Jump to content
Head Coach Openings 2024 ×
  • Current Donation Goals

    • Raised $2,716 of $3,600 target

The Media Wildly Mischaracterized That Video of Covington Catholic Students Confronting a Native American Veteran


Muda69

Recommended Posts

http://reason.com/blog/2019/01/20/covington-catholic-nathan-phillips-video#comment

Quote

Partial video footage of students from a Catholic high school allegedly harassing a Native American veteran after the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., over the weekend quickly went viral, provoking widespread condemnation of the kids on social media. Various media figures and Twitter users called for them to be doxed, shamed, or otherwise punished, and school administrators said they would consider expulsion.

But the rest of the video—nearly two hours of additional footage showing what happened before and after the encounter—adds important context that strongly contradicts the media's narrative.

Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby. The BHI has existed since the late 19th century, and is best describes as a black nationalist cult movement; its members believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, and often express condemnation of white people, Christians, and gays. DC-area Black Hebrews are known to spout particularly vile bigotry.

 

Phillips put himself between the teens and the black nationalists, chanting and drumming as he marched straight into the middle of the group of young people. What followed was several minutes of confusion: The teens couldn't quite decide whether Phillips was on their side or not, but tentatively joined in his chanting. It's not at all clear this was intended as an act of mockery rather than solidarity.

One student did not get out of Phillips way as he marched, and gave the man a hard stare and a smile that many have described as creepy. This moment received the most media coverage: The teen has been called the product of a "hate factory" and likened to a school shooter, segregation-era racist, and member of the Ku Klux Klan. I have no idea what he was thinking, but portraying this as an example of obvious, racially-motivated hate is a stretch. Maybe he simply had no idea why this man was drumming in his face, and couldn't quite figure out the best response? It bears repeating that Phillips approached him, not the other way around.

And that's all there is to it. Phillips walked away after several minutes, the Black Hebrew Israelites continued to insult the crowd, and nothing else happened.

You can judge for yourself. Here is video footage of the full incident, from the perspective of the black nationalists. Phillips enters the picture around the 1:12 mark, but if you skip to that part, you miss an hour of the Black Hebrew Israelites hurling obscenities at the students. They call them crackers, faggots, and pedophiles. At the 1:20 mark (which comes after the Phillips incident) they call one of the few black students the n-word and tell him that his friends are going to murder him and steal his organs. At the 1:25 mark, they complain that "you give faggots rights," which prompted booing from the students. Throughout the video they threaten the kids with violence, and attempt to goad them into attacking first. The students resisted these taunts admirably: They laughed at the hecklers, and they perform a few of their school's sports cheers.

It was at this moment that Phillips, who had attended a nearby peace protest led by indigenous peoples, decided to intervene. He would later tell The Detroit Free Press that the teenagers "were in the process of attacking these four black individuals" and he decided to attempt to de-escalate the situation. He seems profoundly mistaken: The video footage taken by the black nationalists shows no evidence the white teenagers had any intention of attacking. Nevertheless, Phillips characterized the kids as "beasts" and the hate-group members as "their prey":

"There was that moment when I realized I've put myself between beast and prey," Phillips said. "These young men were beastly and these old black individuals was their prey, and I stood in between them and so they needed their pounds of flesh and they were looking at me for that."

Again, all the evidence suggests that Phillips got it backward.

He also claimed that he heard chants of "build the wall." While I cannot rule out the possibility that some of the kids indeed chanted this—those who were wearing MAGA hats are presumably Trump supporters—I did not hear a single utterance of the phrase in the nearly two hours of video footage I watched. Admittedly, the kids do a lot of chanting and it's not always possible to tell what they are saying. Their stated explanation is that they engaged in a series of school sports chants: That's what one student told a local news reporter. His account largely tracks with the video.

