The media is having a banner week. First, BuzzFeed’s story that President Trump directed his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a real estate deal in Russia blows up, with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office issuing a rare statement saying it was not accurate. And now, a MAGA-hat wearing kid mocked and chanted “Build The Wall” at a Native American during the March for Life. Also, this never happened.
The scene occurred by the Lincoln Memorial where students from Covington Catholic High School in Covington, Kentucky. They were in the city for the annual March for Life. They’re wearing Make America Great Again hats and they’re doing sports chants. Robby Soave at Reason has a great recap of the incident, where a small group of Black Hebrew Israelites engaged in the provocation, not the kids and not Nathan Phillips, the Native American in the video beating his drum. Soave also described the Black Hebrew Israelites as well. It’s a racist, homophobic, and all-around kooky group who thinks their members are descendants from the tribes of Israel (via Reason):
More Media Lies
— Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) January 20, 2019
There was no #MAGA mob hounding a Native American
Mult Native Americans instigated an incident walking into a peaceful group of kids & taunting one chanting & drumming inches fm his face
No one said "Build the Wall"
& if anything
That kid deserves a peace medal pic.twitter.com/lPbPtQtTh7
UPDATE: Since WaPo chose to only print the Phillips' version of the events (which was contradicted by video), here is a statement from one of the students involved (which actually mostly tracks with the video): https://t.co/dBeOLikrPD
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Again, here is what he told the media immediately after.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Video shows:
1) No "Build the wall" chant
2) Kid did not block him. He approached the kids and got in the face of that particular kid w/ his drum.
3) He had plenty of room to "retreat" or leave. pic.twitter.com/M59k6b1kuK
So now Phillips is inventing more easily disprovable lies about these kids, and the media continues to print them without checking.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Unbelievable.
The "black protestors" in question were the ones yelling racist and homophobic slurs at the kids. https://t.co/hb84MAD6nF
Shorter NYT: Please don't sue us. pic.twitter.com/CDpHqcO5Cw
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 21, 2019
Partial video footage of students from a Catholic high school allegedly harassing a Native American ... after the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday quickly went viral, provoking widespread condemnation of the kids on social media. Various media figures and Twitter users called for them to be doxed, shamed, or otherwise punished, and school administrators said they would consider expulsion.
[…]
Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby.
[…]
Phillips put himself between the teens and the black nationalists, chanting and drumming as he marched straight into the middle of the group of young people. What followed was several minutes of confusion: The teens couldn't quite decide whether Phillips was on their side or not, but tentatively joined in his chanting. It's not at all clear this was intended as an act of mockery rather than solidarity.
One student did not get out of Phillips way as he marched, and gave the man a hard stare and a smile that many have described as creepy. This moment received the most media coverage: The teen has been called the product of a "hate factory" and likened to a school shooter, segregation-era racist, and member of the Klu Klux Klan. I have no idea what he was thinking, but portraying this as an example of obvious, racially-motivated hate is a stretch. Maybe he simply had no idea why this man was drumming in his face, and couldn't quite figure out the best response? It bears repeating that Phillips approached him, not the other way around.
And that's all there is to it. Phillips walked away after several minutes, the Black Hebrew Israelites continued to insult the crowd, and nothing else happened.
[…]
It was at this moment that Phillips, who had attended a nearby peace protest led by indigenous peoples, decided to intervene. He would later tell The Detroit Free Press that the teenagers "were in the process of attacking these four black individuals" and he decided to attempt to de-escalate the situation. He seems profoundly mistaken
[…]
He also claimed that he heard chants of "build the wall." While I cannot rule out the possibility that some of the kids indeed chanted this—those who were wearing MAGA hats are presumably Trump supporters—I did not hear a single utterance of the phrase in the nearly two hours of video footage I watched.
Someone spliced together multiple videos taken from the incident that doesn’t support Phillips’ account in the slightest, though it is suggested the some of the students acted insensitively [Warning: some graphic language]:
I’ve spliced together cell phone footage from this event, and this student’s account appears to be accurate. Check out the thread below for the sequence of videos: pic.twitter.com/FSQsGkcCBg
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
The behavior of some of the students was insensitive, but does not appear hostile, as both groups can be seen smiling early on. It’s worth noting Nathan Phillips beats his drum in the face of another boy in a completely different direction before moving toward the second boy. pic.twitter.com/ftEoytiEKi
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
Consistent with the student’s story, the tension begins to build as Phillips beats the drum in the student’s face for several minutes. When an argument breaks out between a student and a Native American, the student with the drum in his face turns back and tries to defuse it. pic.twitter.com/LvTpUADKD7
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
Consistent with the student’s story, the tension begins to build as Phillips beats the drum in the student’s face for several minutes. When an argument breaks out between a student and a Native American, the student with the drum in his face turns back and tries to defuse it. pic.twitter.com/LvTpUADKD7
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
This clip shows the Native American involved in the previous argument arguing with another Native American. If anyone can make out what they’re saying, I’d be curious to hear. pic.twitter.com/FfDK04uaza
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
This clip shows the initial event concluding, as well as the following event involving the guy shouting homophobic rhetoric, also consistent with the student’s account. pic.twitter.com/lQ8KtAE8hE
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
More of the same rhetoric: pic.twitter.com/odm2zQ7NN6
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
And finally, the buses arrive and the students cheer (sorry about the messed up orientation on the last 3 videos): pic.twitter.com/YafUnuGCG5
— W. Ghoulie (@SportsBuckeye) January 20, 2019
The student at the center of the video, Nick Sandmann, has also spoken out, and also says that none of the things Phillips alleged ever happened (via NBC News):
Sandmann said Sunday that when his group arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, the site of the Indigenous Peoples March, on Friday, he heard "four African American protestors" who he said directed "derogatory insults at our school group."
"They also taunted an African American student from my school by telling him that we would 'harvest his organs,'" Sandmann said. "I have no idea what that insult means, but it was startling to hear."
Sandmann said that, with the permission of a teacher who was serving as a chaperone, he began leading the group of students in school spirit chants "to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group."
After a few minutes, the native protestors began approaching, he said, "accompanied by at least one person with a camera."
Referring to Phillips, Sandmann said: "I never interacted with this protestor. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protestors, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers.
So, taking away all the nonsense, some people who are part of some whacko cult shouted obscenities, Phillips got in the middle of it, and some high school students wearing MAGA hats did sports chant. Is that what this kerfuffle is all about? Is that what got these students in trouble with their school, which has said expulsion is on the table as they conduct a nonsensical investigation into this matter? Would this even have been an issue if the kids were wearing hats or beanies of their favorite professional sports teams? It was the MAGA that set off the political correctness fire. It’s the anti-Trump ethos that has infected the news media, making them stupider by the day. It’s a mess, and it’s not going to get any better.
This has been debunked for a while yet this dishonest CNN “reporter” is refusing to take down this BS tweet which has 26,000+ retweets and has been viewed 2+ million times. https://t.co/70usiexbTd
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 20, 2019
When you're very much not making the point you think you're making. pic.twitter.com/32WlvkQkLp
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 21, 2019
(H/T Twitchy)
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