General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFor those attempting to defend the Covington Catholic High School boys:
Just stop already. We saw the video. We saw the photos of Covington boys in blackface at a high school game mocking a black player from the opposing team. We saw the videos of the same game with the same thing happening.
Whataboutism isn't going to work. Racism, blackface makeup, and the attitudes displayed by those boys speak for themselves.
One DUer tried to say it wasn't "Tradtional" blackface makeup. It was. One kid had big white lips and white eye makeup. Another person said, everyone does this, and posted a picture of a couple of University of Georgia fans in blackface, like that makes it OK, because, well, Georgia is well-known for its lack of racists.
It won't work. None of it will work. What we saw was a display of privileged young boys from Kentucky displaying their racist upbringing, something that was not discouraged by the White Catholic Boys High School they attend.
There's no defense possible. It is what it is. Trying to defend the indefensible just makes the defenders look back.
Just stop it, please. Your defense is exposing things you probably don't want to expose. Really. See below. Look at the kid on the right. Not blackface? GMAFB!
RKP5637
(67,032 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)indefensible racist, sexist and elitist behavior. There is nothing to defend and no excuse.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)mcar
(42,210 posts)but I've been shocked at the defense of these little bigots by some here on DU. The whataboutism is being taken to quite an extreme.
John Fante
(3,479 posts)it's a miracle he/she hasn't been banned yet. I'm not surprised that they're defending blackface.
Separation
(1,975 posts)It shows that racism isn't just a Republican issue. Institutionalized racism has and knows no party boundaries.
KentuckyWoman
(6,666 posts)racism is a human thing. Not a Republican thing. It needs to be called out wherever it is.
brush
(53,475 posts)The repug party is well known for being full of racists. Don't let that party off the hook.
KentuckyWoman
(6,666 posts)You will be hard pressed to find a non racist registered R
olegramps
(8,200 posts)They were in the Democratic camp due to their hatred of Lincoln, but quickly abandoned it when Johnson signed the civil rights legislation. I don't know what will convince them that todays Republican Party is a solution to what they presently face. They are desperately clinging to the lies that Trump feed them. Every one of his promises from scapegoating South Americans immigrates, outsourcing, revitalization of assembly line jobs and isolation as being a panacea are disastrous lies. Rather their false hopes will only serve to exacerbate their frustration. Rather than abandoning this ridiculous nationalism, Trump is being compelled to intensify his failed policies with false charges that Democrats are sabotaging his policies that if allowed to develop would be solutions. The Wall is a perfect example. We know that the real threat is not the menial jobs that these desperate people are filling. They are jobs that only a handful of American would last at for even a day. The real threat is the disappearance of the jobs created by the Industrial Revolution that are being rapidly outmoded.
Many with at most high school or less education are clinging to Trumps absolute lies that he is going to turn back the clock to when minimally educated people could get good paying jobs in the labor intense assembly line factories that exploded following WWII. It is a sad disillusionment because the situation will not improve but intensify as millions of jobs will be lost primarily to automation.
The future is further clouded by the rapidly developing artificial intelligence that is just beginning to make a debut. Those type of rather minimally demanding jobs are gone and not coming back. Out sourcing will become less and less of a threat since those job markets with be in the same jeopardy. I worked in the advent of this field working to develop machines that work twenty-four hours, seven days a week producing products are far superior to labor intensive jobs of highly skilled machinists. The intense programming that was required has been replaced with super computer design programs leading to even further specialization.
What is especially troubling is that our government is failing to take the necessary steps to inform and urge people to prepare themselves for the up coming super tech society that is quickly becoming a reality. Anyone who wants to pay attention to what is developing are cognizant of the massive challenges that our young people are going to be compelled to solve.
Have a nice day and support our fellow citizens who are being abused by a tyrant.
Squinch
(50,774 posts)Hitler Youth High School. Going forward, I will be ignoring him. He hasn't added anything to the conversation, but he has succeeded in distracting from the actual discussion of the event, which is one of white male entitlement and the obvious and pervasive racism the Covington boys showed. And it is that their racism is just a symptom of the racism that is still rampant throughout this country.
