If you follow the news at all, you’ve no doubt heard about the deplorable, MAGA-hat wearing, march for life attending group of white catholic high-schoolers who surrounded and taunted an elderly native american veteran this past weekend. The image of a smirking student staring down a drum playing native american went viral over social media, along with the veteran’s account of how he tried to defuse the situation. Widespread condemnation of the actions of the students came from all corners, along with death threats. Celebrities were quick to weigh in on twitter and people all over social media were quick to point the finger at Trump’s rhetoric and to wildly speculate over motivations. A sample of some of the reactions:
Darren Thompson, an organizer for the Indigenous Peoples Movement, which coordinated the march, said in a statement that the incident was “emblematic of the state of our discourse in Trump’s America,” echoing sentiments on social media and among organizers that the current administration’s rhetoric has emboldened acts of harassment and racism.
Video Of Kentucky Students Mocking Native American Man Draws Outcry by Francesca Paris
“It clearly demonstrates the validity of our concerns about the marginalization and disrespect of indigenous peoples,” Thompson wrote.
Haaland, who was elected to the House of Representatives last fall, also condemned the incident. “This Veteran put his life on the line for our country,” the Democrat from New Mexico wrote on Twitter. “The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking.”
Video Of Kentucky Students Mocking Native American Man Draws Outcry by Francesca Paris
Covington Mayor Joe Meyer, a Democrat, said footage was not representative of the core values of his town. “Videos of the confrontation are disturbing, discouraging, and — frankly — appalling,” he wrote in a statement. “And they are rightfully inspiring a tidal wave of condemnation.”
Video Of Kentucky Students Mocking Native American Man Draws Outcry by Francesca Paris
Even if the all of the above were true, though, I’m still a little uncomfortable with the quickness that some journalists called for the students to be doxxed or punched in the face. Again, even the worst allegations that I saw said nothing about any kind of physical attack on anybody, only that a “mocking” and “taunting” were involved. Sticks and stones may break my bones but journalists will really hurt me?
Except… maybe this wasn’t as clear a case of “MAGA-hat = racist bullies” as many people were so desperate to believe. In the past few days, more video evidence has come out which tells a drastically different story where the students are victims instead.
Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby. The BHI has existed since the late 19th century, and is best describes as a black nationalist cult movement; its members believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, and often express condemnation of white people, Christians, and gays. DC-area Black Hebrews are known to spout particularly vile bigotry.
The Media Wildly Mischaracterized That Video of Covington Catholic Students Confronting a Native American Veteran by Robby Soave
Robby Soave has done some excellent reporting on this issue, and I strongly encourage anybody who isn’t quite convinced to read both of the articles that he has written so far:
- The Media Wildly Mischaracterized That Video of Covington Catholic Students Confronting a Native American Veteran
- If You Still Think Nick Sandmann’s Smile Is Proof of Racism, You’re Seeing What You Want to See
Now, the narrative has changed, and people who were eager to jump to conclusions before are not only re-evaluating the event in question, but also why they were so quick to judge. Julie Irwin Zimmerman had a thoughtful article about how if this incident was a test, then she failed.
By Sunday morning, more videos had surfaced, and I started looking for the clip that showed them chanting support for the wall. I couldn’t find it, but I did find a confrontation more complicated than I’d first believed. I saw a few people yelling terrible insults at the students before Phillips approached, which cast an ugly pall over the scene. I saw Phillips approach the students; I had believed him when he said he’d intended his drumming to defuse the tension, but I also wondered how a group of high-school students could have gleaned that when he didn’t articulate it in a language they might understand.
I hated the maga hats some of the kids were wearing, their listless tomahawk chops, the way some of their chanting mocked Phillips’s. But I also saw someone with Phillips yelling at a few of the kids that his people had been here first, that Europeans had stolen their land. While I wouldn’t disagree, the scene was at odds with the reports that Phillips and those with him were attempting to calm a tense situation.
As I watched the longer videos, I began to see the smirking kid in a different light. It seemed to me that a wave of emotions rolled over his face as Phillips approached him: confusion, fear, resolve. He finally, I thought, settled on an expression designed to mimic respect while signaling to his friends that he had this under control. Observing it, I wondered what different reaction I could have reasonably hoped a high-school junior to have in such an unfamiliar and bewildering situation. I came up empty.
I Failed the Covington Catholic Test by Julie Irwin Zimmerman
I want to be very clear that my point with all of this isn’t to take sides. I wasn’t there. I haven’t watched any of the videos. Even now, more evidence is coming to light which is adding more nuance to the idea that the students were either racist bullies or innocent victims. I’m sure in the end, the truth will end up being somewhere in between. Even if the students are ultimately shown to have been guilty of despicable behavior, though, it doesn’t change the point I am trying to make.
