It is painfully ironic that we are immersed in questions of race and hate on this the birthday of a man who sought peace and equality.

It is painfully ironic that Saturday’s incident on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial happened so close to where Dr. King delivered his most famous words more than 55 years ago.  “I have a dream” seems still to be just that, a dream.

But perhaps it is most painful that, regardless of who taunted whom first, or what different angles of the video show, the idea of hate and the question of race are never far from our minds, even in 2019.  Decades after Dr. King’s death, racism in America seems never ending, and with each new generation of Americans the seeds of fear, distrust anger and hate are planted anew.  

Did the video clip of the teen in the MAGA hat staring down the Native American elder tell the whole story of what happened?  No.  By many accounts the Covington teens were being verbally harassed by a group of Black Hebrew Israelites who were also marching that day.  

The teen in the MAGA hat issued a statement yesterday saying he was trying to defuse the situation and that since the incident, he and his family have received death threats.

“I am being called every name in the book, including racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my family’s name,” he said.

And now social media is flooded with finger pointing, at the media, at the students and the Black Hebrew Israelites, even the Native American elder who stepped into the middle of it. Our biggest question?  Where were the chaperones for these boys? And was it appropriate for high school students to be protesting against a woman’s right to choose (in their school sweatshirts, wearing MAGA hats)?

But this is bigger than one school and one protest.  The politics of division are sadly thriving in 2019.  Don’t think for a second that these children don’t see it and feel free to act on it. Social media is flooded with hate and the leadership of our country is doing nothing to change the conversation.  Politics has been replaced by polarization.  To bully and demean our fellow citizens is not only ok, it’s condoned and practiced by the man in the White House.  They see our government closed for a month over a wall to divide countries, 800,000 government workers going without pay.  They hear countries called “shitholes.”  They see a U.S. Senator referred to as “Pocahontas.”   

Perhaps today we should remember these words from Dr. King:

”Hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love.”