I saw that tape and here is what I think.
The costumed character was just tapping the hand of several people, as he/she walked along, when two little girls extended their arms as a child who wants to be PICKED UP does.
The character indicated with the hand that it wasn’t possible to pick the child up.
If others saw it differently can’t be helped.
That’s the way I saw it.
It seems clear that is exactly what happened - but that won’t matter. They needed a “black victim” story for the day, and this was the closest they got.
Assimilation is an illusion; next year it will be 160 years since the slaves were freed - and that’s twice as long as there was legalized slavery.