"Not Like That"- A Compendium of Thoughts on That Thing That Happened

I'm going to keep updating this as new info comes out, so if you're someone that gives a damn, maybe check back in a couple days. But I'm going to just sort of spat thoughts on the thing with the Catholic kids and the Native American elder. So there's no thesis or main point, here, just venting. I've been festering over this, and reached the point where the zit needs to be popped.

This article by Indian Country Today is a good compilation of videos encompassing the whole thing. The super long one, the one by those guys who identify themselves as Hebrew Israelites, hasn't really been given enough attention, and I want to start there- makes sense, chronologically, but also because what these guys were doing was pretty awful, too, and the reason all this shit went down to begin with.

So these assholes showed up to the Indigenous People's March, to protest it, apparently. And they were shouting all sorts of racist, disparaging things at the people marching. If you listen to the beginning of their (again, long) video, you hear them yelling at the Native Americans about how they knew Native history better than the Native Americans do- there's some garbage about how "before Natives worshipped totem poles," they had worshipped "the true God," or something like that. And that because of this "idol worship," their "land was taken from them."

I have to say, it's pretty vile to protest against indigenous people marching peacefully. Like, what are you really protesting to begin with? I guess, based on the shit they were saying, it was to "save" them? But, as people try to talk to them, they're entirely uninterested in dialogue and just talk over them, being super rude every time. If they were there from a place of genuine love and compassion, they would want to talk. No, they were there to pontificate, not to really help anyone or save any souls.

Something that confuses me: at 38:18ish, the guy with the phone starts mocking one of the students for wearing a MAGA hat to a Native American protest- and like, what? You've been standing here, telling Native Americans it's their own fault they're the victims of genocide, and now you're going to "call out" a white kid for being disrespectful? I mean, the thing is, within the first two minutes minute, they completely dismiss/talk over one of the Native Americans that is... wait for it... trying to point out that they're being disrespectful. I mean, seriously, I don't think the dude is able to finish a full phrase because the guy in the Hebrew Israelite group wouldn't shut the fuck up. So like, who the actual fuck are you to care about respect for the Indigenous march? "I'm just here to tell you what you have to do," he says to the Indigenous man. I guess the boarding schools didn't try hard enough.

Point there is, these guys are hypocrites. And they incited the whole thing, and their part in it hasn't been explored enough, as far as I can se.

(At about five minutes, a Black woman who has been visible for pretty much the whole video starts trying to talk to them and they say shit like, "Where's your husband?" as if to say he shouldn't have to listen to her because she's a woman- so like, dude, obviously these guys prescribe to some pretty regressive shit.)

Because after they mock that first kid, they go all-in at mocking the whole crowd of teenage boys. Sure, it's true the Catholic church has done some deplorable shit, but they're fucking teenage boys for crying out loud- if these Hebrew Israelites are half as smart as they think they are, they should have known that asking if they have "one nigga" in the group and calling them stuff like "dusty crackers" was going to create a huge kerfuffle- honestly, if Phillips hadn't stepped in, there would have probably been a riot (and I strongly suspect they were hoping the rich white kids would get physical with them, based on how they kept going). 

Which is exactly why he did what he did. He says he saw something about to happen and wanted to pray, to calm things down. No, he didn't realize how bad it was until he was in the thick of it, but dude, that's the point. It was that bad.

So then you have those shorter videos in the ICT article, and you see the progression of the behavior of the boys. For starters, it's clear there's space between Phillips and the boys, a space that gradually gets tighter and tighter, with fewer and fewer of the boys on the stairs- indicating the whole crowd was swarming Phillips and his fellow indigenous singers. Some of the boys do mock-Indigenous dances (apparently, some were attempts at the haka, according to Al Jazeera), the whole crowd engages in a mock-chant (more on that later), and there's this Nick Sandmann asswipe.

I first found out his name reading this NYT article, and it led me to his statement. And that. Oh, that. This kid is full of shit. In the first of the shorter videos from ICT, he isn't even visible- which means he deliberately positioned himself in front of Philips. In other words, in order to appear so close, had to push past his classmates. So duh, he was the one "invading personal space." And there's no reason to get that close to someone except in an attempt at intimidation.  As for that ridiculous smirk he had pretty much the whole time, it was obviously one of mockery, the same smirk guys in fake warpaint and war bonnets wear when confronted by indigenous people outside the stadiums where the Braves and Redsk*ns play. His statement is nothing but lies, passive-aggression, narcissism, and backpedaling. I suppose Trump would be proud.

