The Diocese of Covington has finalized its report on the encounter between students from its high school and a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial.
The report, compiled by four investigators from Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc. for the diocese, found "no evidence" that Nick Sandmann or any of the other Covington High School students made "offensive or racist statements" to Nathan Phillips, the Native American activist, or to the Black Hebrew Israelites who were shouting at the students wearing "Make America Great Again" baseball hats, The Washington Post reported.
Original clips, dispersed through social media, showed Sandmann in a standoff with Phillips on Jan. 18, drew the ire of many online, with amany said that Sandmann and the students were mocking and intimidating Phillips, who was in Washington, D.C. as part of the Indigenous Peoples March, CNN reported.
High school and diocesan officials condemned what they thought were the students’ actions.
But a longer version of the video appeared to show that what was thought to have happened was incorrect. One other clip shows Sandmann calming a fellow student. Once multiple videos came out, the diocese hired independent investigators to speak with the students, chaperones and any other witnesses. They also reviewed posts on social media and news coverage of the situation, the Post reported.
Investigators spent about 240 hours on interviews and 50 hours examining posts on YouTube and social media, as well as video from networks.
The four-page report said investigators for the diocese found Sandmann and the other students did not make "offensive or racist comments ... to Philips or members of his group," according to the Post.
“We found no evidence that the students performed a ‘build the wall’ chant,” according to the report.
The report did find that some students did a "tomahawk chop" to Phillips' drum beat, CNN reported.
The report claims the students were confused but not threatened by Phillips’ actions.
For more on the report, click here.
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