The MAGA hat-wearing schoolboy who went eye-to-eye with a Native American war veteran at the Lincoln Memorial says he has received death threats after a video of the confrontation went viral.
Nick Sandmann, who attends Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, said one person has threatened him at school and another in his neighborhood after he faced off with Native American war veteran Nathan Philips, 64, at the Lincoln memorial
Sandmann also defended his actions – denying that he blocked Philips’ path and accusing the veteran of wading into the crowd before confronting him.
Nick Sandmann denies blocking the path of Native American protester Nathan Philips at the Lincoln Memorial, and accuses the tribal elder of confronting him
Sandmann says the school students were being abused by a different group of protesters when Philips and his group arrived and ‘waded into the crowd’
The teen says the school group had taken part in the March for Life rally and were waiting around for buses to take them back home when the incident occurred.
He claims that a small group of African American protesters began abusing the school group, calling them ‘f****ts’, ‘bigots’, ‘racists’ and ‘incest kids’.
Sandmann says the students – with permission from their chaperones – began singing ‘spirit chants’ of the kind used at sporting events in response to that abuse, and that no racially-charged language was used.
It was at that point, he claims, that the Native American protesters arrive and Philips ‘waded into the crowd’.
Sandmann says Philips ‘locked eyes with me and approached me’ which he says left him ‘startled and confused’.
The teen says he stayed still because he believed that would ‘help diffuse the situation’, and denied either smiling or making other gestures at Philips.
Instead, he accused Philips and other protesters of ‘trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a wider conflict’.
Philips gives a very different account of the confrontation, saying the teens were chanting ‘build the wall’ and that Sandmann blocked his path.
However, he does acknowledge putting himself between the high school students and the African American protesters to try and calm things down.
‘I stepped in between to pray,’ said Phillips, an elder of Nebraska’s Omaha tribe and a well-known activist who led protests at the Dakota Access pipeline and once confronted university students dressed as Native Americans.
Philips gives a different account of what happened – saying he was surrounded by the students who began chanting ‘build the wall’
The 64-year-old accused Sandmann of blocking his path and said he feared being attacked by the teenagers if he took another step forward
Video posted online shows a crowd of predominantly white teenagers, some wearing MAGA hats, surrounding Philips as he plays a drum
The students can be seen laughing and jeering as Philips plays, before he comes eye-to-eye with Sandmann and the pair face-off
Speaking about the confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial, he told told CNN: ‘I felt like I was in a really dangerous situation.
‘Here was a group of people who were angry at somebody else and I put myself in front of that and all of a sudden I’m the one who’s… all that anger, all that wanting to have the freedom to rip me apart, that was scary.
‘I’m a Vietnam War veteran and I know that mentality of “there’s enough of us, we can do this.”
In his statement, Sandmann said: ‘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 towards 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.’
He goes on to thank Philips for his service in the Marines, before ending: ‘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.’
Meanwhile the mother of another student at the school told Heavy.com via email that a group of ‘black Muslims’ had harassed the students before the video began.
She wrote: ‘Shame on you! Were you there? Did you hear the names the people where calling these boys? It was shameful.
‘Did you witness the black Muslims yelling profanities and video taping trying to get something to futher (sic) your narrative of hatred??
Covington school authorities have condemned the behavior of the students, apologized to Philips, and said they are considering what punishment to issue
‘Did you know that this “man” came up to this one boy and drummed in his face? Shame on you. Only reporting what you want. More fake news.’
In fact, the group of African American protesters claimed to be ‘Hebrew Israelites’, according to the New York Times.
Video has emerged of the black protesters confronting the Covington students which corroborates at least part of Sandmann’s account.
A student posted a link to footage of four or five African-American protesters shouting at the students and some obscenities which were bleeped out.
In response one of the students shouts back ‘Woah, that’s racist.’
One of the men shouts at the student: ‘When you get old enough they’re gonna steal your organs.’
He then seemingly shouts at the African – American student from Covington County: ‘Get out n****r, get out, have you seen the movie?’
A student can be heard shouting back: ‘Why are you being mean?’
The Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School has condemned the actions of the students and apologized to Nathan Phillips.
‘This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person,’ the church said in a statement.
‘The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.’