I happen to be researching the enslavement of Native Americans in the very early colonial period. The stories are disgusting and heartbreaking, and here we are today dealing with the same attitudes toward the "other."
It is the karma that creates all the ills in our country.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)I understand, but hiding solves nothing. Hiding changes nothing. So, I don't hide. Ever.
Squinch
(50,774 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)It's certainly possible.
Squinch
(50,774 posts)mcar
(42,210 posts)stonecutter357
(12,682 posts)dalton99a
(81,091 posts)Covington residents denounce 'cowards' who distributed racist fliers
Posted: 6:35 PM, Apr 13, 2017
Updated: 7:54 AM, Apr 14, 2017
COVINGTON, Ky. -- Someone dropped off racist fliers in front of homes in Covington's Peaselburg neighborhood, and the residents are not happy about it.
It happened in the early morning darkness, with messages denouncing Muslims and promoting the Ku Klux Klan. The messages were in plastic bags with a marble inside to keep them from blowing away. Steve Miliano and Freddie Davis theorized whoever distributed them did so between midnight and 4 a.m. Thursday.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Doitnow
(1,103 posts)billh58
(6,635 posts)on the left flashing the White Power sign. Racists and bigots, everyone of them and most likely so are their parents and teachers.
Bettie
(15,998 posts)scream at the athlete from the other school.
Then there's the blackface and the white power signs, but the hatred on their faces is naked and ugly.
Docreed2003
(16,818 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Chemisse
(30,793 posts)My heart aches for this and any other black kid on that other team who had to come and play the game in the face of such cruel taunting.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Cause for forfeiting a game where I come from, that behavior is.
Chemisse
(30,793 posts)Perhaps it is tolerated in Kentucky, I don't know.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Ruby the Liberal
(26,217 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Gothmog
(144,005 posts)Link to tweet
People are responding so strongly to these videos because they are so emblematic of the violence that indigenous people have suffered for over 500 years in the United States. We have been raped, relocated, trafficked, separated, degraded, demoralized, and massacred by the United States government and a culture of media, economy, education, and religion that has dehumanized indigenous people for the entire history of this stolen country. Presently, this country continues to poison indigenous people by defiling our water and pumping drugs and alcohol into indigenous communities; regulate native bodies through tribal numbers and blood quantum laws; and force assimilation (culturally, spiritually).
These are tactics of genocide. An ongoing, unrecognized genocide.
These videos are a brutal reminder of a very real unfinished battle that indigenous people are still fighting. We are fighting to be acknowledged, to be counted, to be part of the future. Quite simply, we are fighting to exist.
But these videos are also a testament: a testament to the bravery, dignity, grace, strength, passion, and power of indigenous people. Leaders like Nathan are essential to the survival of indigenous people because they hold experience of our history and traditions. Indigenous elders have given their lives to protect our identities, our sovereignty, our lands, our people, our ways of being, only to be met time and time again with violence or at the very least, the smug, smirking faces of our oppressors like the boys of Covington Catholic High School.
SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)needs to stop. Period.
The words above say it far better than I ever could...Nathan showed more dignity in his little pinky than everyone of the spoiled kids of Covington Cath. HS put together. Bless his soul for having the courage to stand up in front of all of those people still...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These are tactics of genocide. An ongoing, unrecognized genocide.
These videos are a brutal reminder of a very real unfinished battle that indigenous people are still fighting. We are fighting to be acknowledged, to be counted, to be part of the future. Quite simply, we are fighting to exist.
But these videos are also a testament: a testament to the bravery, dignity, grace, strength, passion, and power of indigenous people. Leaders like Nathan are essential to the survival of indigenous people because they hold experience of our history and traditions. Indigenous elders have given their lives to protect our identities, our sovereignty, our lands, our people, our ways of being, only to be met time and time again with violence or at the very least, the smug, smirking faces of our oppressors like the boys of Covington Catholic High School.
Response to MineralMan (Original post)
Kingofalldems This message was self-deleted by its author.