My point is to plead for people to stop rushing to judgement on stories like these before there is enough evidence to have an informed opinion. How many people were going on and on about white privilege and the degradation of discourse in Trump’s America and the growing acceptance of racism and bullying on the basis of a single photo and one person’s account without even hearing the other side? How many people are stubbornly sticking to their guns now despite evidence that at least shows the situation has much more nuance than was originally presented? Why can’t we wait to draw conclusions until sufficient evidence is in?
To a certain extent, I understand why it happens. Some people see somebody wearing a MAGA hat and immediately have preconceived notions about that person. Maybe those prejudices are enhanced if the person is a white male. There are narratives out there that we want to believe and we try to find ways to get the evidence to fit those narratives. That doesn’t make it right.
This isn’t the first time that the media and people in general have been too eager to jump to conclusions because it fit a narrative. Remember the accusations of rape against members of the Duke Lacrosse team? Google apparently does, because if you search for “Duke lacrosse team“, the first six links are all about the case. Even though we have a legal tradition of “innocent until proven guilty”, many people were eager to pre-judge the case and offer it up as an example of entitled white jocks preying on a poor black woman. It was a similar situation with the UVA / Rolling Stone rape allegations, except with entitled frat boys instead. Now, it seems like both were false accusations.
There are countless other examples. Remember the story of the cake from Whole Foods that an openly gay pastor claimed had a homophobic slur written on it? Another example of rampant homophobia in America? Turns out that was probably a hoax as well. How about the Chipotle manager who shockingly refused to serve some black men because she claimed they didn’t have money? Chipotle was quick to fire the manager, but later hired her back after it was revealed that those same customers had a history of dining and dashing.
Once we take a side, we suddenly go from an observer to somebody who has skin in the game and can be right or wrong depending on how things turn out.
Again, I want to stress that my point isn’t to try to take sides. In fact, my point is the opposite: to try to show why rushing to judgement and taking a side can be so foolish. Unless you personally know anybody involved in these stories, why does it make any sense to try to take sides, especially before all the evidence is in? Why do we feel compelled to have a vested interest? Once we take a side, we suddenly go from an observer to somebody who has skin in the game and can be right or wrong depending on how things turn out. That’s a powerful change, and it can affect how we process new information and evidence in the future. Instead of just accepting the new information with an open mind, we search for ways to incorporate it into the narrative we’ve formed in order to avoid being wrong.
I also want to make clear that this isn’t intended to minimize or downplay the occurrence of rape, racism, bullying, hate crimes, and other things. All of these things happen, and they happen far too often, and we should all work towards making sure they happen less often. I’m absolutely on board with condemning these things in the strongest language once enough facts are in where we are fairly certain what happened, because it’s an unfortunate reality that hoaxes and biased reporting also happens and nobody benefits when incorrect conclusions are jumped to prematurely.
To that end, I want to propose a simple rule that I think we would all be better off following: The Check Deposit Rule for Social Media Reaction. Despite the fact that it’s 2019 and we have access to thousands (millions?) of different videos on tiny handheld devices that we can stream virtually whenever we want, it still takes around two business days for money to become available in my bank account when I deposit a check. Thankfully, I try to keep a safe emergency fund at all times so that the inexplicable delay doesn’t affect me. But for those living paycheck to paycheck, two business days can be a big deal. If we as a society have found a way to accept a full two day delay for something that should be as quick as shuffling a few electrons around, then can’t we agree to put a two business day moratorium on reacting to news stories… especially when information is scarce and only one side is heard from? I’m pretty sure the world won’t end if we can’t immediately throw out our hot takes that racism is bad or bullying is bad or rape is bad.
If we as a society have found a way to accept a full two day delay for something that should be as quick as shuffling a few electrons around, then can’t we agree to put a two business day moratorium on reacting to news stories?
I want to end with two final thoughts. First, considering what we know now about the racist, homophobic, and bigoted things that the Black Hebrew Israelites were yelling throughout the incident, it’s a little baffling to me that people still seem so obsessed with finding evidence of tiny things like one or two students maybe doing a tomahawk chop (a sports cheer that is still apparently considered acceptable at many sporting events) for a few seconds. Again, maybe more evidence will show up that there was more bad behavior going on, but from what we know now, the amount of vitriol directed at the students seems a bit detached from their apparent behavior.
Secondly, regardless of who instigated what or who was mocking or bullying whom, I think it’s important to keep some context. Three passionate activist groups with very different political views encountered each other for a few hours. One group was primarily comprised of teenagers, who aren’t exactly known for their maturity. Another group apparently yelled some very offensive things. And yet, by the end, each group peacefully left and went their separate ways. I’ve seen no claims of any physical altercations or evidence of any physical injuries. It’s not clear that anything illegal happened at all. Instead, much of the talk seems to be about how one person was smiling at another and how a few students might have done a disrespectful cheer. Perhaps it’s a low bar, but if that’s the worst story to come out of a politically charged weekend in the nation’s capital, then I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world.
