Many people may agree that as a society we are stagnant. We have come a long way, but will we ever reach a point of true coexistence? On Friday, January 18, 2019 the first Indigenous Peoples March occurred in Washington, D.C. According to The Root, its purpose was to unite Indigenous peoples across the world to stand together to bring awareness to the injustices affecting Indigenous men, women and children. Unluckily, there was another march happening at the same time, the March for Life. This march comprised of many people, including teenagers and young children, wearing the MAGA hats that bring a disturbance to many American hearts. On this day the two marches clashed, having an incident that went viral. You may have seen it numerous times on your Twitter and Facebook feeds. The video shows a teenage boy along with several other teens from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky who were obviously participating in the March for Life mocking a Native American man as he sang and drummed. He, along with a few other teenage boys were seen in the video mocking and ridiculing the elder. This angered many on all social media platforms. The backlash came from multiple large twitter accounts including Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli), a NY Times contributing Op-Ed writer, who made a statement saying, “This is a betrayal of everything Jesus taught & practiced & a mockery of Christian values. As a Muslim who went to a Catholic high school, we were asked to be “men for others.” I hope Covington Catholic High School has a come to Jesus moment w/ these kids, who should know better.” Another tweet came from Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) that reads “The video of the MAGA kids harassing an indigenous veteran further demonstrate the consequences of having public displays of racism & bigotry sanctioned by the most powerful person in the country. It should disabuse ppl of the notion that such public racism will simply ‘die out.’”
https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/23/covington-phillips-nicholas-sandmann-…
However, the young boy, Nick Sandmann, came out denying these mocking allegations. “I did not make any hand gestures or aggressive moves,” he said according to BBC News. “I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation.” The situation being the group of Black Hebrew Israelites who were allegedly shouting insults. Nick recently appeared on NBC in an interview with Savannah Guthrie where he said “he had every right” to stand in front of the Native elder, Nathan Phillips. Another teenage boy whose identity was disclosed said that of the few Native Americans who were present, one of them started jumping up and down, so they all started jumping up and down with him. Did these boys ever take the time to think that maybe that was a cultural ritual? Not some type of inclusive chant? Mr. Phillips says that he felt threatened as this group started to surround them. Why did they need to surround him while standing and laughing in his face? Yeah, that’s not disrespectful at all.
President Trump also had a little something to say about this situation, making a tweet, as he always does. It reads: “Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good – maybe even bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!”
Hm. Fake News? Captivated the attention of the world, yes but them using it for good? I don’t know if that will happen. Those red hats have done nothing but divided people in this nation. In the words of Alyssa Milano, red hats are the new white hoods. In order for our country to reach a true sense of coexistence, people are going to have lose their entitled attitudes, take responsibility for their actions and admit when they’re wrong. The “Trump Era” has been very revealing an telling of the people in this country. However it’s not like we didn’t know they still existed.