"We are an all-male school that loves to get hyped up," said this student. "And as we have done for years prior, we decided to do some cheers to pass time. In the midst of our cheers, we were approached by a group of adults led by Nathan Phillips, with Phillips beating his drum. They forced their way to the center of our group. We initially thought this was a cultural display since he was beating along to our cheers and so we clapped to the beat." According to this student, the smiling student was grinning because he was enjoying the music, but eventually became confused, along with everyone else. (Indeed, multiple people can be heard to shout, "what is going on?")

It would be impossible to definitively state that none of the young men did anything wrong, offensive, or problematic, at some point, and maybe the smiling student was attempting to intimidate Phillips. But there's shockingly little evidence of wrongdoing, unless donning a Trump hat and standing in a group of other people doing the same is now an act of harassment or violence. Phillips' account, meanwhile, is at best flawed, and arguably deliberately misleading.

Unless other information emerges, the school's best move would be to have a conversation with the boys about the incident, perhaps discuss some strategies for remaining on perfect behavior at highly charged political rallies—where everybody is recording everything on a cell phone—and let that be the end of it.

The boys are undoubtedly owed an apology from the numerous people who joined this social media pile-on. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest major media misfires in quite some time.

Updated at 8:30 p.m.: Nick Sandmann, the Covington student in the middle of the controversy, has released a statement. Here it is in full:

I am providing this factual account of what happened on Friday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial to correct misinformation and outright lies being spread about my family and me.

I am the student in the video who was confronted by the Native American protestor. I arrived at the Lincoln Memorial at 4:30 p.m. I was told to be there by 5:30 p.m., when our busses were due to leave Washington for the trip back to Kentucky. We had been attending the March for Life rally, and then had split up into small groups to do sightseeing.

When we arrived, we noticed four African American protestors who were also on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I am not sure what they were protesting, and I did not interact with them. I did hear them direct derogatory insults at our school group.

The protestors said hateful things. They called us "racists," "bigots," "white crackers," "faggots," and "incest kids." They also taunted an African American student from my school by telling him that we would "harvest his organs." I have no idea what that insult means, but it was startling to hear.

Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student in our group asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group. The chants are commonly used at sporting events. They are all positive in nature and sound like what you would hear at any high school. Our chaperone gave us permission to use our school chants. We would not have done that without obtaining permission from the adults in charge of our group.

At no time did I hear any student chant anything other than the school spirit chants. I did not witness or hear any students chant "build that wall" or anything hateful or racist at any time. Assertions to the contrary are simply false. Our chants were loud because we wanted to drown out the hateful comments that were being shouted at us by the protestors.

After a few minutes of chanting, the Native American protestors, who I hadn't previously noticed, approached our group. The Native American protestors had drums and were accompanied by at least one person with a camera.

The protestor everyone has seen in the video began playing his drum as he waded into the crowd, which parted for him. I did not see anyone try to block his path. He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face.

I never interacted with this protestor. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protestors, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers.

I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.

During the period of the drumming, a member of the protestor's entourage began yelling at a fellow student that we "stole our land" and that we should "go back to Europe." I heard one of my fellow students begin to respond. I motioned to my classmate and tried to get him to stop engaging with the protestor, as I was still in the mindset that we needed to calm down tensions.

I never felt like I was blocking the Native American protestor. He did not make any attempt to go around me. It was clear to me that he had singled me out for a confrontation, although I am not sure why.

The engagement ended when one of our teachers told me the busses had arrived and it was time to go. I obeyed my teacher and simply walked to the busses. At that moment, I thought I had diffused the situation by remaining calm, and I was thankful nothing physical had occurred.

I never understood why either of the two groups of protestors were engaging with us, or exactly what they were protesting at the Lincoln Memorial. We were simply there to meet a bus, not become central players in a media spectacle. This is the first time in my life I've ever encountered any sort of public protest, let alone this kind of confrontation or demonstration.

