress — who happen to be women of color — to 'go back where they came from?' Or his more recent claim that immigrants are 'vermin' and 'poisoning the blood' of America? What the MAGA centrists call the woke right is merely an evolution of the online alt-right (a brand that few wanted to be associated with after its murderous rally in Charlottesville in 2017) and which was later also referred to as 'the dissident right.' Though they don't all share the same, exact worldview as the Nazi-adjacent alt-right, this 'dissident' right also includes elements of Christian nationalism, QAnon and far-right street militias like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. All of these entities were inspired and emboldened by Trump and, to a great extent, he embraced them back. Over the past decade, Never Trumper ex-Republicans and ex-libertarians loudly warned of the rising influence and genuine threat posed by what they now call the woke right. But we just called them what they were, racists and aspiring fascists, and refused to buy into the fiction that they were merely motivated by 'economic anxiety.' But a great many of us — who, before Trump conquered the Republican Party and most of the conservative and libertarian movements, had previously identified as on the moderate or center-right — were also critical of the excesses of significant segments of the activist left. Over the past decade, I've blasted elements of the left for mob-led zero tolerance cancellations, winking support for antisemitic terrorists, excusing rioting and wanton violence as righteous expressions of dissent, pushing incoherent definitions of racism and anti-racism as gospel and demanding the government be the arbiters of acceptable speech in the name of fighting bigotry. It isn't a heroic act to hold principles and call out both the left and the right when they stand in opposition to those principles. But many MAGA centrists are either unwilling or unable to do that. Trump is purging librarians, artists, generals and civil servants who won't pledge loyalty to his imperial presidency, and he's issued executive orders against individuals who stood up to his big lie. That's cancel culture. His administration includes people who've paid no price for their public displays of racism and antisemitism, he pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who wore Nazi-themed T-shirts and carried Confederate flags, and he's aiming to gut the Civil Rights Act. That's identity politics and victim grievance culture. And it's hard to know where to begin when it comes to false conspiracy theories and rewritten histories emanating from this White House. Self-reflection is hard and often painful, and for the MAGA centrists who are a bit embarrassed by the increasingly open racism of the MAGA right, it's just easier to blame the 'left.' But when it comes to warnings about Trump and MAGA's racism, lies and predilection to cancel their enemies, the left and the Never Trump center-right (oft-derided as afflicted by 'Trump Derangement Syndrome') were a whole lot more prescient about the horrors we're currently experiencing than the MAGA centrists — who never could accept that what they term the 'woke right' was always there, inside the same MAGA big tent they shared. The 'woke right' isn't an understandable response to the 'woke left,' and it sure as hell isn't new. It has a home in the White House, and MAGA centrists have spent a decade whitewashing its sins and enabling its rise to power. Many Trump supporters say they feel liberated by his re-election to once again freely use slurs that had been previously socially verboten. It's not too much of a stretch to wonder if the N-word-spouting Shiloh Hendrix — and her many donors — have felt similarly liberated by Trump's return to power. This article was originally published on
