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Covington Catholic High School students surrounded, intimidated and chanted over Native Americans singing about indigenous peoples' strength and spirit, according to interviews with attendees of the inaugural Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, D.C.

One video posted on social media showed the man walking through a crowd and stopping in front of one of the students.

More: Longer video shows start of the incident at Indigenous Peoples March

More: Native American leader: 'Mob mentality' in CovCath students was 'scary'

The school and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington issued a joint statement Saturday afternoon after millions viewed videos of the imbroglio and hundreds if not thousands denounced the private, all-boys school. The school has traditionally sent students to D.C. for the annual March for Life.

The students' focus was largely centered on Nathan Phillips, an Omaha tribe elder, who rhythmically beat a drum as Nick Sandmann, a Covington Catholic High School student in a "Make America Great Again" cap, stood nearby and stared at him.

"I never interacted with this protestor," Sandmann said in a statement released Sunday night. "I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. ...



"I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation."

Chase Iron Eyes, a spokesman for the Indigenous Peoples March and an attorney for the Lakota People's Law Project, said by phone Saturday that Phillips initially approached the students in an attempt to defuse the situation.

But he was quickly swarmed.

Iron Eyes did not see any adults among the students.

“It was getting ugly, and I was thinking: ‘I’ve got to find myself an exit out of this situation and finish my song at the Lincoln Memorial,’ ” Phillips told The Washington Post. “I started going that way, and that guy in the hat stood in my way and we were at an impasse. He just blocked my way and wouldn’t allow me to retreat.”

Sandmann said in his statement: "I never felt like I was blocking the Native American protestor. He did not make any attempt to go around me. It was clear to me that he had singled me out for a confrontation, although I am not sure why."

Kaya Taitano, a Chamoru activist from Guam, captured video of Phillips speaking afterward.

He tells Taitano and others that he heard chants of "build that wall, build that wall," from the students.

"This is indigenous lands. We're not supposed to have walls here. We never did for millennia, before anyone else came here, we never had walls, we never had a prison," he said. "We always took care of our elders, we took care of our children. ... We taught them right from wrong."

Laura Keener, the communications director with the Diocese of Covington, said about noon Saturday that the incident was regrettable.

About 4 p.m., the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High issued a joint statement that read, in part:

"We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general. ... We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. 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."

Iron Eyes told The Enquirer that the inaugural march was intended in part to condemn the ongoing federal government shutdown. His wife has been working without pay as a clinical director on a reservation, and he spoke about the adverse effect on many indigenous people.

He also criticized President Donald Trump for "recently mocking our genocide" in a tweet he made about Bighorn and Wounded Knee and Trump's use of "Pocahontas," which Iron Eyes called a slur to indigenous women.

If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash! pic.twitter.com/D5KWr8EPan — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019

"Indigenous nations deserve dignity," he said.

Iron Eyes estimated about 50 young people accosted Phillips and about five other Native Americans performing a closing ceremony.

He also heard them chant "build the wall."

"I think they should be required to take Native American Studies 101," he said. "They should learn some true history of the original civilizers of this land. They are also denied their true history. These are kids, I was looking for an adult, where is the adult here?"

Another organizer of the Indigenous Peoples Movement, Darren Thompson, said in a statement that the incident is "emblematic of the state of our discourse in Trump’s America."

“It clearly demonstrates the validity of our concerns about the marginalization and disrespect of Indigenous peoples, and it shows that traditional knowledge is being ignored by those who should listen most closely," he said.

Covington Mayor Joe Meyer called the confrontation "disturbing, discouraging, and - frankly - appalling" in an op-ed Saturday.





"The point is that because of the actions of people who live in Northern Kentucky, our region is being challenged again to examine our core identities, values, and beliefs," Meyer said. "No, we’re not perfect. More progress needs to be made, and we will continue to work diligently on making it. In the meantime, Covington is proud of being a welcoming city where bigotry, discrimination and hatred will not be tolerated."

It’s even worse when you see the full mob effect. pic.twitter.com/Oe7Zn5srOB — Lulu Says (@lulu_says2) January 19, 2019

Among the first journalists to identify Phillips, Vincent Schilling with Indian Country Today, said he met the elder at a ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery about two years ago.

Schilling, a Mohawk tribe member, said Phillips is a Vietnam veteran who has been the target of racial animosity in the past.

"As a Native American journalist, I find this to be one of the most egregious displays of naïve – I can’t even say naïve. It’s racism. It’s blatant racism," Schilling said.

A Fox affiliate in Detroit reported in 2015 that students lobbed racial slurs after Phillips told Eastern Michigan University students that their Native American-themed party didn't honor indigenous people.

"The guy has just been through a lot," Schilling said. "To see Mr. Phillips treated this way is an incalculable amount of disrespect, and it's absolutely unacceptable in Native culture.

This morning I was alarmed by circulating videos of young, Kentucky students taunting and harassing Native Americans at the Indigenous People’s March on the National Mall. #LoveNotHatepic.twitter.com/dsg3qLaNt9 — Alison L. Grimes (@KySecofState) January 19, 2019

Messages left with Covington Catholic Principal Bob Rowe and other school faculty members were not returned Saturday.

Phillips was singing a song about indigenous peoples' activism and autonomy, Iron Eyes said.

Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, one of the first two Native American congresswomen, tweeted about Phillips.

This Veteran put his life on the line for our country. The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking. https://t.co/NuPnYu9FP4 — Congresswoman Deb Haaland (@RepDebHaaland) January 19, 2019

"The students' display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration," she wrote. "Heartbreaking."

About 140,000 living Native Americans are veterans, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Covington Catholic's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts have been made private, preventing public view of those accounts' content.

