A digital-era frenzy sweeps up a school steeped in tradition

For the “Colonel Crazies,” as locals call them, identity is wrapped in state championship titles, and their all-male brotherhood.

But by Saturday afternoon, the Northern Kentucky school off the Dixie Highway had been ripped out of its overwhelmingly white, heavily Catholic, and largely Republican world and thrust into a national firestorm that touched seemingly every raw nerve in this polarized country — race, President Donald Trump and the behavior of young white men.

Videos surfaced of dozens of Covington students in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington after the March for Life, chanting as they do at games, wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and appearing to be in a standoff with an elderly Native American man.

More videos later emerged complicating the story, showing that the encounter had been preceded by African-American protesters, who identified themselves as Hebrew Israelites, shouting slurs at the students. When a man with the Hebrew Israelites shouted that the boys had just “one N-word” in their crowd, a student corrected him, “We got two of them.”

Nathan Phillips, the Native American man, said he had stepped between the students and the Hebrew Israelites to defuse the tension.

By Sunday, after Covington Catholic High School and the Diocese of Covington apologized in a joint statement, the students were being threatened and their private information was being posted online. Some families said they were even receiving death threats.

The community south of the Ohio River began to see itself as facing a politically motivated siege. Families and churches swiftly circled to protect their young men.

Bill Gerdes heard about what happened when the students pulled into the school’s parking lot after the drive back from Washington. His son, who participated in the March for Life, had filmed the incident.

Using an expletive to express his outrage at the news media for its coverage of the students, Gerdes called the events a “nonstory.”

“It should be reported how great these young men did in the face of these protesters who were trying to bait them,” he said in a phone interview Monday, calling the events a political attack against Catholics for their opposition to abortion rights.

“The left has an agenda,” he said. “Facts don’t really matter to them if it goes against their agenda.”

Other parents and friends soon changed their social media profile photos to a blue-and-white “C,” in honor of the school’s logo.

Covington is famous for its community’s fierce devotion. To cheer on their classmates at sporting events, students at times paint their faces and bodies blue.

A video on the school’s YouTube channel also depicted some students with their faces and bodies painted black.

After the video emerged on social media and The New York Times contacted the diocese for comment, the school’s video was removed from YouTube. The diocese did not respond to request for comment.

At first Saturday, the high school and the Diocese of Covington said they were investigating.

But as more details emerged, families and community members grew angry at how they were being treated.

One Covington alum, now a commissioner for Kenton County where the school is located, assured the Colonels in a Facebook post that he had their backs, and criticized Phillips for drumming instead of speaking up for the boys. He signed his post with the school’s motto: “With a spirit that will not die.”

In nearby downtown Covington, at Sunday evening Mass, the priest at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption said how difficult it was to see loved ones in the media, and he asked the community to pray that the “very difficult situation” would become clear.

After Mass, a parishioner complained that the bishop had “jumped the gun” in apologizing for the students’ behavior.

“This Indian is a provocateur, this is what I’ve heard,” said the parishioner, Roger Hehman. “Initial impressions and perceptions are deceiving.”

The school last faced negative scrutiny a month ago, when a 2018 graduate and basketball star, the son of a former Cincinnati Bengals player, was charged with sodomy and rape.

This is also not the first time the greater Cincinnati area’s male Catholic school community has had to grapple with allegations of racism. Last winter, young men from Elder High chanted “P.F. Chang” and “Hey No. 2, open your eyes” at a multiracial Asian player from St. Xavier, perhaps the most prestigious of the all-male Catholic high schools in the region. An African-American player on the team was also taunted.

In the greater Cincinnati area, which has Catholic roots going back nearly 200 years, loyalty to the local Catholic schools runs deep. People wear sweatshirts from the region’s many religious schools. In offices Monday mornings, social talk often turns to the results of the weekend’s high school football games between the region’s many all-male Catholic schools.

At “CovCath,” as the school is called locally, this Catholic identity includes the fight against abortion rights. Every day, when students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, they amend the end to say, “with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.”

And each year, students join other Catholic high schools in the area who routinely send busloads of students to the March for Life in Washington, often canceling class so that students can go.

Historically, before the march, the Diocese of Covington publicly prints the name of every Catholic who opposes abortion rights in a multiple-page ad for The Cincinnati Enquirer, listed by parish or school, and includes the names of minors.

A parent at a neighboring Catholic school, Michael Schwartz, recalled his frustration when his son’s school printed his name, even though his son had decided not to attend.

“The peer group pressure on these kids is enormous,” Schwartz said. “I feel the diocese should not be putting these kids in what has become potentially more contentious situations, as the inevitable protests to these ‘Right to Life’ marches increase.”

While much of the local fervor has turned to absolving the students of any wrongdoing in the past few days, a few pockets of the Catholic school community hope the incident can be an opportunity for growth. Richard Millbourn, who teaches religious studies at St. X, as St. Xavier is commonly called, plans to discuss the episode with his students in the weeks ahead.

“Let’s talk about this, so it sticks in their heads,” he said in a phone interview Sunday. “Did you see it, what did you think, how likely is it that you might do something stupid like this?”

Parents like Gerdes, whose son filmed the controversy, maintain that the students were innocent victims who actually helped de-escalate the situation. Though school administrators initially said they would consider expelling the students, Gerdes now believes the tide has turned in their favor.

“The videos backed the students, so I’m sure they would be backing off of that now,” he said of the threat. “We trust the school, and we trust the diocese that they will protect their flock.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.