“There’s something’s happenin’ here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” - Buffalo Springfield, 1967.
So it was in 1967 when Stephen Stills was singing about the Vietnam War and a country roiled in confusion and crisis. Big stuff. But those lyrics rang true last week when we had the story of Native American elder playing his drum at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and squaring off with a group of students from a Catholic High School in Covington, Kentucky. Not exactly the Vietnam War but it somehow this became a very big deal.
The story took up nine minutes on NBC’s Today show one morning. Nine minutes. it was on all the cable channels all the time. The first version of the story was driven by a video apparently showing those “entitled” white students mocking Nathan Phillips, a Native American elder and a Vietnam Veteran. The one student, 16-year-old Nick Sandmann, seemingly smirking and trying to not laugh in Phillip’s face as he sang and pounded away his drum. The school even released an apology statement and promised to investigate and to discipline the students who violated their “values”.
But then it became more complicated. More videos surfaced. They showed a group of grown men calling themselves Hebrew Israelites baiting the students, called them names and hurling insults at them. The students responded with school chants and sports cheers (Their chaperone thought this was a good idea). And then, saying he was trying to make peace, the new videos showed Phillips walking into the middle of all this banging his drum and facing off with Sandmann, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat. Quite the cluster. Phillips banging and singing, the Hebrew Israelites cussing, the students chanting and Sandmann trying not to laugh. Can you blame him?
“There’s something’s happenin’ here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”
It all become national news and had everyone talking. We were going to talk about it for 15 minutes in a crisis communications class I teach at MTSU. An hour later were were still going strong. So what to make of all this?
It might help if we all slowed down and listened more and talked less. A lot of folks were quick to jump in with moral indignation and condemn the kids. It fit their narrative of privileged white kids lacking respect for other people and other cultures. They were wearing MAGA hats after all. A lot of people were quick to condemn the media for another edition of so called fake news. No one had it quite right. It was much more complicated than we all thought. Sandmann was interviewed on The Today show and for a 16-year-old came across as remarkably composed, thoughtful and respectful. I can’t imagine how I would have responded at 16 with a Today Show crew in my living room.
It would help if we condemn less and empathize more. After Phillips heard Sandmann’s Today Show interview he said he thought he was honest and sincere. Sandmann said he respects Mr. Phillips and honors his military service. It’s a start.
It’s okay not to come out with a definitive statement about something until you have all the facts. Did the school even talk to the students before they issued that apology statement? After seeing all of the various videos, I’m not sure what they were apologizing for.
If you’re going to chaperone a school trip, have a clue. Why were those Hebrew Israelites confronting the kids? Who knows? The adults should have been smart enough to just walk away go visit another monument on the mall. This all could have been avoided.
When it’s all peeled away, this doesn’t seem like fake news as much as it does overblown news. Everyone wants to pile on. We’re all opinion columnists now on Facebook. One of my students call it “recreational outrage.” After all the blathering, tv appearances and cross talk, both Sandmann and Phillips said they’d like to meet each other. For what it’s worth, I think that is as great idea. Let’s just hope there aren’t a bunch of cameras around to post it on social media.