I was not intentionally making faces at the protestor. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation. I am a faithful Christian and practicing Catholic, and I always try to live up to the ideals my faith teaches me – to remain respectful of others, and to take no action that would lead to conflict or violence.

I harbor no ill will for this person. I respect this person's right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.

I am being called every name in the book, including a racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my family's name. My parents were not on the trip, and I strive to represent my family in a respectful way in all public settings.

I have received physical and death threats via social media, as well as hateful insults. One person threatened to harm me at school, and one person claims to live in my neighborhood. My parents are receiving death and professional threats because of the social media mob that has formed over this issue.

I love my school, my teachers and my classmates. I work hard to achieve good grades and to participate in several extracurricular activities. I am mortified that so many people have come to believe something that did not happen – that students from my school were chanting or acting in a racist fashion toward African Americans or Native Americans. I did not do that, do not have hateful feelings in my heart, and did not witness any of my classmates doing that.

I cannot speak for everyone, only for myself. But I can tell you my experience with Covington Catholic is that students are respectful of all races and cultures. We also support everyone's right to free speech. I am not going to comment on the words or account of Mr. Phillips, as I don't know him and would not presume to know what is in his heart or mind. Nor am I going to comment further on the other protestors, as I don't know their hearts or minds, either.

I have read that Mr. Phillips is a veteran of the United States Marines. I thank him for his service and am grateful to anyone who puts on the uniform to defend our nation. If anyone has earned the right to speak freely, it is a U.S. Marine veteran.

I can only speak for myself and what I observed and felt at the time. But I would caution everyone passing judgement based on a few seconds of video to watch the longer video clips that are on the internet, as they show a much different story than is being portrayed by people with agendas.

I provided this account of events to the Diocese of Covington so they may know exactly what happened, and I stand ready and willing to cooperate with any investigation they are conducting.

A sad incident, for all involved.  But I contend if would have never made the MSM had the MAGA hats not been worn.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, gonzoron said:

Blame the black guy. That's the ticket.

Good thing he wasn't wearing a hoodie or a 12 year-old with a toy gun ... could have gotten ugly really fast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, gonzoron said:

Blame the black guy. 

Unfortunately in this incident "black guys" did seem to be an instigating factor:

FTA:

Quote

Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby. The BHI has existed since the late 19th century, and is best describes as a black nationalist cult movement; its members believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, and often express condemnation of white people, Christians, and gays. DC-area Black Hebrews are known to spout particularly vile bigotry.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, gonzoron said:

Covington Catholic, disrespecting minorities since 2012.

covington-crazies.jpg?resize=842,728

Ahh, so "payback" by the members of the religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites in the form of racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse towards the children from Covington Catholic, is therefore justified?  Tell me Gonzo, what children from Covington Catholic that were in Washington D.C. are also in the above picture?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://abc13.com/politics/teen-in-confrontation-with-native-american-i-didnt-provoke/5099681/

The video shows a small group of black men who identify themselves as Hebrew Israelites first shouting hateful and racially combative things at everyone -- the Native Americans, other black men, the Covington Catholic students who were in town for the anti-abortion Right to Life March, and even a priest.

Things the protesters can be heard shouting include:

--"That's make America great again. A bunch of child molesting (expletive)."
--"See how you've got these pompous (expletive) come down here in the middle of a native rally with their dirty (expletive) hat on."
--"A bunch of incest babies. A bunch of babies made out incest."

The Catholic students at first just watch and do not engage.

The student at the center of the viral video, Nick Sandmann, 
said in a statement that the rhetoric was startling, and "because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group."

Can you imagine a group of adults (the black Hebrew Israelites) harassing a group of teenage high school age (white kids - who had never been in a public protest before and certainly didn't want to - waiting on their bus to pick them up and move them to the next tour stop) by calling them child molesters, incest babies and future school shooters, and an aged, experienced protester with a group of Native American Indians (calling for the white Europeans to go home) acting like they mean to bring peace to a situation (or just get up to the Lincoln Memorial as the story changes for this guy) It is amazing how quickly the narrative changed once the genesis of the situation was identified.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Ahh, so "payback" by the members of the religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites in the form of racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse towards the children from Covington Catholic, is therefore justified?  Tell me Gonzo, what children from Covington Catholic that were in Washington D.C. are also in the above picture?

