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oberliner

(58,724 posts) Thu Jan 24, 2019, 11:35 AM Jan 2019

Hebrew Israelites See Divine Intervention in Lincoln Memorial Confrontation

They are sidewalk ministers who use confrontation as their gospel.

Hebrew Israelites practice a theology that says God’s chosen ones — black, Hispanic and Native American people — have strayed and need to be led back to righteousness.

So they post up on street corners in big cities, usually in predominantly black communities, wearing flashy garb — purple shirts or black robes, for instance. They shout, use blunt and sometimes offensive language, and gamely engage in arguments aimed at drawing listeners near.

The attention-grabbing tactics of five of their followers at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday resulted in spectacular consequences. The fringe theology landed in the national spotlight after a viral video surfaced of a group of black Hebrew Israelites profanely clashing with dozens of mostly white Catholic schoolboys wearing “Make America Great Again” caps. That video emerged only after shorter clips posted online showing a confrontation between the students and a Native American elder initially led to heavy criticism of the students.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/us/black-hebrew-israelites-covington-catholic.html

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Hebrew Israelites See Divine Intervention in Lincoln Memorial Confrontation (Original Post) oberliner Jan 2019 OP

Just a note re: BHI MosheFeingold Jan 2019 #1

Thank you for sharing these insights oberliner Jan 2019 #2

MosheFeingold

(3,051 posts)

1. Just a note re: BHI

Reply to oberliner (Original post)

Thu Jan 24, 2019, 11:44 AM

Jan 2019

I am extremely familiar with this group. They are listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and for very good reason. (And, if you want to win an argument about "blacks can't be racist", the perfect example.)

I lived most of my life in NYC. These are the guys who confront Jewish people and scream at them for "being fake Jews". Had it happen to myself numerous times.

I believe their main cultural activity to be looking for Hasidic old men (or kids) off on their own and beating the crap out of us for the crime of being Jewish. (There are numerous recent videos of their cultural outings.)

Evil and foul to the core.

Anyway, not sure what they had to do with the events at issue, if anything. All I've seen is the NA guy walk up to the smarmy-looking kid. The BHI are very big on self-promotion.

But it is extremely believable that they tried to start some sort of fight and the Native American man put himself in the middle to try to stop the altercation.

oberliner

(58,724 posts)

2. Thank you for sharing these insights

Reply to MosheFeingold (Reply #1)

Thu Jan 24, 2019, 11:50 AM

Jan 2019

It seems that folks in some major cities are aware of this group and the behavior that you describe.

You can see them in action around the time of the confrontation on the longer video, posted here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11698251

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