The response to these online fundraisers signals the rise of more overt, public support for racist actions
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.