If that’s the way you think, then that’s on you. So what you’re saying is, since Covington Catholic was harassed by Hebrew Israelites, they were justified in harassing a completely different group??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

If that’s the way you think, then that’s on you. 

What way do you think regarding this situation, Gonzo?  Do you believe the Hebrew Israelites have any culpability whatsoever in what transpired?

 

26 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

So what you’re saying is, since Covington Catholic was harassed by Hebrew Israelites, they were justified in harassing a completely different group??

So chanting school cheers is harassment?

http://www.wuky.org/post/investigation-covington-catholic-mocking-allegations-who-harassed-whom#stream/0

Quote

...

The first time we could positively confirm that Covington Catholic students entered the frame is about 40 minutes into the footage. The Hebrew Israelites noticed their “Make America Great Again” hats and called them out for being Trump supporters. Over a period of 20 minutes, some students closed-in to listen, some walked away. In that time, the students were called fa**ots, racists, crackers, children of incest, Mary worshipers, and future school shooters among other things. They also singled out an African American student, calling him a traitor and Uncle Tom. The N word was used repeatedly by the Hebrew Israelites.  A student on the trip spoke with WUKY under the condition of anonymity. He said he felt they had been singled out as racist because they were mostly white and some were wearing MAGA gear.  

At the same time a group of Native Americans were at the memorial for the Indigenous Peoples March and could be heard beating drums in the background. They were also heckled by the Hebrew Israelites who called them sun worshipers and traitors for associating with any whites. Just over an hour into the video, the Covington Catholic students began a school chant, spurred on by a student who removed his shirt, spun it in the air and leadi the cheer. Nick Sandmann, the student at the center of the initial controversy released a statement saying they asked the adult chaperones if they could do the chant to drown out the hate speech. The chaperones said yes.

As both sides voices escalated, Nathan Phillips, a Native American and Vietnam War Vet can be seen moving his group toward the Covington Catholic High School students. He later said his intent was to defuse the situation. He also claimed that the students were screaming slurs at the African-American group. That allegation has not been verified from the footage we have reviewed. From the angle of this video, some students appeared to continue with their school cheer, while others joined in chanting along with the drum beat. From this vantage point you could see the students surround Phillips group in a semicircle at first, then closing full circle as part of the group goes back to address the Hebrew Israelites. The student we spoke with said he assumed the Native Americans were chanting along with them at first and had no idea it was considered a prayer for peace.

In numerous other videos, it is hard to confirm who approached whom in the now infamous stare down between Nathan Phillips and Nick Sandmann. Phillips and members of his group claim they were surrounded and frightened and the students allegedly chanted “build the wall.” Phillips said Sandmann refused to let him pass. Sandmann alleged Phillips walked up to a classmate and drummed in his face. The student stepped back and according to Sandmann, that’s when they locked eyes and Phillips approached him with the drum. Kaya Taitano who shot the video showing that encounter said she heard the students shouting support for Trump and “build the wall.” We reviewed footage in which the chant “Cov Cath is the best” could be heard. We could not hear any chants for Trump or the wall.

In other videos we obtained, a member of the Native American group told some of  students that they were "here (in the US )first" and some students on the outskirts of the circle responded by chopping their  arm like a tomahawk and shouted a stereotypical Indian chant. Someone did scream ‘build the wall’ but it isn’t clear if that came from any of the groups involved or from someone else at the memorial. One angle does show someone who appeared to be with the Indigenous People tell one of the students next to Sandmann to “go back to Europe.” The student begins to engage but Sandmann put his hand up and told his friend to stop. He then returned to the gaze with Phillips. In a written statement, Sandmann said “I never interacted with this protestor. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protestors, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers.” Sandmann said he smiled because he didn’t know what to do. After a few minutes, the students were told the buses were ready and they left the area to board and return to Kentucky.

