It's a good these thugs weren't white.
Gotta love black nationalism.
Hebrew Israelites See Divine Intervention in Lincoln Memorial ConfrontationHebrew Israelites See Divine Intervention in Lincoln Memorial Confrontation
Members of the Hebrew Israelites demonstrating in Washington in November. The Hebrew Israelites do not have physical churches, with most of their work being done on streets.CreditWin Mcnamee/Getty Images
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Members of the Hebrew Israelites demonstrating in Washington in November. The Hebrew Israelites do not have physical churches, with most of their work being done on streets.CreditCreditWin Mcnamee/Getty Images
By
John Eligon
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.
For the Hebrew Israelites, it was a divine opportunity. Ordinarily, those approached by the group quickly rush by. Though they have been
name-checked by Kendrick Lamar in a rap called “Yah,” they have also been denounced by others as a hate group. Provocation is their outreach method of choice. And provoke they did.
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The Hebrew Israelites do not have physical churches, with most of their work being done on streets. But the internet is also an integral part of their efforts, and they regularly post their street sermons on YouTube.
If their interaction with the Catholic students seemed like an expression of bigotry toward white people, some of their most vile language is reserved for black people in the communities where they preach.
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Listen to ‘The Daily’: The Confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial
How an encounter between high school students and a Native American man became an explosive political moment.
“It’ll get to them,” he said. “It’ll permeate their minds. As long as the full message is up there, it’s a great thing.”
But what Mr. Yasharahla might view as great, others call something else: hate.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, categorized at least 80 groups nationwide that follow Hebrew Israelite theology as hate groups. They account for about a third of the organizations that [URL='https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/black-nationalist']the center considered black nationalist groups in 2017.
in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
To many black people, Hebrew Israelites are a harmless part of their communities, said Todd Boyd, a professor of race and pop culture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, one of many cities where the group can be seen working the streets.
More alarming to many African Americans, he said, is “seeing a white guy in a ‘Make America Great Again’
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