I guess it couldn’t have been more ironic, hearing people calling a bunch of white teenagers racist on the weekend the nation celebrated the birth and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  None of the political pundits nor any of the celebrities or social justice warriors have ever met the young men, and I suspect the great majority of them had never even heard of Covington Catholic High School.

Thus, I have a hard time understanding how they were able, to borrow from Dr. King’s famous speech, to judge these men by the content of their character.  It certainly appears, though I also cannot judge the content of their critics’ character, the decision to label these teenagers as racist was based on the fact that a few of them were wearing red Make America Great Again hats and smiling smugly.

I say that because I saw several posts to social media saying just that.  So, that begs the question, is that what we see as a sign of racism in America today?  A certain type of hat, or a certain look upon someone’s face?

I was a teenager myself during the time Dr. King rose to prominence in American culture, and I saw many signs of racism that I still remember today.  I remember separate entrances for whites and coloreds, and segregated schools and seating in theaters and restaurants.  One striking memory I have is of a white cashier at a grocery store refusing to take paper money from the hand of a black man wanting to pay for his purchase.  She made him put it down on the counter, after which she picked it up, and put his change back down on the counter, afraid apparently, she may actually touch the man’s hand.

But today, we can be branded as a racist because we wear a red hat with the wrong logo, or even if we associate with others who are wearing the hat.  All of the Covington Catholic teens weren’t wearing MAGA hats, but they were grouped together as being white-privileged Trump supporters, and racist by association.

I’m not saying there weren’t some racists in the group; I’m saying I don’t know, and neither do you.  Yet some of us felt strongly enough to condemn these young men based on the appearance of a red hat.  How does it sound to you when you say it like that?  Are you proud of your determination?  Do you feel the red hat was justification enough to declare the whole group racists?

By these actions, we are declaring all Trump supporters to be racist, which includes some 63,000,000 American citizens who actually voted for Trump, and probably hundreds of thousands more who didn’t vote for whatever reason.  Many, many thousands of these people, Trump voters and supporters who suddenly became part of a racist block, are people of color themselves.  How do you square that with your reasoning?

I can’t judge the content of these young men’s character based on a one-minute video any more than I can by using a picture of one of them smiling while wearing a red MAGA hat, and neither can you.  But by reading your comments, I can begin to judge what is in your heart, and what makes up your character.

If you are willing to destroy the lives of others, adults or teens, because they disagree with you politically, or to push your own political narrative, you are no better than the monsters you pretend to abhor.

May God have mercy on your souls.