The Hanging Judge in the Court of Public Opinion

A photo showing someone, who may be Nick Sandmann,
face to face with Nathan Phillips of the Omaha Nation

I admit, the handheld cell-phone video could've been designed to activate my childhood prejudices. The tight-lipped smirk on the teenager, tentatively identified as Nick Sandmann, sure looks like the face middle-school bullies used to taunt and provoke me. The angle made it look like multiple teens surrounded the Native American elder just like bullies formerly surrounded me. And the red MAGA hats? Dammit, they're like jackboots these days.

Then, amid the outcry, further video began emerging. Progressives claimed the teens chanted “Build that wall!”, but it's almost impossible to discern exactly what they were chanting. Sandmann claims they chanted school spirit slogans to drown out vulgar insults coming from Leftist protesters already on-site, which longer video shows is clearly true. The story wasn't as cut-and-dried as we initially believed.

Most important, video shows the teens didn't approach Omaha elder Nathan Phillips, he approached them. He claims latterly that he hoped his drumming would diffuse tension between protesters and counter-protesters. But how he thought already-agitated teens, unfamiliar with his traditions and prone to snap judgement (as teens are) would know that. In school psychology terms, it seems Phillips, not Sandmann, is the initiator here.

Like millions of Blue Facebook users, I got bilked by a story that couldn't have punched my buttons better had it been scripted in Hollywood. I dislike crowds, distrust Redhats, and despise bullies; this story provided, or appeared to provide, all three. But in the Hollywood style, a sudden twist proves the story doesn't fit my good-versus-evil narrative. Worse, I'm proven vulnerable to the same moralistic binary thinking I condemn in others.

It gets worse. Nick Sandmann and his family are currently shunning media, purportedly because they've received death threats. When Christine Blasey Ford reported she needed to hire a security detail and relocate several times after voicing her sexual assault charges against Brett Kavanaugh, we progressives acted offended. Death threats over politics? For shame! Yet clearly we don't have the moral standing we've tried to claim.

Not every progressive threatened Sandmann, just as not every conservative threatened Dr. Blasey Ford. Yet both ideologies overall have to answer for the climate of violence we've fostered. Violence seems like a viable option to the beaten and the dying, not those who have control or solid moral standing. And when (not if) conservatives threaten a progressive whistleblower next, we Leftists won't be able to claim clean hands.

Other Native Americans present at the Lincoln Memorial that fateful January day

I don't know how many threats Sandmann has received, either in absolute numbers or compared to Dr. Blasey Ford. Nor is it my business. I believe Sandmann, because I've seen the frankly ugly language emerging from social media. I've seen the calls for vengeance and payback directed at a teenager, at a child, and also against his entire high school, all because of a four-minute cell-phone video taken completely out of context.

We're adults, y'all. If I know my readership at all, virtually everyone reading this essay is older than Nick Sandmann. Personally, I'm nearly three times Sandmann's age, and I'm less equipped to evaluate and judge his situation now than I was forty-eight hours ago. I cannot rightly expect a junior in high school, limited by a still-growing body and brain, to face a noisy, chaotic, overwhelming situation like that and make the right decision on the fly. I still don't understand it with rhe benefit of multiple viewpoints.

I take two lessons from this experience. First, I need to police my reactions. Next time I feel myself rising into high dudgeon, I need to pause and ask: do I have enough information to evaluate this situation? One handheld phone video, which begins after the situation commenced, isn't sufficient. Sometimes I need to postpone my reactions while data trickles in.

Second, is my reaction appropriate? Am I condemning someone who just needs mature guidance? From Baraboo, Wisconsin, to the Lincoln Memorial, social media warriors have recently hastened to condemn children for transgressions less severe than many I committed at that age. But adults took me aside, patiently corrected me, and forgave a headstrong kid's sins. Surely I owe today's children at least that much latitude.

I could be wrong again. Sandmann could be guilty of everything we previously accused him of. But knowing what I do now, I doubt it. Evidence says I hastily condemned a child when I should have extended him a classic teachable moment. I'm currently ashamed of my moralistic assumptions. And I hope fellow progressives will join me in working to avoid this mistake in the future.