Sincere apologies

The optics were immediately unpleasant. Fresh-faced teens dancing around the Lincoln Memorial in bravado flagrante, openly mocking a Native American man beating a drum and singing.

Not a crime, indeed, but also not behavior in step with what any rational person would recognize as the intent of religious preparatory schooling.

A quick and direct apology from the school, along with a promise to investigate, in real time reinforced what was undeniable.

Contrition was called for and necessary.

But then the reporting changed incrementally and with small nuances as longer videos from different vantage points joined the online collection of evidence. The main narrative hadn’t changed: Hotheads on two sides, a peaceful drumbeat purposefully meandering into the middle.

Press releases. Interviews. Anger everywhere bubbling over.

But the facts in agreement remained clear and unsettling:

The kids, a large and boisterous mob from a Catholic high school, attempted to overwhelm the voices of the others using the same volume and ferocity of their inbound sideline taunts. The cherry on top is the red MAGA hats, which for many have come to symbolize the normalization of American racism in the new millennium.

Chaperones reportedly gave sophomoric advice and permission for students to escalate tension.

One student removed his shirt to lead a sporty “fight” cheer. Another made hatchet swings with his arm, clearly reveling in mimicking the Native American song. A third, and the most prominent, is motionless with a tight smile and sharp eyes — as deliberate as Marina Abramovic with her The Artist Is Present stare.

The ring of jubilant faces around this teen know what’s happening: he’s standing his ground. There are murmurs of immovability. They are kids and this is fun. They are the center of the universe, and they aren’t going to give an inch.

What we see over and over again is ugly and jarring, but also irksomely familiar. Snarky, entitled teens who are having a laugh at someone else’s expense. They don’t see the cruelty in their actions. They never see the cruelty, even when it's held up to them like a mirror.

Yet it is so apparent as the cameras roll. The cruelty has a pulse and a rhythm, if not a heartbeat.

Yes, these are kids. They have committed no crime for which they need a pass. But the behavior deserves scrutiny all the same. In religious texts, we might start with “...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ...”

As I watch the media turn this new information about the encounter into the familiar, time-worn defense “boys will be boys,” I can’t help but think how much worse it is to see the undeniable and watch as good people deny its existence.

Thing is, we don’t want to see these boys lose their futures over their adolescent awfulness any more than we want to see black children murdered for buying candy.

But perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst learning experience for them if we temporarily block their path with an immovable mob of crossed arms, determined faces and similarly reassuring smiles.

They need not worry. This ugly picture might haunt these boys in perpetuity, but with publicists and time it won’t keep them from having the life of privilege and opportunity they have come to expect.

The system is ready, willing and able to give them the benefits of not only doubt but also of any dubious defense they can pay to put forward. No one will ever mistake them as someone who doesn’t belong.

And that's the real shame.

None of us should seek to belong to a club that takes its dues by extracting from humanity.