One of the students involved, Nick Sandmann, has released a statement amounting to "not only was I not looking for a confrontation with the American Indian dude of anyone else, I was just trying to remain calm until I could get out of there."
OK, that's fair. To a point.
BUT! Sandmann writes:
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.
First of all, no, this is not the first time he's encountered any sort of public protest. His group had just participated in a public protest (the "March For Life"). In fact, they had traveled 500 miles one-way for the specific purpose of participating in that protest.
Secondly, when a bunch of people in MAGA hats congregate in a public place adjacent to very, very, very non-MAGA protests, it's presumptive that those non-MAGA protesters are going to perceive the MAGA hat crowd as counter-protesters and "engage" with them in some way.
That's not to defend the particulars of what happened, but Sandmann is being disingenuous on the first of those things and either disingenuous or exceptionally naive on the second.
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