We have reached out to the Indigenous Peoples group, the Hebrew Israelites group, Covington Catholic High School, the Diocese of Covington, Nick Sandmann and various purported witnesses. So far we have received written statements from the school, the diocese and Sandmann. We have spoken to one student and two parents of Covington Catholic under the condition of anonymity. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If You Still Think Nick Sandmann’s Smile Is Proof of Racism, You’re Seeing What You Want to See: http://reason.com/blog/2019/01/22/nick-sandmann-covington-catholic-racism

Quote

In the nearly two hours of video footage that greatly elucidate what happened between a group of boys from Covington Catholic High School and Native American veteran Nathan Phillips, there are many moments that turn the media's initial, false narrative—racist teens harass well-meaning elderly man—on its head. Here is one of them.

This video shows the confrontation between Phillips and teenager Nick Sandmann—accused of harboring racist intentions, as evidenced by his unfailing smile—from a different angle. One of Phillips' associates, another Native American man, is standing near Sandmann, and enters an argument with a different MAGA-hat-wearing teenager (start watching at 6:55). The Native American man says, "Go back to Europe where you came from. This is not your land, you have been here two, three generations compared to us. We've been here a million fucking years." The MAGA teen responds, "That's not true. Let's go all the way back to Africa," and proceeds to tell the story of the land bridge that once connected Asia to North America, which allowed humans to settle these lands some thousands of years ago. (His opponent counters that this a "bullshit theory.")

Keep in mind, the teen saying that all human beings originally came from Africa is a member of the group of young people initially described by countless pundits as obviously, undeniably racist.

 

But the next moment is what really matters: Sandmann takes notice of the argument and quietly signals to the other teenager. It's very quick and easy to miss: He makes a cut it out gesture.

Surely if Sandmann's objective had been to harass the Native Americans and sow racial discord, he would not have attempted to defuse the situation. In fact, this gesture supports the claim he made in his official statement that he "motioned to my classmate and tried to get him to stop engaging with the protestor, as I was still in the mindset that we needed to calm down tensions."

That's just one moment from the video footage. There are others. There's the moment when the Black Hebrew Israelites, a black nationalist cult, tells one of the few black teens that his friends are going to kill him and steal his organs, and a young white man turns to his classmate, touches him affectionately, and says, "But we love you!" There's the moment when the black nationalists declare that "your president is a homosexual" and a high school kid responds, "Who cares?" There's the moment when some of the teens begin to suspect that Phillips has not waded into their midst with the best of intentions (he would later assert to media reporters that the teens were "beasts" and the cult members "their prey," a false and possibly willful misreading of the situation) and one shouts, "I'm so confused."

There are also moments that cast some of the teens in a less-than-favorable light. At least one appears to make a tomahawk chop—an offensive gesture from sporting events in which team names have been taken from Native American culture. That is insensitive behavior that an adult in a position of authority over these young men should discourage in the future.

But most of the Covington kids do not perform tomahawk chops. Most jump, wave their arms, and cheer—and many do so before Phillips arrives. Their stated explanation—they were attempting to drown out the torrent of hate coming from the Black Hebrew Israelites—makes sense, and it squares with the timeline evident from the video.

If we are to construct a hierarchy of blame for what transpired, it is crystal clear who belongs at the top: the Black Hebrew Israelites. The poor choices everyone else may or may not have made look pretty insignificant by comparison.

Phillips also engaged in wrongdoing: His choice to blame the boys rather than the hate group exacerbated the fury on social media. And at least one of the members of his entourage appeared to be looking for an argument.

