The advocacy efforts of one Ohio Christian organization may have confirmed that the FBI is now involved in an investigation into threats made against Covington Catholic High School students.
On January 18th, at the March for Life rally, in Washington D.C., students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School were viewing the monuments before returning to their bus. On their way, they passed a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, an organization that the Sothern Poverty Law Center classifies as an;
extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement whose adherents believe that Jews are devilish impostors and who openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery,
This group began “preaching” directly act the boys; calling them “Donald Trump incest babies” and warning one of the black students that his white classmates would steal his organs. The full video of their “sermon,” and the incident that followed, can be found here.
In response, the students mainly laughed off the criticism but many were visibly unnerved. The chaperones encouraged the students to begin singing school chants, presumably to drown out the proselytizing, which they did. At that point, a group of Native Americans engaged in a separate rally, stepped in between the two groups while singing a song and playing drums. They later stated their goal was to defuse the situation and that the song was one that called for unity. Several of the students began matching their songs to the rhythm of the drummers, others made stereotypical gestures that they later regretted. One man from the Native American group, Nathan Phillips and a student Nick Sandmann stared directly at one another, while neither moved. Shortly after the groups separated and left without incident.
That day, a deceptively edited clip of the events, found here, gave the impression that the student, almost all of which were wearing “Make America Great Again” hats were mocking and harassing the Native American group. The boys were subjected to a torrent of hate, condemnation, and threats, even from media figures, opinion leaders, and some Christian groups. Even after the boys were exonerated by the full videos, the anger continued.
The Ohio Christian Alliance, an Ohio-based non-profit that advocates for “Pro-Life, Pro-Family” legislation began documenting and recording these threats. In one prominent example, a female comedian who once worked with Saturday Night Live tweeted that she would perform a sex act on any individual who assaulted Nick Sandmann. One of the most unsettling tweets came from a veteran Hollywood producer who tweeted his wished to see the kids “go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper.”
https://twitter.com/amjbs08/status/1087134279317049345
As these threats continued and amplified, the organization began leading an effort”for the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the dangerous threats that were made against the Covington Catholic Christian School students.” They wrote an open letter (please add here), created an online petition, and staged a rally with other Christian organizations at Fountain Square in Cincinnati, led by OCA President Christopher R. Long.
As a result of their efforts, Kenton County (Kentucky) Commonwealth Attorney-General, who has jurisdiction that covers Covington Catholic School, seemed to confirm to the Cincinnati Enquirer that the FBI was assisting in efforts to review and assess the threat posed by those harassing the young students. He noted; “It’s a monumental task, but we’re chasing all of them,…If no one ever tried to stop the behavior, it will continue on indefinitely.”
The Louisville Kentucky FBI Field Office was contacted to confirm this but declined to do so, stating only “Pursuant to DOJ policy, we will neither confirm nor deny the existence of a particular investigation.” Sander’s office was also contacted but, as of publishing, has yet to provide a confirmation.
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Andrew Shirley is a reporter at Battleground State News and The Ohio Star. Send tips to [email protected].
Photo “Covington Catholic Incident” by The Washington Post.
