The cycle moved fast this time. It's actually slightly impressive. From the release of snippets of video to more video to a lot of video. From outrage to think pieces. From one side to the other. It was a fast moving fire. And what did we all learn?
That no matter what you wanted to see you could find a video clip that would show that to you?
That often the side story isn't the whole story?
That we are still so divided that nothing but "winning" the argument matters?
I'll tell you what I saw and what I think.
I think there were assholes on all sides.
Plenty of assholes.
All shouting at each other.
Because that is where we are now.
It started with the one group that isn't getting a ton of attention (I don't think) but that, to me, is the most to blame. The Black Hebrew Israelites. This is a group that has gotten the attention from the SPLC for being a hate group. And they were on full display on that day. They had already insulted the Native American group. Repeatedly. Then they went after the Catholic school boys. They are not good people. They call everyone names. They are pretty nasty all around. So they were going after both of the other groups.
So in response to the Black Hebrew Israelites yelling at them the Catholic school boys decided the best idea would be to do school spirit chants to drown them out. Now according to his own statement the boy in the original video/picture says they asked their chaperones permission and that their chaperones said it was fine. This is was a bad call on their part. Yell back louder isn't really a good solution. And school spirit chants are basically rhymes about why I'm better than you are so maybe a bad choice on a whole other level. But here we were. One group yelling at another who then starts yelling louder to drown them out.
Add in the Native American group again. And again, per the statement he released, the gentleman with the drum wanted to diffuse the situation so he started playing and chanting. To drown out the other groups yelling. So add more noise. How is this supposed to work?
Then we have the showdown. The boy in the shot and the older gentleman in the shot end up face to face, the way it happened is not completely agreed upon from the different sides but the one thing they both agree on is that they were trying to diffuse the situation. To calm things down. That's what they each say they were doing. By mad dogging and by playing a drum in someone's face. How is that calming down the situation? It seems like it would just make it worse.
The young man says he didn't want to move or touch him or do anything that would exacerbate the situation.
The elder man says he was chanting a prayer for calm and wanted to distract the focus from the Black Hebrew Israelites.
Well...okay. But...
How about walking away? Why wasn't that the first option when the group started yelling at the kids? Why didn't the chaperones say, "you know what, let's take a little walk away for a bit and we'll talk on the bus about what happened and what you all think about it."
Or why didn't the boys and the Native American group talk to each other? Like, "Hey I see you're getting hassled by these men who were harassing us before. You want to team up to try something? I have a chant that is a prayer for peace and if you all pray too we can maybe change this situation." Imagine that image for a second. A group of high school boys all heads bowed in prayer while a group of Native American activists stand in front of them singing their own prayer and blocking them from a group of men who had been yelling at them. What a great uniting scene that would have been.
Instead one group yelled, the next group yelled louder, a third group added a drum and then the whole thing was posted on the internet so the yelling could spread even more.
This is where we live. Brent and I were talking about it yesterday and I said it's like we are all sitting on tinder boxes and holding lighters. He said it was worse, it's like we are in dry forests throwing matches at each other.
And that's what I got out of the whole the video shows you want you want to see weekend. We have stopped being able to talk to each other. To even imagine that the FIRST step should be discussion. That walking away is a valid response. That we don't need to get louder.
And I bring it back to a question I ask all the time. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
The Black Hebrew Israelites aren't there to convert people to their beliefs. Not when they are yelling at Native Americans and Catholic school boys so why are they there?
The Catholic school boys were originally there for their own march but then what? What were they trying to accomplish by getting louder than the BHI? Were they trying to reflect their catholic beliefs? By doing tom-a-hawk chops and my school is the best chants? What were they trying to do here?
The Native American group was there for their own march as well but then what? If you are singing or chanting in a language that others don't understand how are they to know it was a peaceful thing? Are you trying to help me or antagonize me? What is the point of banging a drum in my face?
When you posted your outrage over the boys or support of the boys what were you trying to do? What about the people that sent death threats? What did they think that was going to accomplish? What is their goal?
Mine? I'd like to see us all put down the matches and pick up some watering cans. We need more calm voices and talk to get past our issues and less side picking and fighting.
It's hard. I get it. But we need to try.
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