So much has been said, written, argued, debated since the initial video featuring a Native American man and a bunch of kids from Covington Catholic High. And I have a few quick thoughts …
A. We live in a world of jumping to immediate conclusions, and I’m not entirely sure why. I do it. You probably do it. They do it. It’s not a conservative issue or a liberal issue. It’s an us issue. We, the people. This incident is a perfect example. I watched this first video, just as you surely did, and came to a full conclusion when fullness wasn’t realistic. That’s truly wrongheaded.
B. I still don’t know entirely who was wrong, right. I mean, clearly the Black Hebrew Israelites—a group I know well from my time in New York—are eternally a bunch of ignorant assholes. But I’m still not fully understanding of what the kids from Covington were trying to do. Or the Native American man. Confusing, bewildering.
C. I know this won’t go over with 24 percent of America, but—for me and many I know—#MAGA hats scream RACIST!, scream HOMOPHOBE!, scream XENOPHOBE! So when I hear the folks from Covington talk about peace, and how they were mere innocents, well … I struggle with this. Like or it not, those hats have turned into identifiers. They really have. They’re identifiers to the wearers, they’re identifiers to the witnesses. It means (again, to me) you’re against foreigners, you’re fall the wall, you’re hostile toward Mexicans. On and on. So all those Convington kids in their #MAGA gear … it’s just hard (in this climate, in this time period) to see the group as mere bystanders. I dunno. Is that unfair? Not sure. But when the kid in the center of the incident releases a statement that says, in part, “I am a faithful Christian and practicing Catholic, and I always try to live up to the ideals my faith teaches me — to remain respectful of others, and to take no action that would lead to conflict or violence.” … I mean. What is #MAGA if not an ode to a disrespectful man who relishes in conflict?
D. Where the fuck were the chaperones? Seriously—where we these people? The adults? The school can’t allow students to be in that position, or near that position.
E. I hate his shit. Truly, I hate this shit. I hate what social media has done to us, what 24-hour cable news has done to us, what iPhones have done to us. And—by “us”—I am including myself.
We need to stop.
We need to think.
We need to chill.