I don't believe the diocese when they say they'll do anything. I just don't. The Catholic church was an active participant in the cultural genocide practiced against indigenous people on this continent up until the 1980s. I've mentioned before that my great uncle was beaten so badly by a priest for speaking Lakota at boarding school that he went to the hospital- what I didn't mention then, was it was a Catholic priest. Stewart Indian School, the last boarding school in the U.S. to stop operating as such (in 1980), was a Catholic school. If they continually sweep molestation under the rug, why would they care if some rowdy teenagers were rude to a Native American elder? I'll believe it when I see it, but for now, I don't.

Also, about that mock-chant in the videos ICT included in that article. It's the same one you hear at, like, Braves and Redsk*n games, or in the scene where they do "the chop" in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Some even do the hand motion. (I feel like it's in Major League or one of the sequels, too, but this was easier to find, so here's the one from Men in Tights.)

So I don't see how anybody can still get away with saying they weren't mocking- then again, look at what our president gets away with every gorram day?

(As an aside, I'm pretty disappointed with that NYT piece- it's basically pulling an "on all sides" in its reporting, and it's pretty offensive they'd give credence to the claims that the indigenous people were somehow the aggressors, here.)

And yeah, the guy that calls Phillips "Grandpa" shouldn't have engaged with that teenager, but I get why he did it- he was angry, and hurting, and the kid was obviously painfully ignorant (or one of "those" debators, the kind that studies Schopenhauer's ways to win an argument)- whether or not indigenous people crossed a land bridge from Asia is entirely irrelevant to the fact that our lands were stolen from us and his ancestors committed genocide to do it. Aside from that, though, it's pretty clear that, despite the picture Sandmann and supporters are trying to paint, the indigenous people were the only ones that weren't being assholes. 

It's just heartbreaking to watch Phillips at the end, shouting, "RELATIVES! RELATIVES!" and watch as nobody gives a shit. It reminds me of another great uncle, one that taught me about humility and forgiveness. He was a lobbyist for Indian Country, and I remember a conversation we had when I was around thirteen. It went something like this:

"Uncle Gerald, how can you be so kind to these guys that are making laws that hurt our people?"

"Because without grace, we're no better than them."

"But why forgive them? It's not like they've really done anything to make things right."

"Forgiveness isn't for them, it's for us. If we don't forgive, we carry hate in our hearts, and again, that would make us no better than them. We have to forgive and move on, and hope that eventually they'll listen and help us. With, of course, some forceful convincing on our part." [wink]

[He then taught me the Serenity Prayer.]

After all the mockery and meanness, Phillips says, "Yeah, let's make America great! Let's do that!" In earnest. Not sarcastically, not to be funny. In earnest.

One of the kids shouts, "How?"

And the guy that had called Phillips "Grandpa" says, "Not like that!"

And that's kind of perfect.

Nothing is going to get better if all this hate continues. And the kind of bullshit these kids (and those assholes that antagonized them to begin with) were acting out is just making it worse. And I wish I could talk to my Uncle Gerald about how to deal with these zealots- these MAGA-wearing, Trump-loving bigots. Because I strain and twist myself, trying to be compassionate and open like he taught me. But it gets harder all the time. And in the face of stuff like this? I just can't. And I wish I could ask him what to do.  He's gone, so I can't, and that hurts about as much as everything else right now.

And another thing that makes this so painful is the shit Phillips and his companions were dealing with? It's more like an everyday occurrence. I'm glad this one is getting attention, but what I need you to understand, reader, is that this kind of shit happens every day to indigenous people. And to people of color now that Trump is in office. And it's not just elders. It happens to kids at school. Trump gets quoted by fucking teachers being racist to their students. 

And yet, snotty little brats like Sandmann go unchecked when they play the victim. Major news outlets like the New York Times don't call him and his ilk on their bullshit.

