A Kentucky Catholic diocese condemned the behavior of a group of teenagers who surrounded and harassed a man attending the Indigenous Peoples March in a video that earned widespread criticism.
“We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School Students toward Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general,” wrote the Diocese of Covington and the all-boys religious private school in Park Hills, Ky., in a joint statement.
The students were in Washington, D.C., for the annual anti-abortion March for Life and were shown in the video wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and apparel with the name of the high school.
“This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person. The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion,” the statement reads.
Extended statement from the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School. pic.twitter.com/mqF0D7thYT
— Bob Strickley (@rjstrickleyjr) January 19, 2019
The incident has earned widespread criticism, including a sharp rebuke from Native American Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., and from comedian Patton Oswalt, as millions have viewed the posted videos. The man, identified as Native American and veteran Nathan Phillips, an Omaha tribe elder who holds an annual ceremony to honor Native American veterans at Arlington National Cemetery, is shown in the video singing the ceremonial American Indian Movement song and drumming as a student stands very close to him while a boisterous group surrounds them.
Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney with Lakota People’s Law Project, said the incident qualifies as assault.
“They were very loud and very aggressive, very vocal, and they were disrupting,” he said in an CNN interview. “They were trying to drown out not only the group of African-Americans but Nathan Phillips, Raymond Kingfisher, some of our elders closing out a beautiful day. And it’s unfortunate that it had to end this way, but it’s emblematic of, I think, where we’re at in terms of race relations in our country.”
Iron Eyes said the incident began when Phillips got between the high schoolers and a group of African-Americans.
“I was right there, and these were high school kids, but there was about 60 of them, and they all knew how to chant the same cheers, and it was very — it was aggressive. It was just a very tense environment. It was so good to see Nathan Phillips right here in the studio; he’s OK. We avoided any physical confrontation, any violence, and that was the most important thing, so — these are young, impressionable people who I don’t know — I looked for adults. I wanted to speak to an adult. There was no adult in sight, no chaperones.”
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to say Nathan Phillips was a veteran. He was not a Vietnam War veteran as previously reported.
