The New York Times must have been jealous that NBC News clinched first place this week for the worst, most egregious reporting on the Covington Catholic fiasco. Because the paper upped its game Wednesday, publishing a cushy profile of the black nationalist cult that helped spark the confrontation last weekend between the Covington teens and Nathan Phillips, a Native American protester.

“Hebrew Israelites See Divine Intervention in Lincoln Memorial Confrontation,” reads the Times’ headline.

The story opens with these paragraphs:



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.



“Gamely engage”? "Blunt and sometimes offensive"? Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to have had a run-in with this fringe group knows full well that their version “drawing listeners near” involves hurling racial epithets and other obscenities. They’re real-life Internet trolls, patrolling streets in major cities for victims to harass.

But if you think the Times’ choice of euphemisms for “harassment” is bad, just wait until you read its description of what happened last week between the Black Hebrew Israelites, the Covington Catholic High School students, and Phillips:



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.



“Attention-grabbing tactics,” “profanely clashing” — the Times really doesn’t want to document what was said by the Black Hebrew Israelites last weekend, does it? For the record, members of the black nationalist cult were captured on video calling the Covington students "crackers," "faggots," and accusing them of being pedophiles.

The Black Hebrew Israelites accused the teens of “giving faggots rights.” They threatened the Covington students with violence. They even targeted a black Covington student, calling him a “n-----r” and telling him his classmates were going to murder him and harvest his organs.

The Times report continues: "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." Oh, they’ve been name-checked by a famous rapper? Why didn’t you say so!

At times, the paper comes close to recognizing the Black Hebrew Israelites for what they are — a bizarre, hateful fringe group – but pulls back just in time to let the cult off the hook.

“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,” the report notes.

But then, the Times goes out of its way to include a not-so-subtle defense of the group’s “attention-grabbing tactics,” writing: “That, in part, is because they are trying to get through to them … [One of the men involved in Saturday’s altercation] described it like tough love — calling out black people to try to get them to turn their lives around. ‘Spare nobody’s feelings,’ is a biblical passage he falls back on.”

I see. Calling high school teenagers “faggots” is just some “tough love.”

The Times report also cites the wildly unreliable and hyperpartisan Southern Poverty Law Center, which, amazingly enough, is actually correct when it calls the Black Israelites a fringe “hate group.”

But even after quoting SPLC officials, the Times falls back to its original position of downplaying the reality of the Black Hebrew Israelites, making careful to note that the fringe group is not known to be violent. The Times article concludes with these final lines, which, unsurprisingly, give the game away by revealing the true target of the paper's reporting:



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’ hat.”



It’s as if to say: Sure, the Black Hebrew Israelites are widely considered to be a toxic and obnoxious hate group, but these kids were wearing "MAGA" hats. “MAGA” hats! Surely, we all know who’s the real threat here.

You know which other supposed religious group has “attention-grabbing tactics," uses "blunt and sometimes offensive" language, and uses the word "faggot" a lot? The Westboro Baptist Church.

If the Westboros manage to get name-checked by a famous rapper, perhaps they, too, will get a cushy profile in the Times.