As I said, as well: it varies by parish and pastor. Here, they do tend to stay away from explicit politics. I always assumed it was because it threatened their tax status otherwise (which is why I assumed the pastor in the Eau Claire area parish was dancing around it); hearing that a Catholic pastor said voting for Hillary is a mortal sin is nuts to me.
I watched the extended video that someone posted, and it looks like the problem started when a bunch of white kids from Podunk encounter Black Israelites for the first time. The mom of one of these kids is under the mistaken impression that Black Israelites are Muslim, when in fact they are usually Christian. I have a Black Israelite church in my neighborhood. They are a hate group. They are homophobic, misogynist, bigots that think that all white people are demons. They claim to be jewish, and claim that non-black jews are also demons. The do worship Jesus, so I find their claim to Judaism to be a bit of a reach. An Indian vet saw a bunch of white boys about to get their asses kicked by a hate group, a hate group that had been throwing slurs at the Indian vets, including a new one for me: Uncle Tomahawk, and decide to intervene.
This story could have ended with the peckerwoods in the hospital and the Black Israelites in jail, or worse, for both.
I’m from DC, and this is my least favorite annual protest. I hate these kids. I hate their chaperons. And I am so glad that I no longer live or work in DC, and no longer have to have my commute fucked up by 15 year-olds with fetus posters and no self awareness once a year.
The least these private schools could do is teach their suburban spoiled assholes how to properly step off an escalator, a Metro car, an Amtrak train. If my escalator is dumping me into a crowd of shitty naive virgins that don’t know to step out of the way, and I haven’t had a cup of coffee yet, I’m elbowing everyone of them.
After the coffee it’s a knee to the groin or a throat-punch . . . correct?
CMC fnord!
So the kids thought the Native Americans were Black Muslims? I mean, I don’t blame them for being obnoxious to the Black Israelites who were giving them a hard time, but surely they could tell the guys playing the drums and singing didn’t look anything like those folks.
Fuck the Black Israelites. But the chaperones should have been there to control them. Kids can be forgiven for not knowing the racist connotation of MAGA, but the chaperones should know better and thus should know that they were walking targets with those stupid hats and THUS should have instilled in them the importance of being on their best behavior at all times.
I remember how us kids would always have to sit through a mini sermon right before we stepped off the bus during a field trip, just to remind us how much trouble we’d get in if we fell out of line and brought shame to our school. I wonder if anyone did the same thing to this group? They were going to a protest. Did anyone give them a heads-up about the possibility of counter-protestors and the importance of keeping your cool in this day and age of the omnipresent video camera? If no, then heads at the school need to roll.
Ew. No. That’s… not a good joke.
Catholics? “Pastors”? Perish the thought!
You go to jail for obvious assaults like that, especially when directed at teens. Elbows are far more subtle. And as I usually had a hundred other cranky commuters on my heals, I could disappear into a crowd of grey suits and overcoats befors anyway realized it was on purpose.
And this, assuming it actually happened, makes it okay for those kids to advocate building the wall? 
Lets see, Amazon… Elbow pads, quite a selection, some affordable. Ah! Here we go, elbow pads, for ten dollars. That can be fitted with stainless steel spikes, set of four for five dollars!
The difference from this field trip, and going to the zoo or the art museum, is that these kids are expected and encouraged to put signs with enlarged full color photos of fetuses in the faces of complete strangers. It’s very disconcerting to have teenagers lecture you about reproductive rights, even without the visual aids.
In my experience, no adult told these kids the most basic things about conducting themselves in a city. They walk around DC like it’s a ride at Disney Land, and other people are just props in their skit. Most chaperons also ditch the kids in the morning, and designate vague meet up spots for the afternoon. These kids could have bought those hats from a street vendor that morning, after their adults left them to their own devices.
You have 4 elbows? Two sets of arms, or extra joints?
When you wear out the first set… You must be new to the whole “malice” thing. Don’t worry, we’re here to help.
If you watch the extended video, you can hear the Black Israelites shouting slurs at everyone, black people, Indians, these dumb crackers, everyone. The Black Israelites are kind of like the Klan, though with no political power, no elected officials to act as apologists, and no historical reign of power, but they are a hate group that often wear stupid outfits.
Obviously, if the Klan was yelling slurs at some one, the victim shouldn’t turn and victimize some Indian Vets.
I was really hoping for extra joints. Sad face.
Has anyone got a clip of the kids actually chanting that? I’ve seen a few clips and I’ve not heard anyone yelling “Build a wall” in any of them.
Some folks seem to be identifying the BI as BLM, for what its worth. Of course the mother of smirk-boy apparently calls them ‘Black Muslims’.
The right-wing counter reaction to this whole event seems to be to point at the BI members and complain how bad they were. To which anyone who has ever lived in a city with BI presence just shrugs and says “well, yeah, that’s why everyone ignores them and doesn’t engage”. These kids engaged. Nathan Phillips tried to diffuse and now he is getting the Heather Heyer treatment as the MAGA hat crowd tried to rewrite the storyline.
The chaperones really dropped the ball here. Some reports are even saying they were egging the kids on, but I can neither confirm or deny that. They certainly weren’t able to diffuse the situation until they decided a group photo was needed.
All of what you say is true…which is all the more reason why it’s stupid to bring a big group of teenagers to a politically-charged protest march. The school has learned a very painful lesson about the downsides of having such a hands-off approach.
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Skywatcher, I don’t hear “Build the Wall” in the link you posted. Am I missing something?
No, because they are kids exercising the behaviors of poorly led youth. Twitter-mob over-reach is bad.
If the kids need a talking to, the high school needs to suffer repercussions.
That’s understandable but also… dangerous for the kids. Admittedly, lots of things are dangerous. I’m wondering whether spring break in Florida would be have milder long run ethical repercussions than unchaperoned urban demonstrations.
I’m trust there are some fine single-sex Catholic schools. But there also some bad ones, in terms of moral upbringing. Brad DeLong: Back in my day—which was half a decade before Brett Kavanaugh’s—the view from the co-ed prep schools of Sidwell Friends and Georgetown Day was that, while the boys from all the single-sex prep schools needed watching, those from Georgetown Prep who showed up to parties and drank were out-of-control in an… unusual way: [INDENT]Amanda Terkel and Arthur Delaney: Alumnae Of Christine Blasey Ford’s High School Circulate Letter Of Support | HuffPost: “Ford’s allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are ‘all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton’, they wrote…”