January 18, 2019: it was the smirk heard round the world. Surrounded by cheering classmates on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., seventeen-year old Nick Sandmann, a student at northern Kentucky's private, affluent Covington Catholic High School, instantly became a global headline, villainized on social media and in the news as he appeared to confront Nathan Phillips, a Native American elder attempting to keep the peace at that year's heated March for Life rally. Overnight, video clips of the interaction went viral, Sandmann and his classmates hit with a tidal wave of worldwide outrage and the entire Cov Cath community suddenly at the center of conversations about racism, privilege and politics. Seeking to better understand the scene on the steps, the people involved in it and its larger ramifications for the community, the media and the democracy as a whole, Schroder set out to investigate how one fleeting interaction can become a global controversy.