Don’t go overboard guys, its probably just a 3-point score sign, or close enough to it in a basketball game that you can’t assume its white power:
This. I think the optics of this thing would have been totally different if instead of doing school chants and Tomahawk chops, the boys had sung some good ole fashioned Christian hymns. Maybe the Native American guys wouldn’t have even felt the need to “diffuse” anything and would have just stood back in awe.
Again, that’s why I blame the adults. They should have prepped these kids on what to do in a situation like this, just like how kids were taught to do during Civil Rights marches during the 1960s. If the school didn’t do this, what a shame. They not only used these kids as political pawns, but now they’re throwing them under the bus to take all the blame. What kind of institution lets loose a bunch of kids wearing MAGA hats in Washington D.C at a politically-charged event during a very unpopular govt shutdown (one caused by Mr. MAGA himself) and not expect something exactly like this to happen? It bobbles my mind.
Right-wing support for the Kovington Kids Klub intensifies
Ok, not unfair…
Imagine that every person of color in the video is a white person and vice versa. NOW who seems intimidating? Black kid staring down white guy? He must be a thug, right? A crowd of black teenagers? That is obviously a mob, right? And you have every right to use violence to extricate yourself.
And I think some on the left would have a problem with a white guy walking up to the black teens.
Everyone could have left at any time. The BI were assholes, but no one had to stand there listening to them. Don’t like it? walk away.
But they didn’t walk away. No one did until the Native American did and then it was over.
Two things I can’t get past:
1)Maga hats. These boys knew what that projects so they *meant *to be shit heads.
2)That kid’s face. At NO time did he seem scared, to the contrary, that face was taunting and intimidating and smug and he knew it. His stupid protest of “I didn’t touch him” remind me of when my mother told my sister not to touch me. She would stand really close to me to bug me, all the while saying “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you!”
Childish bullshit.
I think there are exaggerations on both sides, but the thing I keep thinking about is the power dynamic. Bottom line is a crowd (dozens) of white young men surrounded a person of color. They weren’t intimidated unless they are the most timid, cowardly teens I’ve ever encountered. The NA had every reason to feel intimidated.
Brown guy surrounded by white guys doesn’t work out well for the brown guy most of the time.
They do it every year, and have been for 40 years. The maga hats are new, as is the ability to video everyone all the time, but the behavior is 100% standard. I have had kids in town for this event scream slogans in my face when all I was doing was commuting to my accounting job. They flaunt basic rules of civility, and are instructed to do so by their adults. The kind of institution that does this is the kind that thinks 50 year-old celibates should be in control of women’s reproductive health.
This never happened.
You expect us to believe you have friends?
Regards,
Shodan
I’m on record saying I think he (and the others) should have not approached the youth the way he did. It would have taken all of a minute for the guy to explain his intentions (“Hey now, let’s not pay that Black Israelite guy over there any mind. Let’s drum and sing and be peaceful.”) I believe Philips when he says he was just trying to diffuse the tension, but his execution was not ideal. And he could have also asked the young man to please step aside.
But I don’t think it’s accurate to say he was banging the drum near Sandmann’s face. Philips was banging a drum and walking, and Sandmann, surely noticing this movement, chose to position himself near that drum, with that smirk on his face, right in front of Philips’ path. He could have backed off or stepped to the side if he was that discomforted by the drum. But he chose to take a “stand” for some reason. From an outsider’s perspective, that reason sure looks like “The old Indian dude is crazy, as is the entire situation, so I’m going to capitalize on the craziness by standing in front of him, so I’ll always be remembered for making everyone laugh.” All class clowns (a group I proudly belong to) have had this urge at least once in their lives.
At any rate, Sandmann can’t be simultaneously “standing his ground” against a rude intruder and “being welcoming and friendly” (which he says his smile was supposed to indicate). If someone is doing something you don’t like, you don’t smile at them like that. I will concede that both individuals should have opened their mouths and expressed their intentions with their words, but only one of the two was displaying hostile body language.
nm
These kids have, for all practical purposes, never known a time when everyone did not have a camera in their pocket.
MAGA hats mean different things to different people.
The kid did not ‘plant himself’ in front of Phillips, the kid remained standing where he was. Phillips had been walking up the steps along the line of kids waiting for the bus.
I have never heard of Black Isrealites. I don’t hold that against teens from Kentucky, either.
I do wonder how much of the full video has been viewed by posters in this thread? Fighting ignorance should at least include watching relevant sections of an admittedly wrong video, not staking a position based on initial coverage and viral TWEETS.
And the weird smile? He’s stressed and nervous and trying to cover his actual emotion, I think.
ETA: And it’s ‘defuse’, not ‘diffuse’. Spellcheck can’t handle homonyms.
Why? 
Since when do facts matter?
That gets in the way of virtue signaling.
What about the fact that the school has a history of racist shitheads in their student body?
Argh, I meant LONG video!
But yes, facts should count for something, especially when assumptions are made too soon and then defended. Our brains are wired to resist correction; why? I don’t know.
If that is a fact, it is as justifiable as barring entry to followers of a certain faith which has a history of terrorist shitheads among its members. Which is to say, none.
The cites made already show that there are very good reasons why Native Americans and others would feel rejected and insulted by guys advertising Trump and his deplorable comments and actions.
You’re saying that one video trumps the known racist behavior of other students?
Is this thread about other students? My impression is that it about a snippet of video and the assumptions made therefrom.