Was America Ever Great?

Disclaimer: I'm sure that there are some CovCath alum who have used their privilege to bring justice to the world. I'm thankful to you.

Like the rest of the country, I've spent too much of the last week watching clips from the now infamous incident between a boy from Covington Catholic and a Native American.

I've tried to let it go, but when Bishops start apologizing to the offender it's either write or risk biting my tongue off.

 I spent my entire childhood living in Covington - the first 13 years were downtown on West 8th Street. So, I speak with authority when I say Covington Catholic school is NOT in Covington, and I'm sure the students there would not argue with that statement.

Even 50 years ago, the school sat on the outside edge of the diversity, the working class-ness and inner-city-ness of Covington. It was a picture of white privilege.

As a bleeding heart liberal, I viewed the first clip of the incident with righteous indignation as the "Make America Great Again" hat and shirt wearers were being thrown under the social media bus. Throughout the day, however, I started watching different videos from different angles, that were longer in time, that showed more of the story.

First, the story (like most stories) is complex and sometimes convoluted and long. In fact, the story at its core is older than any of its characters.

When I looked at the groups in this story, the high school boys, the Black Hebrew Israelites and the Native Americans, collectively and individually, I was no longer filled with anger but a deep, deep sadness.

The Hebrew Israelites seemed militant and were throwing all kinds of racial, misogynistic, homophobic slurs, including calling members of their own race, "Uncle Toms" when they disagreed. While their voices were loud and offensive, they did not physically approach any of the groups.

Occasionally, one or two Native Americans ventured over to engage with the Hebrew Israelites but usually returned to their own demonstration within a few minutes.

The Covington Catholic boys were watching the "show," meaning the five or six Hebrew Israelites.

They had probably never seen that many Black men speaking with such defiance and anger, and when the boys became a target of their ridicule and name-calling, the boys weren't sure what to do.

This would have been a really good place for the chaperones to step up and help the boys go find their bus.

But they didn't.

While most rational people would have simply walked away, the very fact of their white privilege (and perhaps their youth) would not allow them to back down. In fact, many of their supporters say they shouldn't have to. The irony is that, historically, a black man who refused to step off the curb was often lynched. Today they are imprisoned or shot.

But since they chose to "stand their ground" the CovCath boys did what white American teenage boys have been doing for centuries when they are unsure and afraid. They started acting a fool. They behaved as a pack and started chanting school cheers towards the Hebrew Israelites, in much the same manner you would at a high school ballgame towards the school's main rival. In other words, they put a little gas on the flame.

When the Native Americans walked into the scene, in my opinion, the boys found a group to confront that did not produce the same fear in them as the Hebrew Israelites. They then proceeded to Step 2 in white teenage manuals everywhere which takes place right after acting like a fool.  In the vernacular of the day, they kicked the dog. These white boys found a group they thought of not only as inferior but physically weaker.

That boy stood in the face on the American Indian with his shit-eating grin because he knew that he could.

I'm not a proponent of the "boys will be boys" theory, but I also know that teenagers make lots of mistakes as they grow. The adults that surround them, their parents, teachers, clergy, coaches, are still responsible for teaching them. This whole fiasco could have been over days ago if those adults had stepped up.

Encouragement from adults who love these boys could have led to apologies, culturally sensitive classes, using their privilege to bring justice to the marginalized. All of those actions could have brought just a little bit of healing to our so fractured country.

Those actions could have caused this left-leaning woman to think maybe those red MAGA hats weren't synonymous with Rebel flags and white hoods.

But they didn't.

Christ have mercy.