Thanks to @nrpax for today’s piece.
On Friday, there was a chance encounter in Rochester, Minnesota. A mother by the name of Shiloh Hendrix was at a park with her young son. While they were there a young black boy (His age has been changing from 3-9 depending on who you talk to) decided that he was going to help himself to a toy that was in the diaper bag.
Shiloh got rather pissed off and went off on the child. In the midst of applying discipline that was apparently lacking in the boy’s house, two Somalis ran up with a smart phone and started recording her. They accused her of calling the child the N word (No proof of this other than their word has been given) and began getting confrontational. They yelled at her over the fact that the boy is autistic (Again, no proof of this other than their word has been given). Shiloh responded by picking up her child and trying to leave but the two men followed her.
They got in her face and tried shaming her for her actions. The speaker even went so far as to say “I dare you to call me an N to my face.” Not only did she do that, she presented her middle finger to back up her point.
Now, you noticed I referred to the child as black and the men as Somalis? Yes, this is part of the story.
The two men decided that instead of acting like civilized people, they posted the video on TikTok. They were probably congratulating themselves at showing just how ‘raysis’ white folks are towards innocent black children who just want to steal things in peace.
Naturally, the initial response was “CANCEL HER!” Within record time, her name, the names of her children, her address and other information was posted. Threats were leveled and the NAACP has stepped into this and have made noise that they are going to file charges against her.
What they didn’t realize is that a lot of people are sick and tired of this crap. Being called racist, having your life threatened because you don’t allow a certain segment of the population to behave like savages and going after children has become a bridge too far. Shiloh went on GiveSendGo and asked for help because she has had to pull her oldest child out of school and needs a safe place to live.
The absolute fury over this situation has been impressive. As of the time I am writing this, she has raised almost $600,000. The Somali cameraman got exposed as a child rapist and people who would otherwise not be inclined to insult people based on skin color have been doing so openly and daring the other side to do something about it. An angry mother protecting her child has become a rallying point for many people.
Race relations have been breaking down rapidly before this and things are getting more heated. My thoughts on this are as follows:
1. The parents of the boy that committed the theft should be held accountable. If he’s autistic and can’t differentiate between right and wrong, he should have been on a very short leash.
2. Blaming the mother for this was a dumb idea. Even people that prefer to be non-confrontational at moments like this look at her actions and have been saying “Yes, I’d protect my child just as viciously.”
3. The reactions of people supposedly on the right have been a bit disappointing. Riley Gaines, no stranger to threats to her life, berated the mother for daring to use a slur. Tim Pool on the other hand rightly pointed out the comparison to Karmelo Anthony getting rich from stabbing a white teenager and saying “If we aren’t allowed to form along tribal lines, then neither are they.”
This being the internet, I am sure that things are going to cool in a week or so. But you can expect to see a lot of white people decide that the threat of being canceled or being called a bigot is not a big deal any more.