And what that does, is it silences us. Those of us whose identities are being attacked. Whose very personhood is being called into question. How can we stand up for ourselves if lies about us, about what these people are doing to us, go unquestioned? If when we call for peace, we're depicted as the villain? If when we try to reach out, we're mocked and ridiculed, then turned into the scapegoat and have angry fingers pointed in our direction? So we remain silent. Because you can't reason with irrationality and delusion.

It reminds me of a quote from retired Senator Barney Frank: "On what planet do you spend most of your time? Having a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table."

It's impossible. So I don't have any answers. I don't know what to do. 

I guess I'll just pray to my totem poles that things will get better somehow. 

The Darnkess Before Dawn: "Post-Racism," Hope, and The Obama Presidency

Ok, so I will be the first to say that race relations in the U.S. have a lot of room for improvement before I would remotely say they're "great" or "dandy" or "fanfuckingtastic." As you've probably figured out about me by now, I'm kind of sensitive to issues about racial discrimination and oppression. Treyvon Martin; Michael Brown; Oscar Grant; the shootings of these young black men, and others, led to what the media calls "race riots," which were often actually peaceful protests turned violent by overly-militarized police forces practicing unnecessary roughness and police brutality. Ironically, the events sparking those protests were usually also connected to some sort of police brutality to begin with; all have occurred since President Obama took the oath of office.

Some conservative media (example) report on them in mockery of the President. Pundits (usually white, and even more usually male) disparage his presidency, saying the "post-racial" society he promised was a farce, and that the problems that have developed are his fault, as if he personally incited the rioting, as if he was there throwing molotov cocktails  at the police on the front lines of the standoffs. They say he's divisive and race-baiting, that fighting and killing and guns are all things he wanted.

First off, President Obama never said he was going to foster a "post-racial society" when he ran in 2008. That was something  that the (white) conservative pundits claimed he was claiming. The media machine, which is predominantly white, brought it up. First it was to mock him, with the, "What does he expect, a post-racial society, here?" as he was running, then to question him with, "Now that we have a black president, do we live in a post-racial society?" and now to completely disregard him with the, "So much for the post-racial society he promised you!" I can't begin to count the number of ridiculous "studies" I saw in grad school that had "post-racism" and "Obama" in the title. And this REEEEEALLY  makes my blood boil, when people act like he promised he would fix all race relation problems in our country, and then, GASP! didn't deliver. That was something projected onto him by conservatives that didn't want him elected and  liberals that did- which is part of why it's so hard to get around and forget who actually said it in the beginning. People that hated him said it would never happen, and people that loved him were expressing their deepest hopes as speculation and sometimes even assertion, rather than as what they were, and what he campaigned on: hope. But. He never promised that specific change, though, people. He did not say he was some wizard that was going to leviosa the racism away. He said race relations were on the top of his list of priorities- as damn well they should be, for any commander-in-chief we have had since before I was born, regardless of their ethnicity. 

Second, look at the Congress he's had to deal with. If you Google search "congress least productive" (here, I did it for you), you'll see that, hey, look! Some of the least productive Congresses in our nation's history have been during his presidency. Huh. Funny. Conservatives whine over the number of Executive Orders he's signed in office, but he wouldn't have had to sign them if Congress had enacted any kind of meaningful legislation. In other words, he's doing more in his job because Congress hasn't been doing it's job. And here's the real hum-dinger: HE HAS STILL USED FEWER EXECUTIVE ORDERS THAN THE TWO PRESIDENTS BEFORE HIM AS OF JAN 20TH, LESS THAN A MONTH BEFORE WRITING THIS POST. AND FEWER THAN REAGAN, OR NIXON. Oh my GOD does it show how many conservatives are just drinking the Kool-Aid instead of doing their Goddamned homework! They claim he's power hungry, but that's not it- he's trying to get shit done, while they sit on their asses and adjourn early. Don't blame him. Blame the whiny-ass Republicans that sit with their thumbs in their mouths, screaming that the president is overstepping his power and blah blah, rather than using the power they have so he wouldn't have to, for Pete's sake! There's a reason every single budget has been held hostage for at least a few weeks since he took office. Which leads into my next point, which is the lead into the main argument.

