Since the birth of America, there have been many controversies regarding the equality of all citizens and their unity in a diverse country. And for a long while, it seemed as though the tension between certain ethnic groups had finally calmed down. However, the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency marked the end of trust and acceptance within our society. It ignited a raging wildfire that spread through the nation and destroyed the values and respect we once had for one another. More importantly, it is the cause of a series of violent outbursts that continue to occur around the country.

On January 18, a large group of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky went on a field trip to Washington D.C. to visit several historical monuments. Because a majority of the students were wearing MAGA hats, they were constantly receiving dirty looks from protesters around the area. By the time their trip was over and they were waiting for their bus, a group of black Israelites approached the students and began shouting racial slurs at them. The Israelites, who were in Washington to preach about their Israeli cult, harassed the students for their Caucasian backgrounds and shouted things like  “school shooters” or “go back to Europe”. Later, the Israelites were joined by a group of Native American protesters who were outraged by the students for exclaiming “Build the wall!”. As all this chaos was unraveling, an elderly Native American man approached the scene and began banging his drum in the faces of the teenage students. While he stopped in front of a young man and chanted one of his cultural songs, the young man just stood in his place with an awkward smile smeared across his face.

After understanding what really happened during this incident, it is clear that everyone involved in this situation is guilty of something. One of the biggest problems in our country is the inability to understand that everyone has the right to express what they believe in. And although we may not agree with each others’ beliefs, we still have to respect them in order to be respected. The students had every right to wear those MAGA hats, even though the protesters had opposing opinions regarding President Trump. Therefore, the black Israelites should not have approached or verbally attacked the group of high school students since the students did not do anything to disrupt their peace. The Native Americans also should not have chosen the Israelites’ side or harassed the students for their ethnic backgrounds. However, the students should have taken the incident a lot more seriously, rather than just making a mockery out of it and shouting offensive remarks as a means of defense from their enemies.

Finally, the worst contributor to the entire situation would be the mainstream media. The reason for this is that the media manipulated the incident and chose the side of the minority groups instead of understanding what really went down. This misunderstanding turned the story into a national issue that even the president got involved in. Moreover, they were so quick to point fingers at the high school students when the Native American elderly man had played the victim all along. Unfortunately, we live in a day and age where our news is either fake or over exaggerated.

If it wasn’t for the media, the country would have never been this divided or dysfunctional. People wouldn’t jump to conclusions about certain ethnic groups as rapidly as they do. Nowadays, it seems as though the media has completely corrupted our ways of thinking,  we would not be so judgmental if those high school students were wearing baseball caps instead of MAGA hats.