A woman from Minnesota has been convicted for using a racial slur at a playground.
She first used the n-word against an eight-year-old autistic boy, and then against a person who was filming the incident.
Shiloh Hendrix (37) was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct following a confrontation at a playground in April 2025. A recording of the incident went viral. The video has been viewed nearly five million times.
The boy’s father testified that his autistic son took a pouch of apple sauce from Hendrix’s diaper bag, which she had brought for her young child, and climbed onto the playground equipment. He said Hendrix followed the child while shouting the derogatory term at him, and that the boy became frightened.
Hendrix was acquitted over her remarks directed at the boy, but convicted for using similar language towards Sharmake Omar, who filmed her and challenged her to say the same thing to him.
BREAKING: Shiloh Hendrix found guilty by a MN jury for “using the n-word” pic.twitter.com/CDdhhWvbuF
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 24, 2026
District Judge Christa M. Daily sentenced Hendrix to a 90-day suspended jail sentence, supervised probation, 200 hours of community service, and a fine of $1,000.
Hendrix’s attorney, Brian Karalus, said that he intends to appeal the conviction. “I think it’s pathetic,” he said after the verdict, adding that he was “shocked”.
The verdict has sparked a debate about the position of freedom of speech in the United States.
Hendrix has received a measure of support. She launched a GiveSendGo fundraiser after the video spread online, stating that her Social Security number, home address, and telephone number had been made public.
She also said that her family might have to relocate. By Friday, the campaign had raised more than $878,000.
The Rochester City Attorney’s Office, which brought the charges, described the case as painful for the local community, while acknowledging the mixed outcome.
“Mrs Hendrix has fully admitted to her hateful and racist conduct towards a child with a disability and others, and she has profited enormously from it without showing any remorse,” the office said in a statement.
It is difficult to understand how Hendrix could have known that the boy had a disability in the form of autism. She was also acquitted on the part of the indictment involving the boy.
At the same time, people have reacted to the fact that the man who filmed the incident clearly provoked Hendrix and almost goaded her into using the so-called n-word.
The verdict departs from previous case law in Minnesota.
In the 1978 case Matter of Welfare of SLJ, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that statements which merely arouse anger or cause offence are not sufficient, and overturned the conviction of a 14-year-old who had insulted two police officers while retreating from a distance of more than 15 feet. The court found that the words were not reasonably likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.
The Supreme Court also held in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul in 1992 that even a law limited to “fighting words” may not selectively punish speech because it expresses an unpopular view on race, religion, or gender.
In European countries, Hendrix’s conduct would result in a conviction in virtually every country. But the verdict is unusual in the United States, where freedom of speech enjoys much stronger protection.
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Shiloh Hendrix Convicted Over Racial Slur In Case Raising Free Speech Questions