Some viral videos of drummers can make you laugh, others make you cry. But now there are ones that make you want to shout, “Sir, what on earth is wrong with you?” Read on to know what we are talking about.
The moment was captured on Bourbon Street by Chicago firefighter and photographer Malik Zambezi (who goes by @malikshotyou). The video of a young Black boy, Tony, who happens to be a drummer, starts innocently. We see the six-year-old drumming his heart out as he draws a crowd. New Orleans tourists stroll by, and then a man decides to be extremely rude for no real reason.
The clip has now rocketed to more than 180k likes in just two days. As it progresses, we see Tony standing his ground after a white tourist hurls the b-word. And surprisingly enough, the child responds calmly as he tells the man, “Go! Move!” though he does at first (still way more calmly than most adults would) tell the man the same b-word he directed at the child.
Zambezi was furious too when he replayed the footage later. “Man, this pi–ed me off! I can’t believe this old a– [expletive] said this to this kid and idk how I didn’t hear it (…) While editing, I realized what was actually said, and I’m very upset,” he wrote. He said he considered not posting the video but decided, “I wanna give y’all the real, so here we are.”
Watch the video of this little drummer below:
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Viewers soon flooded the comment section. “Lil man stood on [business] like a grown man. He has an old soul,” one person wrote. Another commenter praised the way Tony’s emotionally regulated himself: “That awareness at six years old to regulate space and still carry on is [salute emoji] (…) So obvious where the real disappointment lies.”
Everyone agreed it was the adult who failed, not the child drumming. One user said what many were thinking: “I am appalled. How could a grown man talk to that baby like that?”
Plus, the backstory makes the adult seem worse. Malik confirmed that the man was upset because, after paying the child $5 (x2) to play the drums, the child didn’t play for long enough for him, so he said a slur. After the six-year-old denied the adult his $10 worth of drum time, the tourist decided it would be fun to abuse him verbally — “I’m disappointed.”
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Still, the little drummer didn’t let the moment get to him. One viewer admired: “Thank you for reaffirming him. He’ll never forget you.” Another New Orleans native thanked Malik for encouraging the boy after the encounter: “By his character, that child has seen and experienced more than a 6-year-old should (…) and that tends to breed us to be more artistic at the same time.”
So while Tony may be small, his backbone (and drum beat) is strong!
