The Black Hebrew Israelites, a group of black activists who call themselves one of the lost tribes of Israel, has been in the news this week due to a banal confrontation they had with some Native American activists and Catholic school boys who were in Washington, DC for different protests.

Reportedly, the Black Hebrew Israelites were yelling vitriol at the Native Americans and Catholics, and then eventually one of the Native Americans approached the Catholic boys and started playing the “American Indian Movement” song.

It is not surprising to Washington DC residents to see the Black Hebrew Israelites engaging in unhinged rants, hate speech, and personal attacks. They are a cartoonish group that often sets up shop around the city–especially outside the Chinatown metro station during the summer–and shouts about their nutty beliefs, complete with attacks on individuals passing-by and those crazy enough to engage them, like an evangelical on a college campus. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled some of their sects hate groups.

Here is a video I briefly recorded of them yelling at a Hispanic man this past summer:

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