Local and state leaders gathered in Rochester Wednesday to demand that a woman seen in a video hurling racist slurs at a 5-year old boy last week at a city park be charged.
The Rochester NAACP hosted a town hall inside the Rochester Civic Theatre to call for justice and to demand the community come together.
Salah Mohamed says he wasn't surprised by the viral video - and that he's gone through similar situations living in the community.
"So when I saw that video, I didn't just see a child, I saw myself," says Mohamed. "I saw my own son. I saw every child in our community who's ever had to carry that same pain."
The April 28 video shows Sharmake Omar confronting Shiloh Hendrix for calling the boy a slur at a playground in Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial Park. Hendrix has alleged the boy took something from her and her own child. She also repeated the slur at Omar while he was videoing the incident.
Rochester police have turned their investigation over to the Olmsted County Attorney's Office who are weighing what charges - if any are warranted - to file in the case.
Mohamed says charges are warranted.
"We are demanding that Hendrix be prosecuted and charged," he says. "Because if we can't - if we can't protect a 5-year old from racial violence, what kind of a city are we living in?"
Hendrix was publicly identified after the video went viral and has now put together a crowdfunding campaign. She says her family had been put in a dire situation and she needs the money to relocated. That campaign has now raised over $750,000. Her stated goal was $1 million.
KTTC-TV in Rochester is reporting the woman's GiveSendGo fundraising campaign has had it's comment feature shut down after some of the comments included "inappropriate and vulgar language." Currently, donations only show "anonymous giver."
"I am asking for your help to assist in protecting my family," Hendrix wrote. "I fear that we must relocate. I have two small children who do not deserve this. We have been threatened to the extreme by people online. Anything will help! We cannot, and will not live in fear!"
The NAACP started their own fundraising campaign to support the 5-year old boy's family. That campaign stopped taking donations after it reached their goal of $340,000.
"There is no room for hate in this community that is steeped in carrying, caregiving, caregiving and compassion," Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said at the meeting. "It's not who we are. That's not to say there aren't individuals that have different feelings, but we as a community can address those by standing together and saying, not in our town."