Salon writer says denying that Covington students harassed Native American upholds white supremacy

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Do the Covington Catholic High School students have a case to sue for libel?

Employment attorney Silvia Stanciu and National Center for Life and Liberty general counsel David Gibbs debate whether or not the Covington Catholic students have a case to sue for libel.

A Salon writer has accused the Covington Catholic High School students of harassing a Native American because the teenagers’ white privilege taught them to think they can get away with it.

Chauncey Devega, a self-described political essayist and cultural critic, penned an article saying the Catholic high school students harassed Nathan Phillips because of their white privilege, while those denying that happened are upholding and servicing white supremacy.

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In the article, the writer recapped the now-viral incident, claiming that the group of “white teenage boys” were wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, which are “overt and intentional symbols of bigotry, racism and ignorance,” and attended a “right-wing Christian rally aimed at denying women their reproductive rights.”

After verbally clashing with the Black Hebrew Israelites, a known hate group that the author calls “cartoon bigots,” he accuses of the teenagers of deciding in retaliation to “harass and insult a Native American.”

“They did so because white privilege had trained them from birth that they would likely be able to act in such a way without consequences,” Davega wrote.

“They did so because white privilege had trained them from birth that they would likely be able to act in such a way without consequences.”

— Chauncey Devega

The video footage that emerged the initial short video painting the students as culprits show the Native American elder approaching the group of students with a drum.

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Philips initially claimed that the students blocked his exit and taunted him with abusive and racist chants, but he later changed his version of the events, saying he was trying to defuse the confrontation between the Black Hebrew Israelites who were shouting hateful comments towards the students.

The new footage prompted multiple people to apologize for judging the students prematurely, including the bishop overseeing the school, who initially condemned the teens.

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But Davega claims that those defending the students are merely servicing white supremacy in the country.

“What W.E.B. Du Bois described as the ‘psychological wages of whiteness’ can take many forms,” Devega wrote. “One of them is the ability of those deemed to be ‘white’ to bend reality and distort plain and obvious facts in the service of white supremacy. Defending the behavior of the white teens of Covington Catholic is a prime example of an old and dangerous American problem.”