- A student accused of racism and worse

in an alleged confrontationwith a Native American

at Friday's March for Life,says he did nothing wrong.

Nick Sandmann was amonga group of students

attending the march.

Native American, NathanPhillips, was also there

for an indigenous people's march.

The students were seenchanting and laughing

as Phillips drummed.

The video was shared onsocial media and went viral,

and the students werecondemned for their actions,

but Sandmann, who wasshown standing in front

of Mr. Phillips, smiling,says he was only trying

to calm things down in themidst of all the chaos.

Both Sandmann and Phillips saythey were trying to diffuse

the tension between theirgroups and a third party.

That group, affiliated with the

Black Hebrew Israelite Movement,

was caught on camera beforehand.

- [Man In Crowd] Build the wall.

- [Man] That's right.

- [Man In Crowd] You crackers are crazy.

- [Man] That's right.

- [Man In Crowd] Crickets.

That's right.

- [Man In Crowd] We got amob of these dirty animals.

- [Female Anchor] And theCatholic school students responded

to the Black Hebrew Israelitesgroup by starting a chant.

All this before theindigenous people's group,

led by Phillips, came onto the scene.

The Native Americans acting asa wedge between the students

and the instigators.

Sandmann responded to all ofhis critics on social media

writing, quote:

- Well, here with us now tohelp us break down some of

what we've been seeingis Will Ricciardella.

He's the social mediadirector and reporter

for The Washington Examiner.

Will, thanks for bravingthe cold to be here

with us today.- Thanks for having me on.

I appreciate it.

- What happened here?

This seems to be more thanjust social media bias.

- No, this is a story that themedia saw as an opportunity.

They clearly didn't haveall the facts, as we know.

Some conservatives didn'thave all the facts.

They used it as anopportunity to come out,

to show how anti-racist theyare, to condemn the student.

Most of the mainstream media used this.

They manufactured the rest of the facts

that they didn't have.

They filled in the blanksbecause they wanted

to perpetuate a narrative and a myth.

They wanted to stereotype these kids.

It was perfect.

They were young, white males.

They have a MAGA hat onand this fit right in.

- Well, give us some insight here.

On Friday, this video, it went viral.

All of the cable outlets,they ran with it.

But in their defense, ifnews programs didn't go with

this story, wouldn't ithave really spread anyway

on Twitter, on Instagram, onall of these different things?

- Certainly, but news outlets can hedge.

They could say, we don't know the facts.

This is the part of thevideo that we do have.

We're uncertain of the circumstances.

They made claims, and theyput in their headlines

claims that this student wasracist, that he's a bigot,

and that he was a Trump supporter.

They literally filled in the blanks.

This is not journalism 101.

This is manufacturing a story.

- There seems to be a cultureof immediacy in today's

competitive media landscape.

And this case is probably theperfect example of pushing

things out withoutknowing the whole story.

There was the third party,as Jenna just described

in her previous read, andwe now know about it as they

were the ones who were instigating.

But that didn't comeinto light until later.

What could journalists havedone differently in this case?

- Now I'm a social media director.

I have been for a few years now.

And I'm all about immediacy,I'm on social media.

This wasn't about immediacy.

This was about a narrative.

This fit the narrative.

That immediacy, that's nonsense.

This was what fit their narrative.

They wanted to get it out there.

It was perfect, it was atime during the shut down.

This is what their readers enjoy.

This is what their readers wanna click on.

That's why they did it.

Plenty of times we held ona story because we didn't

have enough sourcing, wedidn't have our facts straight.

It happens all the time in journalism.

So the idea that this was athing about being immediate

is just, is utter nonsense.

- Will Ricciardella withThe Washington Examiner.

Thank you so much.- Thank you.

- We appreciate you coming in.

- I appreciate it, yeah, thank you.

- Thanks for joining us.

Well, we here at CBN areprivileged to work with a team

of talented journaliststhat are both in front of

and behind the camera.

Well, on today's episodeof The Rundown podcast,

we introduce you toWashington Bureau's new

assignment editor, AronicaGlover, one of many people

responsible for this broadcast.

Ironically, she says,radio is my first love,

but television happened to me.

More about that and howshe says God prepared her

for her new role at CBNtoday on The Rundown.

- [Woman] When we come back,an unexpected friendship

and partnership leads totwo strangers discovering

a stunning family connection.

- [Narrator] (speaks foreign language)

- [Woman] This is our nature as a country.