I lived in Bellflower, California when the Rodney King riots occurred. It's a little municipality right next to Compton. So I've seen this stuff. Rioting in response to white cops using unnecessary force on a black man? This shit isn't new, people, and didn't just magically start happening after President Obama was elected. Don't forget your goddamned U.S. history- there's a long list of ethnically charged rioting in our country's past. There have been a lot of publicized events since he took office, but they were happening well before that. The reason for the proported upswing, aside from the rise of social media, is this.

Having a Black president has brought to surface the underlying racism a lot of people have been bottling up and hiding inside. The old, angry, white men in Congress are pissed that a Black man got into office, so they do everything they can to oppose what he presents, even if it means backpedalling on previous positions they've had; racist douchebags in the general public are just as bitter, and taking it out on people around them. People with racist opinions are being less quiet about them. It started during the campaign. I can't tell you how many times I actually heard, in person, to my face, let alone read somewhere online, someone say almost word-for-word, "I refuse to vote for a black man."  And all that birther bullshit? Trump was sooooo Goddamned adamant that the President wasn't from the U.S., he said it at every stop he could at one point; but he isn't saying it about Ted Cruz (yes,  his people are, but he's not railing on Cruz for not being a legit American citizen at every venue the way he did President Obama). And I think, more than any presidency I can remember, President Obama gets blamed for shit that has nothing to do with him. Shit that has more to do with Congress and the Supreme Court, or even local governments. 

Sidenote: I saw an elegant plea for voters to vote out representatives during the next mid-term election so that "Bernie's message can happen." It says very correctly that he won't get shit done, or at least won't get nearly as much shit done, if Congress doesn't support him. So it's acknowledging the whole "checks and balances" thing and passively reminding everyone that Congress is the Legislative branch, and that the ideas coming from the Executive depend almost entirely on that. I wish people had been that smart during President Obama's terms. And I don't think it's a coincidence it wasn't being said while the Black man was in office, either. THINK about that, though. If people are so urgent about that before Bernie Sanders even gets nominated, imagine how things could have been under President Obama if they had been like that before his first term was over. It makes me genuinely sad. Like, I'm actually tearing up as I type this part. 

Fortunately, through it all,  he's remained in good humor, so we get stuff like this:

And this, one that I think really shows what a good person he is:

I say they prove he's a good person because, they show he can laugh at himself, despite having people so publicly despise and disparage him. Don't get me wrong, what he's dealt with and the responsibilities of being in office have taken their tole on him. But I think he still believes in what he campaigned on in 2008, Hope, Change, and moving Forward:

And I sincerely believe that it's getting worse now because it's about to get better. Angry white people being more open about their angry whiteness is giving other people the opportunity to be more open about oppression. It's giving people the courage to fight back against it. We're getting more anti-racism movements because the racists aren't hiding as much anymore. It gave rise to young people of color starting global tours against hate, like a young woman I went to college with, Aisha Fukushima and her Raptivism. It helped enable one of the most powerful women of color in our country take over the halftime show of a predominantly white-ruled institution, the Super Bowl, and present Black Power in all its fierceness and beauty and glory.  

I think Barack Obama knew this had to happen, too. Big change doesn't come about without enough social unrest- think about any big movement for equality. It took a war to end slavery, massive, country-wide protests to end segregation, etc. And he's smart enough to have known that going into the job. And I admire him for it. I think, if he could tell us what was on his mind, he would say something like what Harvey Dent said in The Dark Knight:

Because I don't think he's given up on the American people. He's resigned to his fate to be hated and blamed for a lot of shit he didn't do (much like Batman at the end of the same film), but he's taking it for the greater good. I still don't think it's going to happen soon, but I think having a Black president has given the people that are tired of the racism in this country the oomph they needed to start making meaningful headway, and I have hope that before I die, things will improve even more. Will it be a "post-racial society" at that point? I doubt it. I don't know if I believe in humanity enough to assume race won't matter anymore by the time I croak. But I can hope. I believed in Obama, and I believe in him still, and I believe in the dream that he had for this country's future as much now as I did the first time I voted for him. And a lot of change has happened under his presidency, despite people saying he has been "ineffective," and I believe more is yet to come, thanks to the start he gave us.