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By their own admission, the Covington students were with their teachers at the Lincoln Memorial.
This was not a group of teenagers, but adults too.
The narrative they are trying to put forward that they were children being threatened by adults is factually inaccurate.
This was not a group of teenagers, but adults too.
The narrative they are trying to put forward that they were children being threatened by adults is factually inaccurate.
Whether or not the Black Israelites made offensive comments (they did) they were vastly outnumbered by the White students whose behavior was clearly threatening.
The idea that engaging in war chants, or engaging at all, was an appropriate way to handle the situation is absurd.
The idea that engaging in war chants, or engaging at all, was an appropriate way to handle the situation is absurd.
Mr. Sandmann's statement says they actually sought permission from their teachers to do this. If you do watch the entire video & see the point where one of the students takes off his shirt & they surround the 5 Black Israelites it is truly frightening.
And you can see that is the point where Mr. Phillips and the small number of Native American marchers intervene.
And somewhere along the line, people seem to have forgotten that these were young White men in MAGA hats confronting an elderly Indigenous man as though they were in a place of equal power.
Young White men who had just engaged in a war chant against a small group of older Black men.
And the Black Israelites unquestionably said horrible racist misogynistic homophobic things, but at no time were those White students scared of them. They were ridiculing them. There was no threat posed to them. They saw the Black Israelites as a joke.
Those White students maintained that exact same attitude when Mr. Phillips and the Native American marchers approached attempting to defuse the situation. That is what you see on Mr. Sandmann's face - a sense of smug superiority.
And that is what you hear the young White men behind him say. That's just how the world is. Lands get stolen. White people inherit the earth.
And those young White men know they have permission and authority to do this because there are adults there. They are not children being threatened by Black and Indigenous adults. There are White adults right there backing them up.
So miss me with this the children are the victims narrative. Those "children" were the aggressors and shame on everyone who suddenly is doing backflips and wants to apologize to them for some inexplicable reason.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day no less.
This is America.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day no less.
This is America.