Some of the young men—not Sandmann—should have made other choices, and comported themselves differently in a highly charged and very public setting. Let this be a teachable moment for them.

Undoubtedly, it is a teachable moment for everyone who rushed to join the social media mob condemning the kids as abominable racists, including prominent journalists on the left, right, and center. To their credit, many have admitted their mistake.

Others have doubled down, offering a variety of explanations for why the new evidence doesn't sway them. Some of this is just goalpost shifting: Maybe Sandmann didn't do anything wrong, but what about the kid who made the tomahawk gesture? An image of Covington Catholic high school students in black body paint at a basketball game in 2012 is somehow supposed to be damaging to Sandmann's credibility (The New York Daily News: "This won't help Nick Sandmann's case"), as is the fact that public relations experts reviewed his statement (uh, of course they did).

But the most frustrating and worrying reactions have come from those who have convinced themselves that the extended video footage confirms their initial impressions. Of all the myriad examples of this, perhaps none is more contemptible than the effort by Deadspin's Laura Wagner, who writes, "Don't Doubt What You Saw With Your Own Eyes." Wagner accuses the Covington kids' defenders—me among them—of "siding with some shithead MAGA teens and saying that 2+2=5 in the face of every bit of evidence there is to be had."

But I know what I saw, and I think I know what Wagner saw, too. She saw a group of white teens wearing MAGA hats who had just engaged in partisan political activity on behalf of a cause she opposes (this last detail is more than sufficient on its own to convict the teens, according to several prominent progressive feminists). And that was enough.

In writing and speaking about this, I have drawn parallels to the Rolling Stone/University of Virginia gang rape hoax of 2014, which provides a powerful example of mainstream media getting a story very wrong in ways that permanently damaged the magazine's reputation.

But in the less insane media world of 2014, at least the Rolling Stone debunking was accepted by pretty much everyone. When friends of "Jackie," the alleged rape victim, came forward to help clarify that her alleged attacker did not exist, and was in fact a persona she had invented in order to catfish them, I don't remember many major pundits sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending not to hear this.

The ongoing effort to pretend that videos of boys doing pep rally type cheers in opposition to a hate group is in fact of evidence of deep-seated racism makes me wonder whether Rolling Stone truther-ism would have been much more common had the story come out in 2019.

 

  • Kill me now 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, swordfish said:

Again - these kids were just waiting on their bus.  They had attended the right to life march (catholic school and all) just waiting on their bus.......

There are other videos coming up that would say otherwise. Not taking a side here, as the behaviors of numerous people on all 3 sides seemed to contribute to the chaos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, swordfish said:

Again - these kids were just waiting on their bus.  They had attended the right to life march (catholic school and all) just waiting on their bus.......

Just some fine boys waiting on their bus.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

Just some fine boys waiting on their bus.

 

We should probably approach this video with the same skepticism that wasn't afforded to the original clip that set this into motion.  I would like to know what happened those minutes leading up to this 15 second clip before I make any conclusions. I clicked to see additional tweets from this person, and IF true, you will find some of her language pretty disgusting.  I don't tweet, so I don't know how accurate or inaccurate her past tweets are, or if they can be altered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, LawrenceGreene said:

approach this video with the same skepticism that wasn't afforded to the original clip that set this into motion

What do you mean? I've seen plenty of skepticism to the original clip. And lots of excuses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

What do you mean? I've seen plenty of skepticism to the original clip. And lots of excuses.

Initially there wasn't.  Twitter erupted, and the media reported.  A firestorm ensued.  Then the entire video came out.  News outlets redacted stories and people deleted their tweets.  You provide a 15 sec clip with no idea of what happened before she started filming.  Did you read her tweets?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure the boys in the tweet are actually the Covington Catholic group or are you simply re-posting something?  Seemed like the video showing them overpowering the native american vietnam vet had a whole lot more than this young lady had in her clip.  Just an observation....

 

Edited by swordfish
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...