Unless you’ve been living under a rock you have, by now, heard of the incident in Washington DC that occurred on the day of the March for Life and the Indigenous Peoples March.  Videos like the one below are circulating all over social media and news outlets; do a Google search and you will find a countless number of discussions and videos about the incident.  By far, the following video is the one you’ll find:

 

Less often, you will find this one:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs1fQR0ne4S/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1hc9j11jtop6b

There is a debate – and a strong liberal-conservative divide – about what actually happened here.  Those videos most prominent on a quick internet search and being played in popular media (first above) show a large group of white students wearing MAGA gear surrounding a Native American drummer, shouting and laughing in a taunting manner.  They focus on a single student, standing inches away from the man, smirking and stifling a laugh while the man drums.  Other videos show the Elder approaching the students and holding his ground, beating on his drum and chanting.  One of the longer videos also shows intense and often vulgar dialogue between the white students and a Native American, as well as  religious and homophobic rantings of a black man.

Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam-era Vet and the Native American at the core of this story, talks about the incident and explains his actions:

 

There are basically two camps in this discussion.  The first, typically seen as the “liberal/Left” bias, is that the group of students surrounding the Native American drummer was taunting; they smirked, laughed at, attempted to intimidate, and mocked Mr. Phillips and, by extension, the Native American community.  The second or “conservation/Right” side claims that there either is no “hate hoax” or, because Phillips approached the students, he was wholly responsible for the confrontation.

Phillips says he approached the group after witnessing a generalized tension and unease among individuals and the group; his intent was to bring peace and resolution to a situation he saw as dangerous and one that might escalate into violence.  Folks supporting the students say, since they were not violent (assuming here they mean physically violent), they did nothing wrong and the Left is making a big deal out of nothing.

Here is another write-up of the incident that focuses on media bias, and the verbal attacks on the (mostly white) students (by Native Americans, a black man, and a Muslim), and suggests the reader reverse the roles of whites and others and imagine the reactions.

https://spectator.us/what-makes-a-liberal-want-to-punch-a-child/

Whatever you believe happened, a close look at this confrontation and all of the opinions surrounding it shows that this was so much more than mostly white conservative students facing a Native American.  It is symbolic of the hate that divides our country, of the gross misunderstanding most of share about cultural differences, of the way our children are educated, and of the racial tensions in the US.  Whatever you believe happened, this conflict and its ensuing (sometimes vicious) analyses should bother you.  Whatever you believe, I hope you share the notion that one act of hate does not deserve another.  Hate truly does beget hate.