Viral footage of teenagers appearing to surround a Native American man and his companions at Friday's Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, D.C., sparked outrage over the weekend. In one video, the man—identified by Indian Country Today as Omaha elder Nathan Phillips—is seen singing and drumming with fellow marchers while encircled by chanting teens, many of whom are wearing President Trump's Make America Great Again apparel. One youth pointedly stands directly in front of Phillips, smirking.

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The teens are students of Kentucky's Covington Catholic High School, which dispatched students to Washington D.C. for the anti-abortion March for Life, which was also held Friday. On Saturday, a representative for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the diocese is "just now learning about this incident and [regrets] it took place," and that they are "looking into it."

On Sunday night, more details about the event emerged. Phillips said he approached the teens, who were involved in a confrontation with a group called the Hebrew Israelites. He told the New York Times he stepped in to diffuse tensions. The teen in the video, Nick Sandmann, a junior, issued a statement saying he was "startled and confused as to why" Phillips had approached him and sought to remain "motionless and calm."

"I was not intentionally making faces at the protestor. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation," he said in the statement.

"I harbor no ill will for this person. I respect this person's right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make."

Phillips, a veteran of the Vietnam War, organizes an annual ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of his fellow Native vets. "I heard them saying, 'build that wall, build that wall,'" Phillips was filmed saying in another video, presumably taken after the crowd around him dispersed. "You know, this is indigenous land," he said, wiping away tears.

We’re not supposed to have walls here—we never did. For millennium. Before anybody else came here, we never had wells. We never had a prison. We always took care of our elders, we took care of our children. We always provided for them, we taught them right from wrong. I wish I could see that energy of the young men to, you know, to put that energy into making this country really great.

Sandmann denied that his fellow students were chatting "build the wall," although the Times said other people in the crowd heard the slogan being chanted. Another eyewitness writing in The Cut described a tense and frightening atmosphere because of the teen’s behavior and also said they were chanting “build the wall.”

The incident has become a Rorschach test in this charged political moment, with Twitter serving as the primary platform for people to share their opinions on the matter. For many, the teens' behavior is disrespectful, hateful, and indicative of white male privilege. For others, the teens are victims of an online mob quick to pile on.

This isn't the first high school class to go viral in recent months. In November, a photo of boys from Wisconsin’s Baraboo High School making Nazi salutes spread around the internet. The incident is part of a trend that’s been dubbed "the Trump effect"—anecdotal reports of racism and hate-based bullying students and educators have reported in the wake of Donald Trump’s political rise. In 2016, middle schoolers in Michigan filled their cafeteria with chants of "build the wall," while high schoolers in Pennsylvania were filmed yelling "white power" while holding a Trump sign aloft. During that year’s election, one educator told the The Nation that his district had seen "more racial incidents in the last 12 months than there have been in years."

Representative Deb Haaland, one of the country's first Native American Congresswomen, responded to the incident via Twitter. "This Veteran put his life on the line for our country," she wrote. "The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking."

This story was updated to include the statement from Nick Sandmann, the additional statement from Nathan Phillips, and the reference to The Cut story.

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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