The media went after a bunch of high school students at the March for Life last weekend because they hounded a Native American man named Nathan Phillips and shouted, “build the wall” during the alleged confrontation. Any by alleged, I mean, it never happened. It was another fake news story peddled by the anti-Trump opposition media.
The students weren’t hounding Phillips. Phillips approached the group who had gathered by the Lincoln Memorial. The students did sports chants to drown out the obscenities hurled at them by a group of Black Hebrew Israelites who were also at the memorial. The Hebrew Israelites is an organization that believes its members are descendants from the tribes of Israel. They’re allegedly a racist and black supremacist group. Phillips supposedly tried to get between the groups and started beating his drum in front of student Nick Sandmann. And alas, the image of Sandmann and Phillips that sent all of liberal America into a hate-filled frenzy directed at the kids. Why? Well, some of them were wearing Make America Great Again hats. The misdirected hate and hostility has led to doxxing, death threats, and the closing of Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky due to security concerns. So, will Phillips meet with Sandmann? At first, he refused, saying that Sandmann had “stolen his narrative” (via The Cincinnati Enquirer):
He (Sandmann) needs to put out a different statement," said Phillips. "I'm disappointed with his statement. He didn't accept any responsibility. That lack of responsibility, I don't accept it."
Messages left for the Sandmann family, Covington Catholic and the Catholic Diocese of Covington were not returned Tuesday.
Phillips said that Sandmann's response has changed his mind on how he views the incident and what he hopes the outcome will be.
[...]
According to Phillips, the national attention he has received hasn't had much sway on him. The incident hasn't really either, he said, but Sandmann's statement has.
[...]
Phillips said he's ready to "work toward a better America," that was one reason he was participating in the Indigenous Peoples March.
Phillips said he was in prayer when he approached the CovCath students. His goal was to defuse a "volatile" situation between the students and four members of the Black Hebrew Israelites.
"He (Sandmann) stole my narrative," Phillips said. "From the time I hit that first beat of the drum until I hit the last beat, I was in prayer. Now all of a sudden, he's the prayer guy and the passive one."
According to CNN transcripts, Nathan Phillips stated he was a Vietnam veteran, twice.https://t.co/5r5c1HRRpJ
— Alex VanNess (@thealexvanness) January 22, 2019
Phillips had turned down an offer to break bread with the students:
Phillips has turned down Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby's invitation to "break bread and make amends" with Covington Catholic High School students.
On Monday, Ruby offered to fly Phillips first class to have dinner with the CovCath students at one of his high-end restaurants.
Over the weekend, short clips of an incident between students at the Park Hills all-boy high school and Phillips at the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington D.C. went viral.
Many social media users interpreted and Phillips maintains that the students were harassing him.
"It's not the right time," Phillips told The Enquirer on Monday night. "I might consider it at some point. There'd have to be certain assurances in place, give and take, and understanding."
Now, after it was reported that Phillips really wasn’t a Vietnam War veteran, refuting original reports, he says he’s willing to meet with the students:
Nathan Phillips has changed his mind on meeting with CovCath students.
He’s offering to travel as a delegate representing the international coalition behind the Indigenous Peoples March to Covington Catholic High School for a dialogue about cultural appropriation, racism and the importance of listening to and respecting diverse cultures, he said in a news release.
“Race relations in this country and around the world have reached a boiling point,” said Phillips. “It is sad that on the weekend of a holiday when we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., racial hostility occurred on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”
Now, he says he’d like to use what occurred as a teachable moment.
Now, why did the liberal media pounced on this? Why did they get another face full of buckshot to the face? Why do they get stories about Trump, his supporters, Russia, and the so-called collusion probe wrong on a consistent basis? Well, The View’s Joy Behar had an answer and it was actually right this time:
Whoopi Goldberg on the media smearing the Covington Catholic boys: "So many people admitted they made snap judgments before all these other facts came in. ... Why is that? Why do we keep making the same mistake?"
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 22, 2019
Joy Behar: "Because we’re desperate to get Trump out of office." pic.twitter.com/wlwwaxfZRx
(H/T RedState)
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