Our view: Viral Video Incident brings hidden racism in full perspective – Post Bulletin

Under normal circumstances, the post-bulletin would not identify a non-public figure that did not post online in a non-flattering video that they did not shoot online-and this person turned this person into a social pariah.

In this recent case, a woman from the Rochester region, Shiloh Hendrix, stood out in an online donation campaign. You could argue that her actions confused her right to anonymity.

Hendrix is ​​shown in a video in which millions of views were collected online. In it she repeatedly uses the N-word in an expired tirade in the Soldiers Field Park. Her anger was aimed at a 5-year-old child and a spectator (not on the child's father) who confronted and filmed her.

The video itself is ugly, but we would argue that its consequences have become almost breathtaking. Shortly after the Internet Hendrix made famous, she started a crowdfunding campaign in which she was looking for money that she has to move to protection and possibly, and her two children.

The donations exceeded 700,000 US dollars this week, of almost 28,000 separate donations. From a strictly financial point of view, this was probably the biggest two weeks from Shiloh Hendrix 'life.

As we put together this editorial, Hendrix was not charged with a crime. The Rochester police department has carried out an investigation, the results of which are now in the hands of the Rochester public prosecutor, who decide whether the criminal charges are appropriate.

The Post Bulletin interviewed neither Hendrix nor the person who shot and posted the video. We saw exactly what the public has seen, which means that we do not have enough information to think about whether Hendrix is ​​criminal. And even if we knew every detail of the police investigation, we would still be the legal and constitutional specialist knowledge that you have to own if we have whether we should follow someone who is based exclusively on hate speech.

As a journalist, it is also difficult for us whether the people should post “Gotcha” videos online. Although we believe in the right to the public, and we realize that amateur shot video can help bring criminals to court (remember George Floyd), but we also recognize that a short, except context video can have an irreparable effect on someone who has really done nothing wrong.

Conversely, a video that should bring contempt for a false maker, instead, become a massive payday for you. Oops.

What we can say without ambiguity is that Hendrix was wrong. Very wrong. Her words were hideous, hateful and openly racist. What is worse, she focused on a child (perhaps a disabled child) on a public playground, in the presence of her own children and who knows how many other children.

If you are wrong, you don't necessarily do a criminal. Not in America. It is not illegal to join the Flat Earth Society, to describe the moon that ends up fraud or even deny the Holocaust. People can express their beliefs, as they may be miscall, and as long as their words do not threaten others, stimulate violence or cause public panic, this speech is protected by the US constitution.

Some people who donated Shiloh Hendrix used this freedom to speak their opinion. They were also wrong.

Initially, donors were allowed to publish comments with their donation, and hundreds, perhaps thousands of people from all over the world, spit out racist poison that we cannot think here. Comments on the website have now been deactivated, but some donors go around by identifying themselves as “sick from you”, “White Pride”, “Goveback Toafrica”, and … Well, you have the idea.

As surprised as we were from the amount of money that Hendrix was accepted, we were more through the unvarnished racial hatred that their followers expressed. While the vast majority of these people probably lived outside of Rochester (many came from abroad), it is likely that Hendrix praised hundreds of locals both money and racism. Facebook posts and comments on Post -Bulletin -Meards article revealed Hendrix a lot of ugly support in Rochester.

It is not a news that Rochester has a problem of racism. Just last year, Nazi symbols were sprayed on the home of a local legislator, and teenagers used plastic cups to clear a racist slur in the chainlink window on a pedestrian bridge near the Century High School. These are the main cells, but here hidden racism also affects the capabilities of the minorities to find apartments, to found companies and enjoy public parks and pools. As much as we would like to introduce ourselves to Rochester as an ethnically diverse, tolerant, inviting city, we cannot close our eyes to the ugly truths – especially if someone like Shiloh Hendrix tears off our blind people.

Ultimately, we are not particularly concerned about what will happen next with Hendrix. She is charged or it won't be. An attempt if it happened would attract national attention for Rochester, and it would not show the city in good light. Hopefully sooner than later, Hendrix will take her bad prizes and leave the city. Good exemption.

But then what?

We would like to believe that this incident in Rochester will inspire a meaningful, productive dialogue about racism – but we don't. There is no middle ground here, no space for compromises or negotiations. It's right and it's wrong. You cannot carry out a logical discussion or even a productive argument with someone who believes that another breed is superior.

History has taught us that racism is generations and that the vast majority of adults who share the beliefs of Shiloh Hendrix will not widen from these beliefs. You may not wear this hatred of your sleeves or do not explain it openly in a public environment, but if you are surrounded by trustworthy friends and family, the truth will come from.

The best place to shake away in such racism should be our schools, where we should hope that young people could learn, the intolerance and hatred of which they could testify in their parents and grandparents – but today this hope also fades. Inclusion, tolerance, diversity and even historical awareness are rooted from the public institutions of our nation, including our schools.

So when you wait for us to offer a silver strip from this terrible situation, we have to disappoint you. Instead, we can call Shiloh Hendrix as the latest (and local) canaries in the proverbial coal mine. It is proof that, despite decades of progress, racism refers to the surface of our culture – and the more we ignore it, the closer it comes to the surface and finally bursts into a simple view.