Issac Bailey was the 2016 James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College. He was a 2014 Harvard University Nieman fellow and is the author of "My Brother Moochie: Regaining Dignity in the Midst of Crime, Poverty, and Racism in the American South" (Other Press). Follow him on Twitter: @ijbailey. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author; view more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) It matters that they wore "Make America Great Again" hats.

Issac Bailey

I'm talking about those high school kids in the video that went viral over the weekend , the one that showed the young men laughing and jeering while an older American Indian man drummed and sang. It seemed at first to be an obvious case of white bros acting shamefully, but then another, longer video showed the same encounter with more context and new characters -- a racist fringe group of black men, who identify as members of the Hebrew Israelites, and who seemed to have been the main provokers of tension and aggression.

This twist in the story gave the whole country a case of interpretive whiplash, feeding frenzied new rounds of argument over who the real victims were, and who was being disgraceful to whom.

But that's a pointless debate. Based on independent reporting, those students should share in the blame, despite their denials stating they were innocent bystanders.

The Native American protester could have inadvertently made things worse even if he was sincerely trying to calm things. The Hebrew Israelites hurled insults at just about everyone who crossed their path. We can even ask why there weren't more adult chaperones to counsel those students to do the only sensible thing: shut up and walk away. That would have shown real courage and wisdom.

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