IronLionZion
(45,269 posts)because they felt triggered
orangecrush
(19,237 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)Responsible. There should be mass firings for those employed who tolerated and encouraged it.
mjvpi
(1,384 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,506 posts)Probably some parents too.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)hunter
(38,264 posts)I hope the injury to the school's reputation is fatal.
LuvNewcastle
(16,820 posts)Looks like they got caught by the Karma Police.
onlyadream
(2,159 posts)1. Leave their houses like that, like, wouldnt someone stop them?
2. Enter the school like that. Isnt there adults in the area to say, Hey..no!
3. Participate in the actual events.
Is this a southern thing?
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Such attitudes exist everywhere among racist, entitled people.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Perhaps you should watch the news more.
onlyadream
(2,159 posts)I just never saw this type of thing in my neck of the woods.
Have I seen racism? Of course! But not black face.
paleotn
(17,781 posts)It's just across the Ohio river. Might as well be Ohio for all practical purposes.
KentuckyWoman
(6,666 posts)My family in North Eastern Kentucky and southern Ohio helped escaped slaves get over the Ohio River and further north or west back in the day. That heritage is supposedly something southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky are proud of.
Now a days you'd never know that's part of our heritage. Racism is crazy here. It is worse than anything I ever saw south of Atlanta when my sister lived there. The last election Steve Chabot (R - Scumbag) ran his entire campaign on racism toward Aftab Pureval and won. I was genuinely shocked but shouldn't have been.
This has nothing to do with the south. It has to do with affluent white people who don't want to share and will use hate to avoid doing so.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)This is a nasty school.
Someone posted in another thread yesterday that there was nothing to fear from these type cretins.
I responded that probably the same thing was said about the Brown Shirts in the 1930s.
I think theres plenty to fear. These are the ones out in the open.
Imagine how many are not.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,506 posts)Never give them an inch. They need to be stomped out.
nini
(16,670 posts)There's plenty of into out there on the internet to get the full picture of the incident and background on these little fascists.
THERE IS NO LOOKING THE OTHER WAY ON THIS STUFF. The fact that anyone on this site doesn't see that is mind boggling.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)gademocrat7
(10,623 posts)Shame on them, their parents and the school.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)onlyadream
(2,159 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Do you think that would be a good next step?
Perseus
(4,341 posts)Usually, that kind of hate comes from home. I don't agree that because they are kids their names should not be posted, I think it is not so much for the kid but for their parents, they need to be outed for what they are.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)That would be a good first step.
brush
(53,475 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)It might keep you busy.
John Fante
(3,479 posts)throw under the bus.
dpibel
(2,803 posts)Isn't that just the kind of thing you normally condemn? Vociferously?
Sup?
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)dpibel
(2,803 posts)Maybe if a lot of people endorsed this idea, it could be presented as a, shall we say, "sense of DU."
But, alas. It seems there are awfully few buyers for this product.
Worth a shot, though, I suppose.
doompatrol39
(428 posts)That means they are racist. Not up for debate. Not negotiable. Not "both sides". Full stop. They are racist and deserved to be ostracized and criticized as racist if out in public like that, the same as they would if they were in Klan hoods or SS gear.
elmac
(4,642 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Then, they'll be looking up the nearest PP clinic on Google. Little shits!
justgamma
(3,660 posts)Squinch
(50,774 posts)I have been in since has had as many abortions. Seriously. The moment a teen pregnancy appears on the Catholic scene, off to the clinic they go. And then again and again and again.
I think the sheer numbers were from the fact that many "did not believe in" birth control or did not understand how to use it, so they just kept getting pregnant without meaning to.
Takket
(21,425 posts)They are applying their belief to an entire age group. I have a 23 year old pro-choice daughter. She is part of that "generation" and she is definitely not "pro-life" (aka anti-woman). How dare they imply that she is anti-woman simply because she is part of their generation.
elmac
(4,642 posts)elmac
(4,642 posts)Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,921 posts)Ive taken care of people who are hospitalized who live in prison for heinous crimes. I mean bad. I had nothing compassion for their condition, and treated them as I would any other, nothing but condemnation for their crimes.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)volstork
(5,394 posts)"One DUer tried to say it wasn't "Tradtional" blackface makeup." As if that somehow makes it one iota better...
