While the other kids were laughing at the racist nonsense the native group and the black supremacist hate group was directing at them. If you did your homework on this, you'd know that.
If someone harassed my kid like Mr. Phillips and his pals did, I would be perfectly content with my kid laughing and mocking them. Your 'non-partisan' approach seems to be to downplay Phillip's harassment, ignore the racist comments being made at the kids, and harp about smirking and laughing. Seems totally non-partisan.
So to sum it up: Violating someone's personal space: Ok Pounding a drum in someone's face: Ok Telling kids to "go back to Europe": Ok Smirking and laughing in response: OFFENSIVE!!!!
As a Native American who has seen more than my share of drums, his "harassment" was playing the drums. Ridiculous to call it "harassment" of the kid, and his "smirking" (your description) showed he wasn't harassed, but instead, was showing off for his fellow students that he was disrespecting Mr. Phillips. In your latest description, "laughing at and mocking". Someone smirking, laughing at, and mocking someone else is offensive, regardless of what hat he was wearing.
I didn't know i was talking to a drum expert. Now your opinion has weight. Walking up to someone, standing inches away from them, and banging a drum loudly is harassment. If you respond to this harassment by smiling or mocking, its still harassment. Its not offensive to smirk at or mock someone who is harassing you. Except to maybe the ******* harasser.
He's a drum expert that hasn't seen what actually happened, so he knows all....except for the racist rhetoric coming from the native group while they were pushing their way into the group of kids banging drums in their faces, he always omits that
Letting the Native American pass by? Instead, he chose to disrespect Mr Phillips, smirking, laughing at, and mocking. The teenage boy made those decisions. He chose to be disrespectful, to act in an offensive manner. And he was egged on by the other students that were laughing and also mocking Mr. Phillips.
The video clearly shows he walks into an open area between the students who are heckling the other group - there's a space there and he walks towards them but not into them. They then surround him and he tries to proceed through the crowd. But it's clear he walked towards them and then they stepped forward and surrounded him while mocking him.
That depends on how you interpret the meaning of the drumming. For some Native Americans, it has a kind of religious significance by my understanding. It is probably akin to singing a sacred hymn -- which no one would view as an aggressive act. What appears to have happened is Phillips saw two crowds of people apparently antagonizing each-other. He assumed the white MAGA kids were the ones at fault, and interceded with his peace chant. The kids, a boisterous bunch, started gathering around him, jumping up and down and yelling to his chanting. He interpreted that as more aggression, now directed towards him. He continued to beat his drum at the kids to, in his mind, stand his ground and show he will not be intimidated by them. After the fact, from his perspective, the kids were the ones ganging up on him. The kids, on the other hand, were probably unaware of how he was taking the whole thing. So, both Phillips and the kids sort of misread the situation, IMO. I don't think either was purposely trying to antagonize the other. People need to chill out and not always look for the good guy / bad guy narrative when it can instead be explained as a misunderstanding or a clash of perspectives.
Making loud noises in someones face will never calm them down. Ever. dont care what ethnicity you are talking about. This is utter horseshit. He walked into the center of the kids with his pals. He walked up to the kid and banged his drum in his face. He could of walked around. His pals started yelling racist comments at the kids. Phillips and his pals instigated everything. The kids responded harmlessly to all this horrible behavior by phllips. The one kid in question did absolutely nothing but smile while being harassed. If you actually believe Phillip's lies that he was trying to cause peace, then you are gullible. I love how Phillips immediately schedules tons of interviews with the media to tell them about how horribly he was treated. What a shithead.
The teen could have (should have) let Mr. Phillips pass by. He was simply walking, banging his drum. The teen, egged on by the others from his school, chose to act disrespectfully towards Mr. Phillips. That this was a Catholic school is disappointing. Perhaps why the school and Diocese apologized (quite appropriately): Whether or not there was previous problem with the students and some other group, his behavior, and the behavior of the other students egging him on, was disrespectful and offensive.
If someone got in my personal space, banged a drum, and told me to go back to Europe that ******* would be lucky if all I did was smirk. But I guess the native american "gentleman" (as you described him) is incapable of being aggressive or an ******* or a liar....even though tape exists that directly contradicts his version. Give it up man. When even Jake Tapper is quoting others saying "The media got this one completely wrong.", you know you're arguing a losing cause.
dang can't you give a vietnam war vet even an ounce of benefit of the doubt his drumming wasn't harrasment or escalation it was difusement
The teen stood still . Phillips walked up to him. Why should the kid move while hes being harassed. Phillips can walk around. this is such a dumb take.
you can watch the video. you have proof. what is this nonsense. he walks up to the kid and stands banging a drum in his face.
He's a lying sack of **** who lied and a result of those lies was to give himself cover while kids and their families are being Doxxed and having to call for police protection as a result of his comments and actions. Being a vet doesn't excuse all that.
While I will allow that there's a potential for a kind of Roshomon-like ambiguity here that may never be ultimately dispositive, I just don't think I buy the interpretation that you offer here. And the question of "mocking" is also ambiguous. broke down and watched a couple of the videos. to me these teenagers are acting like, well, teenagers.
