“I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to [defuse] the situation,” the statement read. A high school student who was filmed staring down a Native American Vietnam War veteran during last Friday’s Indigenous Peoples March has defended his actions, claiming he was singled out. In an interview with The Washington Post Saturday, Phillips, 64, said that Sandmann wouldn’t allow him to retreat from the situation. “It was getting ugly, and I was thinking: ‘I’ve got to find myself an exit out of this situation and finish my song at the Lincoln Memorial,’” he said. “I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.”

Source: Huffington Post January 21, 2019 03:04 UTC