[all chanting] -On Friday, January 18th,
three groups of people converged on the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial --
a small gathering of Black Hebrew Israelites,
a religious activist group that believes African-Americans
are God's chosen people,
students from Covington Catholic High School
in Kentucky for the March for Life,
and people attending the Indigenous Peoples March.
A video showing a confrontation
between the high-school students,
including junior Nick Sandmann,
and an Omaha elder, Nathan Phillips,
went viral and sparked outrage.
Phillips told the "Post" his version of the incident
on the afternoon of January 20th.
Later that evening, Sandmann released a public statement
giving his account.
This video presents both of their versions
and multiple video angles of the incident.
-There is this group called Black Israelites,
I think they are.
So, they're down there, and they set up
right on the edge of our permitted area.
And when I first seen them, it did remind me of a group
called the Westboro Baptist Church.
So that's what these guys reminded me of --
you know, it's just a different perspective,
but still the same line of rhetoric.
So, when these young people were saying --
took offense, where was that supervisor?
And we're just there, trying to get out and be done.
But then, this -- it starts escalating after about an hour.
Over an hour, it escalates and escalates and escalates.
[all chanting] There's a young kid out there
that went out there and stripped down to his waist,
naked, you know, out there, doing the power moves, you know?
And then they started doing unify chants,
and they were, like, edging closer to these guys.
And these four Black Israelites --
they weren't going to give up no ground.
[all chanting] -Video shows Phillips
approaching the students,
who'd gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
It is unclear in videos if the students move closer
to the Black Hebrew Israelites, but Phillips told the "Post"
he was trying to defuse the tension.
-I was surrounded. We were surrounded.
No matter which way we went,
we would have to go through that mob.
[all chanting] So, since I was moving forward,
I continued to move forward,
and I took that step, and they started moving back.
They didn't break their circle, but they started moving back,
so I took another step, and they moved back some more.
And I took another step, and they moved back.
And then, they started breaking apart, and I said,
"Okay, I'm gonna make my way out of here.
I'm just gonna go up there to the top of the Capitol --
or to the Lincoln Memorial.
I'm gonna finish my prayer up there."
When that young man blocked my retreat --
you know, decided to stand in front of me
when I was trying to make my way out of there,
he put himself in front of me.
So I stopped, and I thought,
"Okay, I'm gonna take another step," but he wouldn't move.
I took another step -- he wouldn't move.
-After the "Post" interviewed Phillips,
Sandmann released a public statement
giving his account of the incident.
He said the Black Hebrew Israelites "called us 'racists,'
'bigots,' 'white crackers,' 'faggots,' and 'incest kids,'"
and taunted a fellow African-American student.
-A bunch of incest babies! -He said the students responded
by asking the teacher-chaperone for permission
to perform school-spirit chants to counter the insult.
He said, at no time, did he hear students chant,
"Build that wall," or anything hateful.
Sandmann said Phillips locked eyes with him
and came within inches of his face.
He said he believed that, by remaining motionless,
he could defuse the situation.
Sandmann also said a member of Phillips' group
began yelling at a student.
He motioned to his classmates to stop engaging.
Sandmann also said Phillips did not attempt to go around him
and that he felt singled out.
Sandmann continued that he was not intentionally
making faces at the protester.
He said he smiled,
but did this to show he was not going to become angry.
He said that both he and his parents
have been receiving death threats
since the video went viral.
-Hey, hey, hey, hey! -Erin Patrick O'Connor,
"The Washington Post."