Thread by @LaddEveritt

THREAD on @CovCathColonels students' behavior at Lincoln Memorial on Friday. 1) I moved to Washington, DC at age 23 and lived in the city for two decades. There are ALWAYS unhinged, radical, ranting protesters at WH & National Mall.

2) This is common knowledge and normal people ignore their rantings and move on, going about their business. I never once engaged any radical, unhinged individual/group like this in 20 years in DC.

3) What seems to be missing from conversation about Covington Catholic students is how they much ENJOYED mocking/deriding people of color at the Lincoln Memorial. Their participation was voluntary from beginning to end.

4) ) Let's take a detailed look at this video posted by one of the 5 Black Israelites, which gives us complete look at the incident---before, during and after.

5) Start at the 1:08:30 mark of the video & you will see the moment at which the Covington Catholic students & Black Israelites first start jawing at each other.

6) Notice that at this point the Black Israelites are facing AWAY from the students (towards reflecting pool) and paying them no mind whatsoever. You can hear the students jeering them from behind to start things off.

7) What appears to trigger the Black Israelites is a kid messing w/ them by rolling by them on a 1-wheel skateboard. So one guy turns around and starts addressing students.

8) At this point (1:08:30), the students can simply turn around, face the Memorial, and ignore the Black Israelites--or just walk away a few feet out of earshot. But they don't. They get a chant going at to incite the Israelites further at 1:08:33.

9) Would you purposely engage with people yelling things at passerby like "get rid of lice season"? I sure as hell wouldn't, and never have in my many years in D.C. But these students did, and for a loooonnnggg time.

10) And let's be patently clear. There is NO fear factor here for the students. They outnumber the Black Israelites 5 to 1 (at least) and the Israelites NEVER make a physical move toward the students, ever.

11) Now look at 1:19:16 mark of video where the students further antagonize the Black Israelites by rolling a water bottle out toward one of them holding a camera.

12) The kid on the 1-wheel skateboard is also still pointing at them, putting his hands to his ears, and antagonizing them--needlessly and on purpose.

13) Watch carefully at 1:09:27 mark. When student comes in to pick up bottle rolled at Black Israelite, the ISRAELITE moves away and gives him space to avoid confrontation.

14) But the students aren't even close to done. At the 1:09:50 mark a student comes down the steps to undress for a second "spirit" chant aimed at antagonizing the Black Israelites.

15) The students are absolutely having the time of their lives watching this kid undress to his underwear--whooping, laughing, jumping. Does this look like a group of kids intimidated by the Black Israelites to you?

16) There is no doubt the chant was directed at the Black Israelites. At the end of his dance at 1:10:15, the kid turns around and faces them directly with muscles flexed, jeering at them.

17) 1:10:49 mark you can see a student right up on the Black Israelites filming them with his cell phone camera. More unnecessary antagonism.

18) You'll also see at the 1:10:50 mark that the students, who outnumber the Black Israelites 5 to 1, have basically surrounded them and are continuing to jeer at them.

19) Students do their 3rd "spirit" chant directed directly at Black Israelites at 1:11:25. They've been at this for several minutes now & have taken no opportunity to "defuse" or walk away from the situation.

20) Students are becoming more animated at this point, pointing at Black Israelites, jumping up and down, getting closer to them. It's about this point, at 1:12:10, that we first hear drums of Nathan Phillips' group.

21) By his account, Nathan Phillips had seen this already minutes-long confrontation b/n the students & Black Israelites and decided to intervene to settle things down.

22) By the 1:12:40 mark, Mr. Phillips has entered the scene, walked up to face the students, and is singing the American Indian Movement song.

23) But Mr. Phillips is NOT shouting at them, he is not attempting to put his hands on them. You will see that he remains perfectly calm throughout, even when the students suddenly descend on him.

24) What you'll also notice in the vid (1:12:50 mark) is Mr. Phillips is successful in quieting the Black Israelites (temporarily). It is the students who escalate at this point by surrounding Phillips & jeering him.

25) The students mock Phillips openly, cruelly imitating his song with their whooping, laughing in his face, and pointing their fingers down on them. He refuses to take the bait.

26) The students surround Mr. Phillips on all sides and many of them at that point are in close contact with the Black Israelites, with their backs to them--NOT the behavior of people who feel "threatened."

27) By the 1:14:22 mark of the vid, the students have Phillips totally surrounded, blocking his egress from the base area at the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial steps.

28) At 1:15:00 of the vid, the drumming begins to sound more distant. The students have parted enough to allow Nathan Phillips and his group to move on and leave the immediate area.

29) With Mr. Phillips no longer present to mock, the students IMMEDIATELY return their attention to the Black Israelites and engage them again.

30) Students are still right on top of Black Israelites after Mr. Phillips leaves, filming them, pointing at them, jeering them. Just as they were before Mr. Phillips arrived. See 1:16:00 mark.

31) Now students are surrounding the Black Israelites again, right on top of them. A chaperone suddenly appears & ORDERS the students to back up off Israelites at the 1:17:18 mark, 2 minutes after Phillips has left scene!

32) The students comply with the chaperone & back off the Black Israelites a bit, but they CONTINUE to engage them. At 1:17:57, they do their 4th "spirit" chant directed at Israelites to antagonize them.

33) 1:19:30 mark. @CovCathColonels are STILL on top of the Black Israelites engaging them. Ignoring chaperone's orders, they've gotten closer to them again.

34) In a remarkable moment at 1:19:50 mark, the Black Israelites become nervous and ask the mob of students to back up. "We respect the dialogue y'all, but back up."

35) The students ignore their request and continue to get closer. By 1:20:45 mark you'll see students directly in their faces. We're now more than 5 minutes past time Nathan Phillips left scene.

36) Honest question: By this point, does this look like a group of young people who were "intimidated" and "threatened" to you?

37) At 1:21:53 you will hear a chaperone ordering the students to back off the Black Israelites for a 2nd time (b/c they did not comply with 1st order). We're now 7 minutes after N. Phillips left.

38) But most of the students ignore this 2nd order to back away from Black Israelites (like 1st) and remain right next to them, engaging.

39) 1:25:00 mark of vid. We are now a full 10 minutes after Mr. Phillips has left the scene. Students are STILL surrounding the Black Israelites and engaging them after being ordered twice by chaperones to back up.

40) At 1:26:48, the students' bus arrives (a good distance away from base of Lincoln Memorial) and they FINALLY back off the Israelites and leave them alone (now forced to do so).

41) At no point during the 20 minutes students were engaging the Black Israelites (before, during & after Nathan Phillips' presence on scene) did students make ANY effort to disengage or move away. NONE.

42) Any claims the students were attempting to "defuse" the situation can be disproved immediately by viewing the video. Students remained right on top of Black Israelites jeering them until FORCED to leave by bus arrival.

43) The students ENJOYED mocking & deriding people of color at the Lincoln Memorial. They were NOT scared, they were NOT intimidated. They were having the time of their lives & full video proves it.

44) The blacks and Native-Americans they taunted might as well have been animals in a cage at a zoo to the students--that is how they viewed them and treated them from the very outset.

45) Keep in mind, too, that the video from a Black Israelite I analyzed is the best possible look at the students' behavior, b/c you can hear the Israelites clearly but not the things individual students are saying in most cases.

46) One late addition: New WaPo story has witness reporting students told Black Israelites to "drink the Trump water." Water bottle was rolled at Israelites pre-Nathan Phillips. washingtonpost.com/local/social-i…