Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the end to the Covington Catholic controversy:
The innocent students at Covington Catholic High School have finally achieved closure. An investigative report, conducted by a private detective agency commissioned by the Diocese of Covington, has exonerated the students. Four investigators interviewed dozens of students and chaperones, and watched hundreds of hours of videos.
Just as we have been saying from the get-go, none of the students did anything wrong. They have been completely exonerated.
Indeed, Covington Bishop Roger J. Foys, who initially criticized the students before learning of new evidence from a second video, commended the boys, saying, “We should not have allowed ourselves to be bullied and pressured into making a statement prematurely.”
It is worth recalling the invidious stereotypes that were quickly advanced by critics of the students. Not all the unfair critics were anti-Catholic bigots—some were Catholics who got sucked into this mad rush to judgment; some of them were also guilty of harboring stereotypes.
Here is a list of the most commonly cited false charges against the students:
- The fact that Covington was Catholic was cited by anti-Catholic bigots who argued that Catholic teaching was responsible for their hatred.
- White privilege was mentioned by self-hating whites as a causative factor that explained the students’ racism.
- Charges that the boys screamed “build that wall” at the Indian instigator were made by knee-jerk bullies—the investigation proves that no student chanted this refrain.
- Pro-abortion fanatics blamed the March for Life for having the Covington Catholic students participate.
- Violence against Nick Sandmann, the student who stood his ground against the Indian agitator, was encouraged by peaceniks.
- MAGA (Make America Great Again) hats worn by some of the students were seized upon by Trump haters as proof of their bigotry and intolerance.
- White racists, who always see Indians as victims and whites as victimizers, called the students racists. For the same reason, they also refused to condemn the black thugs who made many bigoted remarks.
Sandmann has filed a lawsuit against many public persons who defamed him. We wish him well.
