March For Life teen's confrontation with Native American reveals an ugly divide

This year's March for Life was probably the most ideological -- and disturbing -- yet.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, made a surprise visit to the Friday event, and the crowd cheered. After Pence's own words of encouragement, a prerecorded video message from President Donald Trump was played. "Today, I have signed a letter to Congress to make clear that if they send any legislation to my desk that weakens the protection of human life, I will issue a veto," the President said.

Since the March for Life and many of its attendees put their support behind this President, who treats people poorly in word and deed, pro-lifers should not be surprised at how their march has been widely perceived -- particularly given an egregious incident that transpired during the event this year.

A group of young men from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky appeared to taunt a Native American man who had been participating in the nearby Indigenous Peoples March. Nathan Phillips, the Vietnam Veteran and an elder of the Omaha tribe, says he heard the young men chanting, "Build that wall" -- though those chants could not heard in the videos obtained by CNN. Many have noted the ridiculousness that such a cheer would represent when directed at a Native American.

That Phillips says he heard it illustrates what many perceive, not without some justification, to be a truth about Trump and his supporters -- that, among other things, the wall is a symbol of white supremacy, a monument to dividing America into two camps: those who support Trump, and those who have no right to be here.

By now, a myriad of videos have shown the gathering from every conceivable angle. They mostly feature the face of one student, Nick Sandmann -- who appears to be smirking, and has now come forward -- as he stared down the elder, while a crowd of his fellow students all wearing red-and-white "Make America Great Again" hats gathered around, laughing, and seeming to mock-sing along with Phillips' chant.

Some students seemed to be making "tomahawk chop" gestures, and doing cartoonish versions of Native American dances -- both reminiscent of sporting events where Native Americans are used as mascots.

I don't know the whole story of the clash between these young men and the others, as I was not there. I've watched over two hours of footage now, showing every angle, close-ups, wide shots and the exchange with the religious group known as the black Hebrew Israelites.

According to Elder Phillips, in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, a confrontation between the students and the religious group is what prompted him to begin his song to try to defuse the tension. In a statement to CNN, Sandmann said he was smiling, not smirking, "....because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation."

Undoubtedly, Sandmann, a high school junior, is overwhelmed and confused by the national spectacle that has arisen from this one hour of his life, and I can appreciate that he himself may not realize the significance of his behavior and the behavior of his fellow students. That their chaperones didn't directly intervene long before Phillips saw fit to do so is puzzling, given the inflammatory and offensive accusations spoken clearly by the black Hebrew Israelite protesters.

Sandmann has said that he didn't hear or witness any student chant "build that wall" or anything hateful, and that the students were doing their school spirit chant.

Whatever happened, the "spirit" and optics here are disturbing.

When I look at all the footage of these young men and see their hats, their scarves, their Trump 2020 and their "Make America Great Again" gear, here is what I see: A microcosm of a movement that has sold itself to a carnival barker making empty promises. They collectively support and admire a man who said Mexicans were "bringing crime. They're rapists." When the President tweets his schoolyard insults about various Democrats, those students are reading and learning by example. When Trump uses the massacre of Native peoples at Wounded Knee as part of a targeted joke against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whom he calls Pocahontas, young people learn that mocking Indigenous people is acceptable.

And at this moment, our government is shut down while the President demands a wall on our southern border.

For the past seven months, I have volunteered with Immigrant Families Together, an organization helping to reunite families separated under this administration's draconian zero-tolerance policy.

I have witnessed the "anti-life" policies of this President firsthand. I've seen the result of mothers separated from their children and pregnant women kept in detention. And yet the people, many wearing "Make America Great Again" hats and carrying signs thanking the President for protecting life, at the March for Life cheered victoriously for this administration.

As the attendees applauded Trump's recorded message, were they ignoring his complete and utter disregard for the lives of these people? Or worse, do they agree with him?

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