I am especially mortified and disgusted to see even a single person here attempting apologist crap for these incourigable shit heads, they are beasts wrapped in human skin.
I'm no stranger to racism, as a resident of Birmingham, Alabama I've seen the worst of all peoples when they allow racial hate to be their defining characteristic.
Even so, this incident is beyond the fucking pale.
You cannot defend the indefensible. Doing so wounds yourself in a way few here are likely to forget.
Maybe tis best to just stfu while you are ahead.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,064 posts)make excuses for these little pieces of scum. THEY ARE RACIST MAGAts.
elias7
(3,976 posts)Im taking abuse for disagreeing with the masses here. I originally posted about how smug and arrogant the kid was, but I just cant ignore what I see, which is in multiple videos, Phillips walks right up into that kids face.
They may be racist MAGAts, but I disagree with the narrative that we all want to see in this case. Sadly, DU has changed over the years and if you dont follow the party line or talking points here, you get abused for it.
Kind of reminds me of another political party...
George II
(67,782 posts)dustyscamp
(2,221 posts)We Dems should'nt be attacking one another or dismissing things because of what we think we see. In every story there is always three sides. We should always keep an open mind.
Yeah I watched another video showing him and his group marching into the crowd. The kids didnt really surround him like other sources claim. I guess he was thinking that the kids would have the common courtesy to move out of the way for him and his parade, but that unfortunetly didn't happen. I still think the kids were still having fun at Nathan and his friends expense though.
Rorey
(8,445 posts)I have now watched quite a few videos of the Covington students. I'm glad they're being exposed for what they are.
dustyscamp
(2,221 posts)The laughing and jeering Nathan experienced was tame compared to these similar situations.
Link to tweet
?ref_src
Bullying is so ugly it breaks people down possibly for the rest of their lives
George II
(67,782 posts)....as the Native American %. The school was proud of that on Saturday, but I see now that they've taken down their website.
I posted the breakdown Saturday:
White 95%
Hispanic 2%
Two or more races 2%
Black <1%
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander <1%
Asian <1%
American Indian/Alaska Native <1%
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)in Cincinnati. Seriously. It's very close, but not in Covington.
George II
(67,782 posts)...between the communities on each side of the Ohio River.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)that it appears to be totally systemic in the culture surrounding that church and school. In a sense, the church, the school faculty and the community of parents in the area are enabling young people to be openly racist AND openly radical right-wing political in their expressions of themselves (their identity). In other words, it's much, much bigger than just these kids. Our youth will parrot what they've been taught and I suspect these have been raised in a very closed bubble.
What leads me to make these claims?
* Parents and faculty can control how the youth dress and behave at sporting events, so it's obvious they condone this behavior.
* The DC trip had to have chaperons and someone had to buy all the MAGA garb. That tells me that again, parents and faculty condoned this behavior and may have even encouraged it.
* Parents and faculty gave political expression priority over the kid's safety in DC, as well as concern for their futures.
I've traveled and worked around many parts of Kentucky and much of the USA as well. It continues to surprise me how hidden these attitudes have been, while they've really been there all along. I'm thinking what we thought to be gains in equality in the 60s and 70s really just forced the worst of our society's attitudes to be merely suppressed and not improved.
..........
FreepFryer
(7,077 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)FreepFryer
(7,077 posts)Oldtimeralso
(1,935 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)I count at least four in your still shot.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,563 posts)So much hate in that photo. Like you I don't know how anyone can justify what these kids did.
Dem2theMax
(9,595 posts)I will never understand how anyone can approve of hate in any form.
I was raised by two wonderful parents, who taught me that we are all equal. No exceptions.
So when I see hate in the magnitude that we have seen coming out of these kids, it makes me sick. And yes, it starts at home. Shame on their parents, shame on their schools, shame on their churches for raising people who think hatred is okay.
nvme
(860 posts)The Cheeto in Chief will likely honor them at a luncheon for refusing to backdown against the tyranny of the minorities.
