Perhaps the biggest story of the weekend was an alleged confrontation between a group of high school students, many of them wearing Make American Great Again (MAGA) gear, and a group of Native American protesters. The story went viral after a Twitter account showed a video of the MAGA-kids staring down a Native American protester who was beating a drum in a child’s face. That Twitter account has since been suspended.
The initial video certainly looked horrible. A group of kids appeared to be surrounding the Native American protesters and, at first glance, it appeared that the kids where staring them down and mocking them. Rumors quickly spread that the kids were chanting “build that wall.”
Longer videos have since muddied the situation. Turns out, the Native Americans waded into the gaggle of kids, who were in DC to take part in a Pro-Life march. The protesters were then partially surrounded but it’s unclear if the kids were intentionally mocking the protests.
It appears that the children were engaging in their school sports chants. Allegedly, this was in an effort to drown out Black Hebrew Israelites, a group of street preachers who had been reportedly harassing the children and other people near the Lincoln Memorial.
When the Native American protesters approached with their drums, many of the kids seemed to think that they were joining the school chants. The kids clapped and danced in beat to the drums. One Native American protester, Nathan Phillips, then approached Nick Sandmann and began to beat a drum in his face.
Sandmann stood still, smiling/smirking. Many allege that Sandmann was mocking the protester. Another valid interpretation is that Sandmann was simply confused. This interpretation is backed up by Sandmann’s own public statement.
The encounter set off a firestorm. Many immediately argued that the students were racist. However, the full video offers conflicting reports. At one point, the Black Hebrew Israelites appeared to be harassing an African American child. It seems (at least to my ears) that the MAGA kids then responded with hugs and shouts of “we love you.” Not exactly the actions of racist kids. Click here to see the scene in question.
Another video on Twitter, however, shows a smaller group of (white) kids shouting insults at different passersby. The children are shouting inappropriate insults, like “faggot,” and harassing passersby. Some are wearing red hats, but it’s hard to make out the text. The clip is short and blurry but the kids appear to be about the right age and in the right general area.
The incident has sparked a storm of controversy. Apparently, the children have received death threats. Many have called for their expulsion. However, several journalists and pundits who initially lambasted the MAGA kids have since walked back their statements.
Some are doubling down, going as far as to allege that simply wearing the MAGA hats makes the kids guilty. Others have even claimed that a red MAGA hat is the new “white hood,” referencing the KKK.
I’m not here to settle the debate. However, the outburst of outrage was based off a snippet of a much longer video. Without context, that initial snippet looked worse than it really was, at the very least. And now, the mainstream media is facing backlash over what some claim was a “fake news” story.
