There was a news story during Trump's presidency about Nick Sandmann and his interaction with a tribal elder. It was initially reported as “Youth threatens and intimidates indigenous elder.” Later a different story began to be told as more footage from other perspectives was released, one in which the elder was the initiator and Nick was just uncomfortably smiling and standing his ground. Or that’s what I see. It all depends on perspective. How much we know of the story and how our viewpoint and outlook affects our interpretation.
The youths were at the capital that day protesting abortion, and more importantly, wearing red MAGA caps. Sandmann said it was because, “... Trump is one of the most pro-life presidents in the history of our country.”
Clearly there’s more nuance to the story than just that one image, a picture that can be easily interpreted in myriad ways. I see an uncertain smile and perhaps a bit of arrogance born of being surrounded by his friends. The sin of youthful ignorance. That’s because I see myself in Sandmann’s face. His expression. I can recall similar situations in my youth. I could easily have been the same. I grew up protesting abortion. Having christian parents. A youthful ignorance. I’m still learning and growing and progressing as an individual. I don’t feel like I have made tremendous progress, I have just become more humble and listen more.
He was just a youth with similarly youthful friends, painted as white supremacists spouting MAGA propaganda. We don’t have the context to the events leading up to the story we saw. Nobody who wasn’t there knows for certain and I suspect the truth, as is often the case, is somewhere in between the stories that each side presented.
NOTE: This is not a defense or accusation of any party, just an observation.