Examining a Covington Catholic Promotional Video
After watching videos of the students of Covington Catholic High School on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, including one student stripping down shirtless to perform a “sumo” cheer, and others jeering at a Native American elder with whoops and tomahawk chops, people across America are wondering: who taught these boys how to behave?
For those late to this story: The January 18th incident began as a small group of black Hebrew Israelite preachers started trolling the MAGA-hatted Covington Catholic students, who were in D.C. to participate in the March for Life, an anti-abortion rally. Instead of turning the other cheek, the boys responded to the preachers’ insults. Allegedly with the encouragement of a chaperone, they began performing sports jeers, as though they were in the bleachers of their home gym and the Black Israelites were the opposing team. Arguing he was attempting to calm the boys, whose behavior was beginning to resemble a mob, Native American elder Nathan Phillips approached the Covington students, chanting and drumming, accompanied by a small group of others. The Covington boys then turned their jeers toward the Native Americans, adding racist chops to taunts and smirks — footage of which then went viral.
The public behavior by the boys is a far cry from the behavior the school promises parents. A promotional video produced by Covington Catholic, which is located in a suburb of Cincinnati on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, insists the school molds boys into fine Christians, that students are “mannerly” and “polite” and that the school “sets the bar for how young men should be.”
A sample of the promises from the video:
“When you come to Covington Catholic you’re going to be a well-rounded individual. When we get those young boys, I like to say, they turn into a young man by the time they leave here.”
— Robert Rowe, Covington Catholic principal
“If you ask kids who go to public schools, they think that the boys who go to Covington Catholic are at a higher standard. They’re polite. They’re manerly. They’re smart. It sets the bar for how young men should be.”
— Covington Catholic board member Traci Kautzman
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/covington-catholic-video-783439/