John Fante
(3,479 posts)Schmice3
(294 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)show they have been taught carefully. They are indoctrinated, guided, nurtured to hate the way theyre hating. These are not a bunch of frat boys doing their own thing away from the adults. In those videos you see the adults. The coaches.
Those boys are beyond help now. They will always gladly give the Nazi salute. Their souls have been warped beyond repair, just like their parents and their teachers.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Still, who knows
One could become a SCOTUS justice or something..m
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)There is no excuse for any of it, its disgusting racism, all of it.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)Make it co-ed. 50 percent women, 50 percent men.
Next step...racial quotas.
hunter
(38,264 posts)It might be a good site for low-income / no-income housing and a food bank.
If I was The Pope I'd see to it the site was donated to a secular non-profit to accomplish just that.
trickyguy
(769 posts)When I saw it yesterday, I was in total disbelief that this kind of racism was tolerated somehow.
These are young men at a Catholic school, no less. But there it is just as clear as day.
And, I have witnessed what my own community has gone through when a picture of some boys
who are in the Junior class at Baraboo High School decided to give the Nazi salute as a "joke" in a picture being
taken as part of their prom celebration. It ended up going viral after it was posted. And caused much pain to
an entire city.
And those boys and some of their classmates will be going to a Holocaust Museum as part of their "education".
I wonder what kind of retribution these boys will have to face.
All I can say now is, -and it being MLK day - I have deep admiration for the young black athlete who seemed to
endure everything these boys could throw at him with dignity and grace. My heart goes out to him.
Hekate
(90,202 posts)Kingofalldems
(38,361 posts)ck4829
(34,977 posts)greymattermom
(5,751 posts)but leave Kentucky out of it. Why not say young boys from the Cincinnati suburbs?
Renew Deal
(81,803 posts)From Trevor Noah
isenhour
(15 posts)Putting the whole area greater cincinnati as racist is a little much,although Chabot and Massie are racist.Some of us went to that school and turned out to be liberal democrats, class of 73.There are some liberal democrats in Covington I know because I am one.We try to elect left leaners but we never get good candidates. The democrat who ran against the turtle last time would not admit if she voted for Obama.Ky is redder than red except in the urban areas, and these kids learn trumpism at home.The local media does not help they are full of bothsiderisms and Sinclair nuts.
FSogol
(45,363 posts)UpInArms
(51,253 posts)Is beyond disgusting
I am appalled and enraged
bobGandolf
(871 posts)They allow that in private high schools down south? No wonder our damn racism issues have not improved. Bad enough it's being modeled at home, but my god teachers allow this shit? Do administrators allow this? Do High School athletic codes allow this?
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)the private schools operate their sports competitions separately from the public schools and aren't subject to the same rules.
There is not a chance that that crowd of Covington Catholic boys could get away with their actions in the public school leagues in Minnesota. It simply would not happen. In fact, right now, in the Twin Cities area, one school has had to forfeit a game for a racist demonstration by its student fans. There is zero tolerance for such nonsense in the public school sector.
Private and religious prep schools just aren't subject to the same rules. What's in that photo is evidence of that.
Gothmog
(144,005 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)akraven
(1,975 posts)what I've been telling myself in my brain. (I'm a lousy writer.)
Thank you! See, you made it warmer! It's 2 ABOVE!!!
KPN
(15,587 posts)usaf-vet
(6,094 posts)I spent 4 years in the south. When I left in the late 1960's I thought I had left this form of racism long behind me.
Sadly not. Thanks in large part the the racist person sitting in the stolen seat in the WH.
Power 2 the People
(2,437 posts)Comfortable in their hate,coddled by their privilege.
Nitram
(22,671 posts)DFW
(54,058 posts)and silence is the same as owning it.
Cattledog
(5,897 posts)Rainngirl
(243 posts)raised by horrible parents! They all need to be ashamed.
Kingofalldems
(38,361 posts)BannonsLiver
(16,162 posts)But today I realized yes, indeed, there are people here who believe the Covington kids are just wholesome young white men who have been wronged. So I stand corrected.
Gothmog
(144,005 posts)Link to tweet
?s=20