‘This is your test’: Community leaders call on Rochester authorities to charge woman in racist viral video

Salah Mohamed still remembers hearing people calling him slurs or a terrorist when he was a high schooler in Rochester more than 20 years ago.

He wasn’t all that surprised when he first saw the racist viral video last week of a woman using racial slurs against a little boy and a bystander.

“I didn’t just see a child, I saw myself,” Mohamed told more than 100 people gathered inside the Rochester Civic Theatre on Wednesday afternoon. “I saw my own son. I saw every child in our community who has ever had to carry that same pain.”

Local and state leaders like Mohamed gathered in a town hall sponsored by the local branch of the NAACP on Wednesday inside the Rochester Civic Theatre to condemn the woman shown in the video who made those slurs and call on city authorities to charge her for attacking the child.

“We absolutely refuse to live in a world where our most vulnerable children can be taken advantage of, can be spit on, and we say nothing,” Rochester NAACP President Wale Elegbede said.

Rochester police turned over its investigation into the video earlier this week for possible charges. Rochester city attorneys and the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office are weighing what charges, if any, to file in the case.

The April 28 video shows Sharmake Omar confronting Shiloh Hendrix for calling the boy a slur at a playground in Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial Park, just south of downtown Rochester. She repeats the slur to Omar, at one point telling him the Black child took something from her and her toddler.

Social media commenters have claimed the Black child is around 5 years old and autistic. The Minnesota Star Tribune has not independently confirmed the identity of the boy, though NAACP leaders say much misinformation about his identity has spread on the internet.

Hendrix was publicly identified shortly after the video went viral. She created a crowdfunding campaign to help her relocate from Rochester, saying she and her family had been put in a “dire situation.” She said she “called the kid out for what he was” after he reached into her son’s diaper bag.

NAACP officials Wednesday said her account wasn’t factual. They allege Hendrix yelled at and chased the boy around in an intimidating manner at the park.

As of Wednesday, her fundraiser had raised close to $750,000. A fundraiser organized by the NAACP to support the Black boy’s family was stopped at the family’s request over the weekend, raising just over $340,000.

Omar said at Wednesday’s town hall he has faced death threats and online harassment as well after posting the video online.

“It feels very bad knowing you did the right thing and you’re being punished for it,” Omar said.

Community leaders across Rochester and Minnesota have condemned Hendrix’s actions in the video. Mayor Kim Norton spoke at a rally of about 100 people in front of City Hall on Monday, while Rochester schools Board Member Stephanie Whitehorn called out Hendrix for her callous behavior.

“There’s really not any justification for any adult at any point to speak to any child in that manner,” Whitehorn said during a school board meeting Tuesday. “It’s completely unacceptable.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sent a statement to be read at the town hall, writing the video is a reminder there’s more work to be done to make Minnesota less hateful and more inclusive.

“We’ve seen a normalization of racist speech, hateful actions and cultural division,” Ellison wrote. “This is not normal. This is not acceptable.”

The boy’s parents in a shared statement expressed support for punishing Hendrix.

“We demand that those responsible for this tragic event, the unimaginable pain that has affected our beloved child to be held fully accountable,” the parents wrote.

The parents are also asking for privacy, saying they too have faced threats.

NAACP officials said the family will likely start a crowdfunding campaign soon to offset their own costs.

This is the latest in a series of high-profile racist incidents in the community over the past year.

In April 2024, four teens spelled out a racist slur using cups tucked into a chain-link fence on a pedestrian bridge near Century High School. The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office declined to charge the teens, which Elegbede and other community leaders decried at the time for not holding the youths accountable.

Last August, state DFL Rep. Kim Hicks’ home was vandalized with slurs and swastikas. A Rochester synagogue was also vandalized that same weekend with similar symbols. The case has been forwarded to federal officials for hate-related crimes against a politician.

Rochester officials and community groups have responded with town hall meetings and programs including an initiative between Mayo Clinic and the NAACP that focuses on community support access.

Community leaders are hoping more is done. Ideas at the town hall included strengthening the county’s human rights commission, as well as potential restorative justice policies to have hate crime offenders repair the damage they’ve caused in the community.

Elegbede called on Rochester residents to become more involved in community policy and volunteering.

But the first step, to many community members, is to see Hendrix held accountable.

“Rochester, this is your test,” Mohamed said. “Don’t fail us.”