Members of Rochester’s Black community said they were hardly surprised that racism is alive in the city. What angers them is watching the person who filmed the video get vilified online, and watching someone who uses racial slurs make money from it.

About 50 people gathered Monday evening at Soldiers Field Park near the playground where a woman, who identified herself as Shiloh Hendrix, was seen on video using racial slurs toward a child who was playing at the park. Hendrix is white, and the child is Black.

The video, which went viral on social media, has caused Rochester to again discuss the issue of race.

“I was angry,” said Nashauna Johnson-Lenoir, the organizer of Monday evening’s event and the founder of Journie, a nonprofit group that helps youth with life and leadership skills. “I was mad as hell. I wish I was in this park when it happened.”

Johnson-Lenoir said being angry, though, won’t fix racism. What’s needed are leaders who allow the Black community to take care of itself and protect itself from hate.

Part of that, she said, is stepping up to support Sharmake Omar, who has received backlash and threats after sharing the video he took as he confronted Hendrix.

Introducing Omar to the crowd Monday night, she explained how the reaction to the video has made him fearful to operate his business or go grocery shopping.

Johnson-Lenoir interviewed Omar about the incident on Facebook on Sunday, where Omar shared additional details about what he says happened before and after he filmed the video.

Despite all he’s gone through, though, he said he’d do it again to expose the racism Black people face.

That, Johnson-Lenoir agreed, is what made his act of taking and sharing the video so vital.

“Because the rest of the world wouldn’t have seen what Black people be going through in Rochester,” she said.

Several people stepped forward to talk about how racism has impacted their own lives or, as white individuals, announced their support as allies.

Ray Roberts said he was there to support his 9-year-old granddaughter, who is mixed-race.

Roberts, like many, agreed that seeing the woman on the video make money — her crowdfunding effort has garnered more than $685,000 as of Monday night — after using racist slurs addressed toward a child is one of the real shames from this whole ordeal.

Bud Whitehorn, co-founder of Rochester’s Community Engagement Response Team, said when it comes to racism in Rochester, “It happens every day. I’m more surprised that there’s so many people that are surprised.”

Whitehorn called racism like what was exhibited in the video “plain ignorance.”

“That, and the divisiveness and that is spreading in our culture today,” he said. “It’s sad that we have to continue to go through this in 2025, that we have to have conversations that people shouldn’t treat people that way.”

Still, when he saw the video, he said his thought was “here we go again.”

“Because I work in the community every day where people experience these kinds of things every day,” Whitehorn said.

Racism isn’t just slurs in a park, it’s inequity in housing, the workplace and the schools, speakers said.

Johnson-Lenoir said while Hendrix has a crowdfunding campaign and the family of the child was supported by a GoFundMe through the NAACP, she encouraged Omar to start one as well since he and his family have faced backlash that has financially impacted them.

Omar’s GoFundMe goal is set at $50,000.

Instead of a march or rally, Johnson-Lenoir said she organized a gathering around food Monday night — burgers, hotdogs, chips and drinks were offered to all — to bring people together.

“We don’t have to love one another. We don’t have to agree with one another,” she said. “But we have to respect one another.”

It was the second event of the day related to the outrage about the video. A protest demanding Hendrix be charged related to the incident was held Monday afternoon at the city-county Government Center.