Outside of being broke or not getting enough napkins in the drive thru, one of the worst feelings in the world is when someone blatantly harms or disrespects you and you aren’t in a position to retaliate. For people of color, it’s an all too familiar power dynamic that often defines our experience as American citizens.

Whether it’s the cop who’s hell bent on breaking your will or the boss who berates you will racist innuendo, you’d be hard pressed to find a person of color who hasn’t had to talk themselves out of creating a scene, going to jail, or worse.

Which brings us to this:

In case you were unable to attend, the first Indigenous Peoples March took place on Friday in Washington, D.C. It’s purpose? To unite “Indigenous peoples across the world to stand together to bring awareness to the injustices affecting Indigenous men, women and children”. Sounds pretty noble, right?

Unfortunately for those in attendance, this march also coincided with another march occurring around the same time—the March for Life. Which bills itself as “a peaceful demonstration to share the truth concerning the greatest human rights violation of our time, legalized abortion on demand”.

While minding my black ass business last year on my way to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, I had the unfortunate luxury of witnessing the March of Life myself. Which essentially amounted to a deluge of MAGA hats and white guys telling women what to do with their bodies.

I would imagine this year wasn’t much different, but what I found alarming was the amount of teenagers and children present as their parents barked on anyone who opposed their views. And I’ll admit, as I braved the crowd on my way to the museum, there were more than a few times I had to talk myself out of throwing hands.

But this year it appears, at least according to their website, students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School had every intention of invading the nation’s capital to make a statement at the March for Life. But unfortunately, they’ve made the wrong one.

While their website outlines their mission to “embrace the gospel message of Jesus Christ in order to educate young men spiritually, academically, physically, and socially”, I don’t know what the fuck that has to do with harassing indigenous elders committed to social justice.

But naturally, people were more than outraged once the clip—in which a MAGA hat-clad teenager stares down an Indigenous Peoples March protester at the behest of his chaperones and classmates—hit the Internet:

In response to the backlash—which has inundated the school with phone calls, emails, and poor reviews—Laura Keener, the communications director with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, released the following statement:

“We are just now learning about this incident and regret it took place. We are looking into it.”

But considering we’re merely days removed from our Idiot-in-Chief cracking jokes about the Battle of Wounded Knee, one of the deadliest attacks on Indigenous Peoples in American history, I can’t say I’m even remotely surprised.

Update: 1/20/2019, 2:28 p.m. ET:

Because bigots often prove themselves incapable of taking accountability for their behavior, it comes as no surprise that the mother of the offending party removed her Klan hood in order to come to her son’s defense.

“Did you hear the names of the people were calling these boys? It was shameful,” she wrote to Heavy. “Did you witness the black Muslims yelling profanities and video taping to get something to further your narrative of hatred??”

I don’t know what the hell this has to do with a group of MAGA hat-wearing white kids acting a complete ass during this Indigenous Peoples March, but in the interest of providing context to the chaos that ensued, additional videos have since surfaced in which a group of Black Israelites are seen antagonizing the Indigenous Peoples as well:

Dear White Boys,

In the past few days, you have endured ridicule, scorn and public outrage over your actions at the combination of a pro-life rally and an Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, DC. After a “longer video” surfaced, critics of your tactics were forced to retract their previous accusations that you were a mob of angry racist teens.

Now, I too would like to offer an apology for much different reasons. Like most of the Twittersphere, I also jumped to the same conclusions and painted you as racists.

However, unlike those social media reactionaries, I now realize what was going on:

It was a historical reenactment.

I have always believed that white people would be better off if they studied more black history. After seeing the longer video, I would like to give kudos to the educational staff at Covington Catholic for their prescient lesson on the history of white boys at protests.

I must admit that I was wary at first. But you must understand the long history of white people and their immediate calls for patience and “longer videos.” While they are quick to publicly condemn black “thugs” whenever a person of Caucasian descent is involved, white America repeatedly insists that we wait for more video or “all the facts to come out,” as they did in the case of Trayvon Martin, Emantic Bradford, Philando Castille, Laquan McDonald, and even the Mueller Report.

I read your statement that said you were “loudly attacked and taunted in public,” which is evident in this video of you just before the incident in question, yelling at passersby who taunted you by ignoring your group, which is a grievous attack on your whiteness.

But now that all of the facts have surfaced, it is now clear to me that you were part of a live-action, true-to-scale diorama depicting the actions of white men at most protests for justice, equality or freedom. In fact, I think you should be applauded for your patience and acting ability.

For instance, some people say that the whitest part of your statement was when you wrote:

After a few minutes of chanting, the Native American protestors, who I hadn’t previously noticed, approached our group. The Native American protestors had drums and were accompanied by at least one person with a camera.

The protestor everyone has seen in the video began playing his drum as he waded into the crowd, which parted for him. I did not see anyone try to block his path. He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face.

I never interacted with this protestor. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me.

Now many observers would explain that the Native Americans may have simply been marching when you so nobly tried to block their path because, oftentimes, marching is what people do at a motherfucking Indigenous Peoples March. (It’s right there in the title!)

But I remember when the US government killed thousands of Native Americans whenever they protested their mistreatment. Perhaps this was a lesson about the Bear River Massacre. Or the massacre that wiped out the Wiyot tribe. Or the Bloody Island Massacre. Or the massacre of the Yontocket. Or the Marias. Or maybe you were reenacting how white settlers murdered the Native Americans relocated during the Trail of Tears.

You gotta admit, white people did a lot of massacre-ing of indigenous people. It’s hard to keep up.

Perhaps this had nothing to do with native Americans at all. Maybe you were just showing how white racists intimidated people during the civil rights era. At least you didn’t spit on the protesters, as the white boys did to 6-year-old Ruby Bridges who integrated New Orleans’ schools. Because of the fire hazards, you probably couldn’t throw Molotov cocktails as your predecessors did when the Freedom Riders attempted to segregate buses. I bet you guys totally forgot to bring your baseball bats and ax handles so you could remind America how white boys cracked Congressman John Lewis’ skull during the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” voter registration march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.

And in every single one of these cases — from the civil rights attacks to the native American genocide — the murderous, hate-filled white boys were never punished for their acts.

Or — and I’m just guessing here — maybe this was actually a tribute to one of the worst white supremacist terrorist events in US history.

On September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church exploded, killing 11-year-old Denise McNair and 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley.

As we previously wrote:

Near the church, groups of white people began taunting the survivors. Johnny Robinson, a black 16-year-old, threw rocks at a gang of white teenagers laughing at the mourners. As Robinson fled to the alley beside the 16th Street Baptist Church, a car blocked his path and James Parker, a white police officer sitting in the back seat, shot Robinson dead.

A few hours later, 13-year old Virgil Lamar Ware was killed by two 16-year-old white teenagers Michael Farley and Larry Joe Simms, who shot Ware after they heard he was out throwing rocks at their friends.

Neither Jack Parker, Michael Farley or Larry Joe Simms served a day in prison, according to the Birmingham News.

Great history lesson.

Thank you, Covington Catholic.

Thank you for showing that any person of color in America who has ever protested has faced this kind of scorn. Thank you for showing that white boys intimidating others is a longstanding American tradition.

But most of all, thank you for reminding America that there is one untouchable, unassailable thing in this country — white boys. And whether it’s Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump or a bushel of high school Klansmen-in-training, if anyone ever makes the mistake of blaming them for their black-hearted hate, they will be forced to apologize.

God bless the National Championship white supremacist squad from Covington Catholic High School for giving us this much-needed history lesson.

And may God bless the still racist, always “great,” past, present, and future white boys of the United States of America.

Sincerely,

Us.