https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/opinion/2019/01/21/the-teens-maligned-for-allegedly-mocking-an-indigenous-elder-deserve-an-apology.html

The viral video seemed as damning as a smoking gun.

In the clip, recorded Friday outside the Lincoln Memorial, students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School encircle Nathan Phillips. As the Indigenous man calmly sings a protest song and beats a ceremonial drum, the teens laugh and bob their heads, several of which are adorned with MAGA hats.

One capped student, later identified as Nick Sandmann, a junior at the all-male school, becomes the literal face of the viral video. Standing inches from Phillips, you can almost feel the hate as Sandmann smirks and stares down the Omaha tribe elder.

At least, that was the initial narrative: a throng of rambunctious, Trump-loving little monsters hijacked a peaceful protest. They swarmed and harassed a gentle Indigenous man. They ridiculed Phillips in an unprovoked vacuum, more proof America is boiling over inside a cauldron of racial animus.

It didn’t take long for a now familiar furor to erupt on social media as celebrities, politicians and news organizations jumped into the fray with headlines such as: “Outrage Over Smirking Teens in MAGA hats mocking Native American War Veteran,” “Video of US Teenagers Taunting Native American Draws Fire” and “Native American Man Mocked By Schoolchildren in Trump MAGA hats.”

But is this what really happened?

On Sunday, as the Catholic teens were widely condemned — and their own school issued an apology and vowed to investigate — new videos emerged that tell a different story. And if nuance and context are everything, these teens should not be expelled, as some are demanding. If anything, they deserve an apology.

The initial narrative begins with a false allegation. As it turned out, the teens never approached Phillips. He walked toward them and they parted until he stopped. As Sandmann observed on Sunday: “I never felt like I was blocking the Native American protester. He did not make any attempt to go around me. It was clear to me that he had singled me out for a confrontation, although I am not sure why.”

Second, the teens did not even seem aware of the Indigenous protest, mostly because they were under verbal siege from a third group that was not mentioned in the initial narrative: Black Hebrew Israelites.

In one video, which runs for 1 hour and 46 minutes, this small but loud group hurls slurs and insults at everyone in their periphery: the Indigenous protestors, the Catholic teens and other passersby. Basically, this group comes across as a Black version of the Westboro Baptist Church: seething with intolerance and hate.

I’d rather hang out with Satan than these delusional kooks.

So the unfolding dynamic is crucial. Catholic high school students, who were bused into Washington for a March for Life rally, are waiting for the ride home in the late afternoon when their MAGA accessories catch the attention of the already agitated Black Hebrew Israelites, who begin shouting at them.

In response, the Catholic kids do a couple of school spirit cheers usually reserved for sporting events. But this draws the Black Hebrew Israelites even closer.

Now, it’s entirely possible Phillips was attempting to defuse the tension between the teens and the Black Hebrew Israelites. But in his first interviews this weekend, that’s not what he said. Instead, he seemed to verify the initial narrative, telling CNN he felt “fear” in the presence of the teens. The implication was clear: the Catholic teens had done him wrong. He was just lucky they didn’t cause him physical harm.

But the new video evidence does not support this narrative. The Catholic teens are not the antagonists; they are the ones under attack.

Did some of them chant, “Build the wall,” as alleged? Maybe. But this is not audible on any video. What I did see and hear were relentless provocations from the Black Hebrew Israelites as the teens were called “dirty crackers” and “future school shooters.”

When the group’s ringleader notices one kid has a pro-Trump water bottle, he says: “What does Trump water taste like? Incest?” At another point, a Black teen is singled out as an “Uncle Tom” and warned white classmates would harvest his organs.

As Sandmann observed on Sunday: “I have no idea what that insult means, but it was startling to hear.”

I bet. This entire episode — including the outrage this weekend — must be startling for the Catholic teens now thrust into a media maelstrom. They are facing disciplinary action over what amounts to a wildly misleading viral video.

During a school trip, they became the symbols of evil in an international story. But the truth now seems like the opposite: when in public among alleged grown-ups, it was the teens who were exposed to juvenile behaviour at its most corrosive.

It is the Catholic teens who were wrongly demonized.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4183755&forum_id=2#37639390)

In one video, which runs for 1 hour and 46 minutes, this small but loud group hurls slurs and insults at everyone in their periphery: the Indigenous protestors, the Catholic teens and other passersby. Basically, this group comes across as a Black version of the Westboro Baptist Church: seething with intolerance and hate.

I’d rather hang out with Satan than these delusional kooks."

so... how many swastika tattoos does this guy have?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4183755&forum_id=2#37639410)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4183755&forum_id=2#37639445)