- [Narrator] To make theworld a better place.

- Initially, we felt the Earth shaking.

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- [Announcer] Come home tothe southern gospel station

from CBN radio.

You'll enjoy a rich,southern blend of bluegrass,

classic gospel, andsouthern gospel favorites.

CBN's southern gospel,available now at CBNradio.com.

(gentle music)

- I am Regents firstROTC graduate student.

(upbeat music)

- Welcome back.

Well, at a time with racialdivision on the rise,

two ministers from totallydifferent backgrounds

say the church is uniquely equipped

to lead Americans towards healing.

Amber Strong has the story.

- [Amber] The United States of America,

the world's great melting pot.

Each person arriving tothis country with a unique

family history of how theirancestors put an imprint

on their lives.

Yet, with all that diversity,we're often more connected

than you might imagine.

Matthew Lockett is thegreat-grandchild of farmers,

and a pro-life advocate.

- He would actually makea joke out of it, my dad.

And he would say, Iguess we're just a bunch

of mutts from Kentucky.

- [Amber] Will Ford isthe descendant of slaves.

He travels the country sharinga message of racial healing.

- They didn't think they wouldsee freedom in their time,

so they prayed for thefreedom of their children,

and the next generation.

- Two men on two very different journeys.

But their worlds collidedwhen they attended

a prayer meeting together.

- And I show up at the Lincoln Memorial

because of this dream.

I don't know why I'm there.

I didn't even really knowthat much about prayer,

but that was the first placethat Will and I came together.

- [Amber] They attended achurch service later that night.

That's where Ford sharedthe story of his ancestors'

prayer kettle, a pot used byslaves to muffle their voices

during secret prayer meetings.

That led to a deeperconversation, which resulted

in a friendship and anunexpected partnership.

- [Matthew] Just started runningaround the country together

and doing prayer meetings.

- The Lord said this tome, he said, if I heard

the silent whispers of slavesin any of these kettle pots,

how much more so do I hearthe silent screams of babies

being aborted in this nation.

- [Amber] Over the nextdecade, they spread a message

of life and love.

Love for the man next toyou regardless of race,

and love for the unborn.

But the story doesn't end there.

Lockett says there was somethingabout that first meeting

he just couldn't shake.

- He shared the part ofthe story that shocked me,

that this kettle had beenhanded down to Harriet Lockett.

- [Amber] Years of research led them

to a stunning discovery.

- My oldest known family member was a man

named Isaac Lockett.

The only Lockett's at thattime period in Virginia,

was Matt's family.

And so after doin' fourmonths of research then

and another whole year ofresearch, we've learned

through empirical evidence,Matt's family is the family

that owned my family.

- [Amber] And that revelation led

to some difficult soul searching.

- Matt's family owned ourfamily, and I had to wrestle

with that, 'cause we havestories passed down in our family

about slaves who werebeat to death for simply

going fishing without asking.

And I really had to forgivefrom my heart, Matt's family,

for owning my family.

- [Amber] Lockett says itwas a learning experience

for him too.

- There is many times,

particularly with white America,there can be an attitude

that when these issues arediscussed, and the history

of slavery even the pain,the lingering pain of that,

to this day, there can be anegative attitude that just

kind of dismisses it andsays, look, you weren't there.

I wasn't there.

Get over it.

There's a very reallingering pain associated

with it generationally, andnow that pain had a face,

and it was the face that I love.

- [Amber] That discoverycould've torn them apart

and ended their ministry.

Instead, it strengthened their resolve.

- [Will] God is using a united church

to heal a divided nation.

- Lockett and Ford sayevery part of their story,

even the tough parts, are by design.

They say there are no coincidences,

even down to the locationof that first meeting.

- Sons of former slaves and thesons of former slave owners.

Will they be able to sit down together

at the table of brotherhood?

- [Amber] It was here almost 55 years ago

that Dr. Martin LutherKing Junior delivered

his I Have a Dream speech.

Lockett and Ford believethey are living examples

of that dream fulfilled.

And that allows them totravel the country together,

sharing their dream for the church.

- I think what God is shoutingto America right now is this,

what story line do you wanna be a part of;

the healing or the hurt;the blessing or the curse.

- [Amber] Two men from twodifferent backgrounds sharing

a surprising connection andpursuing a common mission

of unity, life, and healing.

Amber Strong, CBN News, Washington.

- And that's all thetime we have for tonight.

Have a great evening.

- Goodnight.

(upbeat music)