The Native American elder at the center of the controversial encounter with a group of Kentucky Catholic school students in Washington, D.C. has contradicted and criticized the statement issued by the most prominent teenager featured in the video that generated the media storm.
“Unfortunately, much of the students’ behavior was understood by me and those with me as a mockery of our cultures,” Omaha Nation leader Nathan Phillips said in a statement Tuesday. “I have read the statement from Nick Sandmann, the student who stared at me for a long time. He did not apologize, and I believe there are intentional falsehoods in his testimony. But I have faith that human beings can use a moment like this to find a way to gain understanding from one another.”
The 64-year-old veteran’s comments on Tuesday came as he and other representatives of the Indigenous Peoples March and the Lakota People’s Law Project reach out to Covington Catholic High School regarding the possibility of talking to its boys.
In a separate interview with the Cincinnati Inquirer on Tuesday, Phillips said he may now favor Covington Catholic High School expelling teenagers like Sandmann, a junior, because he “didn’t accept any responsibility.”
Phillips had previously declined an offer from Ohio restaurateur Jeff Ruby to host the two parties for dinner so they could “break bread and make amends.” His comments follow the news that Sandmann and his family hired a public relations firm to help them weather the firestorm sparked by the exchange.
In the same Tuesday statement, the Indigenous Peoples March and the Lakota People’s Law Project announced they were approaching Vatican officials — “ideally Pope Francis himself” — to discuss how the Catholic Church can improve relations “worldwide with Indigenous people.”
Initial reports of the encounter last Friday on the National Mall between Phillips and the students suggested Sandmann and his peers, who were in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, were being disrespectful of the elder. In response, lawmakers, Native American leaders, the Diocese of Covington, and Covington Catholic High School were quick to condemn their behavior. The school announced it was investigating the situation and said some boys could be expelled.
But extended video that emerged Sunday has caused some who cast judgment to walk back their criticism, as it shows Phillips was the one to approach the teens, taking a left on a landing along the stairway up the Lincoln Memorial and walking directly into the throng of students. Furthermore, video shows that before Phillips arrived on the scene, a small gathering of Black Hebrew Israelites were nearby yelling obscenities at passersby, including the boys who would eventually crowd the area.
“The reason I was in the middle of that was because it came to a point where somebody had to do something,” Phillips told ABC News Tuesday. “I was seeing America be divided by hatred, and I wanted to turn away from this horrible sight and I wanted to go away from it. I wanted to just ignore it, but then that thought … to my commitment to God, to a better future for all youth the next generation.”
Sandmann’s statement Sunday claimed he was “not intentionally” trying to mock Phillips.
“Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student in our group asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group,” Sandmann wrote. “We would not have done that without obtaining permission from the adults in charge of our group.”
“I was not intentionally making faces at the protester. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation,” he said. “I harbor no ill will for this person. I respect this person’s right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.”
