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A group of high school students wearing “Make America Great Again” caps went from vilified to vindicated in the course of a weekend after a video of them apparently facing off with Native American activists in the nation’s capital went viral.
“The honorable and tolerant students of Covington Catholic School came to DC to advocate for the unborn and to learn about our nation’s capital. What they got was a brutal lesson in the unjust court of public opinion and social media mobs,” tweeted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the numerous public officials and figures who’s come to the students’ defense in recent days.
When video first emerged on Friday showing the confrontation between the Covington students — who are from northern Kentucky — and Native American activists on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, many were quick to assume the students were to blame.
The footage showed a group of mostly white teenage boys in red MAGA caps staring down and yelling at demonstrators during the Indigenous Peoples March — one of them being 64-year-old Vietnam War vet Nathan Phillips.
The former Marine later said he felt threatened by the teens, telling the Washington Post: “It was getting ugly, and I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to find myself an exit out of this situation and finish my song.’”
Phillips accused one of the students, junior Nick Sandmann, of blocking his way and refusing to let him pass. And the teen soon became Public Enemy No. 1 on Twitter and other social media after footage showed him smiling as he apparently stared down Phillips.
Sandmann’s own diocese condemned his actions, saying “this behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.” Covington officials vowed to take “appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”
But Sandmann — who was accused of being a bigot and racist, along with his other classmates — finally came forward Sunday to defend himself in a statement, saying the whole story had been misconstrued. Hours later, more video emerged showing how the Covington students were the ones initially being accosted.
In fact, an entirely different group of protesters — who called themselves members of the Black Hebrew Israelites group — had been taunting and shouting hateful things at the teens for no apparent reason other than their professed fandom of President Trump.
“Y’all dirty-ass little crackers, your day is coming,” one of the group can be heard saying on video.
That caused multiple media outlets and public figures to shift their stances on the Covington controversy. Countless people have deleted tweets and other statements made on social media blasting the students as well.
“It is clear from new footage and additional accounts that there is more to this story than the original video captured,” said March for Life organizers on Sunday, just one day after calling the students’ behavior “reprehensible.”
“In the context of everything that was going on (which the media hasn’t shown) the parents and mentors of these boys should be proud, not ashamed, of their kids’ behavior,” added Massie. “It is my honor to represent them.”
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