The US is still not ready to look at the ugly racism against Native Americans | Julian Brave NoiseCat
The standoff between students and a Native American man reveals who gets compassion, and who doesn’t
By now, you’ve surely seen the video.
On the steps outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, a white teenager sporting the red cap accoutrements of the Trump campaign stands nose-to-nose with a bespectacled Native American elder singing and playing a hand drum. The teen is smirking – his expression, for me, oozes entitlement. Behind him an unruly crowd – all male, all white, many also wearing the conspicuous Maga apparel – is jeering the elder in a frenzy of Lord of the Flies privilege. (In another video, some of the boys can be seen cackling while war-whooping and making the tomahawk chop gesture popularized by sports teams with Native American mascots like the Atlanta Braves.)
Against the rabble, the old man is steadfast. In the stare-down, he never breaks eye contact
