At an anti-abortion March for Life event in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, students from Catholic Covington High School (Kentucky) got into a heated confrontation with four members of a group known as the Black Hebrew Israelites and a small number of Native Americans whom were participants in an Indigenous Peoples March.
Trying not to play sides (yet), here is what I can gather about what transpired.
- Members of the Black Hebrew Israelites and Catholic Covington students hurling insults at one another. I hear differing stories on who started the back-and-forth.
- Indigenous Peoples March participants, led by Vietnam veteran Nathan Phillips, attempted to intervene, coming between the two groups, hoping to defuse the situation.
- Nathan Phillips began playing the drums and singing a song. Black Hebrew Israelites and Catholic Covington students uttered insults toward the Native Americans, while one Native told the March for Life supporters to "go back to Europe." Some of the white students mocked the Natives' music by performing over-the-top song dance. Others did the tomahawk chop and said to "Go back to the reservation" and "Build that wall."
- One student, Nick Sandmann, stood directly in front of Nathan Phillips as Mr. Phillips sang, blocking his walkway. Throughout the duration of the song, Mr. Sandmann didn't move much, wearing a large smirk on his face.
- Conflicting accounts have risen since the incident, with Nathan Phillips contending his group was trying to defuse a potentially violent situation and that the Covington students were "racist." Nick Sandmann claims he meant no disrespect and was also trying to defuse things by acting in the manner he did. He's also denied fellow students were acting inappropriately.
Since this story took the internet by storm, I've found myself to be disappointed by members of both parties. On the left, I've heard talk about jailing these high school kids or even inflicting physical harm upon them. On the right, I've received edited YouTube videos of the incident, as they attempt to place the entire blame on the Black Hebrew Israelites and Native Americans. I'm sorry, but both camps are wrong. These are 16- to 18-year-old kids. The last thing they need is a "butt-whooping," as some people have referred to it, or jail-time. Do I approve of their words or actions? No, of course not. I don't care the age of a person, if he or she is wearing a red MAGA hat like many of these kids were, I'm not going to agree with them on much. Going to such extreme measures to punish these kids for their beliefs, however, just lends credence to the false notion that the mainstream media/world is out to get them. It's not all their fault they're like this. It often starts in the home. They're at the age where they're beginning to explore and decide who they are and what they believe. When college rolls around, assuming they go, chances are their eyes will be opened to new ideas, and with that the odds will increase of their MAGA-supporting ways being altered. Punishing them in such an extreme manner will all but vanquish the possibility of their young, sponge-like minds being open to ideas which weren't exposed to them in their homes growing up. On the other side of the spectrum, I'm getting fed up with the attempt at altering history and ridding white people (men) of responsibility. I'm tired of the double-standards. If a black guy sexually assaults a woman, I often hear conservatives refer to him as a "thug." However, if a white guy sexually assaults a woman, I hear these same individuals refer to him as "president." Instead of this being a teachable-moment where these kids learn a valuable life lesson, they play the victim card. All this does is teach them they're entitled, facts are overrated, video evidence can be altered to suit one's story, and they can get away with something so long as they deny, deflect, and distort.
To sum up, a nonpartisan person can't deny the four members of the Black Hebrew Israelites escalated, perhaps even started the tensions during the much talked about confrontation over the weekend. However, said tensions were only exacerbated by the Catholic Covington students and to deny that and/or blame the Indigenous Peoples March participants for said tension exacerbation would be to ignore reality. Look, I get it, these were 16- to 18-year-old kids. I did stupid, immature things when I was that age. I'm sure we all did a time or two. But there's a stark difference between being an immature teenager and being a teenager disrespecting a veteran to their face. Did I do stupid, immature things when I was 16-18-years-old? Sure, but I never went to a march to fight against women's rights, wearing a hat to show support for a racist sexual predator, yelling at a Native American Vietnam veteran that we should build a wall to keep him out of a country which we stole from his ancestors.
Trying not to play sides (yet), here is what I can gather about what transpired.
- Members of the Black Hebrew Israelites and Catholic Covington students hurling insults at one another. I hear differing stories on who started the back-and-forth.
- Indigenous Peoples March participants, led by Vietnam veteran Nathan Phillips, attempted to intervene, coming between the two groups, hoping to defuse the situation.
- Nathan Phillips began playing the drums and singing a song. Black Hebrew Israelites and Catholic Covington students uttered insults toward the Native Americans, while one Native told the March for Life supporters to "go back to Europe." Some of the white students mocked the Natives' music by performing over-the-top song dance. Others did the tomahawk chop and said to "Go back to the reservation" and "Build that wall."
- One student, Nick Sandmann, stood directly in front of Nathan Phillips as Mr. Phillips sang, blocking his walkway. Throughout the duration of the song, Mr. Sandmann didn't move much, wearing a large smirk on his face.
- Conflicting accounts have risen since the incident, with Nathan Phillips contending his group was trying to defuse a potentially violent situation and that the Covington students were "racist." Nick Sandmann claims he meant no disrespect and was also trying to defuse things by acting in the manner he did. He's also denied fellow students were acting inappropriately.
Since this story took the internet by storm, I've found myself to be disappointed by members of both parties. On the left, I've heard talk about jailing these high school kids or even inflicting physical harm upon them. On the right, I've received edited YouTube videos of the incident, as they attempt to place the entire blame on the Black Hebrew Israelites and Native Americans. I'm sorry, but both camps are wrong. These are 16- to 18-year-old kids. The last thing they need is a "butt-whooping," as some people have referred to it, or jail-time. Do I approve of their words or actions? No, of course not. I don't care the age of a person, if he or she is wearing a red MAGA hat like many of these kids were, I'm not going to agree with them on much. Going to such extreme measures to punish these kids for their beliefs, however, just lends credence to the false notion that the mainstream media/world is out to get them. It's not all their fault they're like this. It often starts in the home. They're at the age where they're beginning to explore and decide who they are and what they believe. When college rolls around, assuming they go, chances are their eyes will be opened to new ideas, and with that the odds will increase of their MAGA-supporting ways being altered. Punishing them in such an extreme manner will all but vanquish the possibility of their young, sponge-like minds being open to ideas which weren't exposed to them in their homes growing up. On the other side of the spectrum, I'm getting fed up with the attempt at altering history and ridding white people (men) of responsibility. I'm tired of the double-standards. If a black guy sexually assaults a woman, I often hear conservatives refer to him as a "thug." However, if a white guy sexually assaults a woman, I hear these same individuals refer to him as "president." Instead of this being a teachable-moment where these kids learn a valuable life lesson, they play the victim card. All this does is teach them they're entitled, facts are overrated, video evidence can be altered to suit one's story, and they can get away with something so long as they deny, deflect, and distort.
To sum up, a nonpartisan person can't deny the four members of the Black Hebrew Israelites escalated, perhaps even started the tensions during the much talked about confrontation over the weekend. However, said tensions were only exacerbated by the Catholic Covington students and to deny that and/or blame the Indigenous Peoples March participants for said tension exacerbation would be to ignore reality. Look, I get it, these were 16- to 18-year-old kids. I did stupid, immature things when I was that age. I'm sure we all did a time or two. But there's a stark difference between being an immature teenager and being a teenager disrespecting a veteran to their face. Did I do stupid, immature things when I was 16-18-years-old? Sure, but I never went to a march to fight against women's rights, wearing a hat to show support for a racist sexual predator, yelling at a Native American Vietnam veteran that we should build a wall to keep him out of a country which we stole from his ancestors.
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