The school has about 585 students and 42 teachers, according to the diocese. Tuition for the 2018-2019 school year was $7,950. According to the school's website, it was founded in 1925, and 213 students attended the March for Life in 2017.

The trip costs about $130 per student.

Schilling, the journalist, said he was saddened by the lack of surprise he felt by the treatment of Phillips.

"Because as a Native man, I’ve got it countless times myself I’ve been mocked, I’ve been teased, my culture has been ridiculed. This is just another brick in the wall."

In the video taken of Phillips after the incident, the Omaha elder looks down and sighs. He jokes about not sleeping for 24 hours.

"Maybe all of us that are on this Mall here tonight, he said, "our relatives seven generations (from now) will come back here and say something good happened here."

I dgaf if they are minors. They need to be identified. What school are they from? Who was chaperoning them? This is one of the most horrific displays of ignorance, racism & disrespect. My god. I feel sick. pic.twitter.com/oUsiVY5pNA — Lulu Says (@lulu_says2) January 19, 2019

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/19/video-shows-apparent-incident-indigenous-peoples-march/2623820002/</s>CLOSE A diocese in Kentucky apologized on Saturday after videos emerged showing students from a Catholic boys' high school mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial after a rally in Washington, D.C. AP

Corrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated to clarify the original description of Nathan Phillips’ military service. Phillips is a Vietnam-era veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from May 1972 to May 1976 and did not deploy to a war zone, according to the Defense Department.

CINCINNATI – A Catholic high school in Kentucky apologized Saturday after backlash arose on social media as a widely shared video showed a group of young men surrounding indigenous marchers in Washington, D.C.

The video shows a young man wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap standing near and staring at a man who is drumming as other young men surrounding them cheer and chant. Some of the onlookers appear to wear clothing bearing insignia from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky.

The indigenous man holding a drum was participating in an Indigenous Peoples March and was later identified as Nathan Phillips, a Marine Corps veteran and Native American elder of the Omaha tribe, by Indian Country Today.

It’s even worse when you see the full mob effect. pic.twitter.com/Oe7Zn5srOB — Lulu Says (@lulu_says2) January 19, 2019

In a joint statement Saturday, the school and Diocese of Covington said they were reviewing the incident and they would "take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion."

"We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general, Jan. 18, after the March for Life, in Washington, D.C. We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person," the statement read.

People across social media platforms condemned the incident as an attempt by the group of young men to intimidate the marchers and had called for a response from the school.

Covington Catholic's website said students planned to attend the March for Life event, held Friday in Washington, D.C., the same day as the Indigenous Peoples March.

"We know this incident also has tainted the entire witness of the March for Life and express our most sincere apologies to all those who attended the March and all those who support the pro-life movement," the school and diocese also said in their statement Saturday.

Covington Catholic was criticized on social media following a heated moment at an Indigenous Peoples march in Washington D.C. The school posted students were attending a March for Life on the same day as the incident. (Photo: Screenshot from Covington Catholic's website)

The uproar spread on social media Saturday morning, as millions viewed videos from the scene.

The journalist who identified the elder as Phillips, Vincent Schilling, spoke to The Enquirer by phone Saturday.

Schilling, a member of the Mohawk tribe and a veteran himself, said he participated in a ceremony about two years ago alongside Phillips to honor Native American veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

"As a Native American journalist, I find this to be one of the most egregious displays of naïve – I can’t even say naïve. It’s racism. It’s blatant racism," Schilling said.

Schilling added that Phillips has been harassed in the past. A Fox affiliate in Detroit reported in 2015 that students at Eastern Michigan University lobbed racist slurs at him.

"The guy has just been through a lot," Schilling said.

Schilling added that, as a member of the Mohawk tribe, deference for elders is a respected ideal.

"To see Mr. Phillips treated this way is an incalculable amount of disrespect, and it's absolutely unacceptable in Native culture," he said.

Phillips was singing a song about indigenous peoples' activism and autonomy, Schilling said.

"The thing that’s sad about all of this is it’s not surprising," Schilling said. "Because as a Native man, I’ve got it countless times myself I’ve been mocked, I’ve been teased, my culture has been ridiculed. This is just another brick in the wall."

About 140,000 living Native Americans are veterans, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, one of the first two Native American congresswomen, tweeted about the elder on Saturday.

This Veteran put his life on the line for our country. The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking. https://t.co/NuPnYu9FP4 — Congresswoman Deb Haaland (@RepDebHaaland) January 19, 2019

A video interview of the man included in the thread that Haaland retweeted was shot by Kaya Taitano, a Chamoru activist from Guam.

Taitono shared with The Enquirer an extended version of the shorter video that has gone viral.

In the video, the man identified as Phillips says he heard chants of "build that wall, build that wall," during the incident.

"This is indigenous lands. We're not supposed to have walls here. We never did for millennia, before anyone else came here, we never had walls, we never had a prison," he said. "We always took care of our elders, we took care of our children. ... We taught them right from wrong."

In the extended version of the video, the man looks down and sighs.

"Maybe all of us that are on this Mall here tonight, our relatives seven generations (from now) will come back here and say something good happened here," he said.

Covington Catholic's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts have been made private, preventing public view of those accounts' content.

The high school, about 5 miles south of Cincinnati, is a private, all-boys school with about 550 students, according to privateschoolreview.com.

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Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/19/kentucky-diocese-incident-indigenous-peoples-march-covington-catholic-high-school/2624503002/</s>The viral video sparked nationwide backlash and calls for the school to expel the students seen taunting Native American man Nathan Phillips.

A group of Covington Catholic High School students seen in a viral video taunting and intimidating a Native American man during the March for Life rally could soon be expelled for their actions.

On Saturday, a viral video circulated showing the students wearing Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats and shirts surrounding a Native American man who was in Washington, D.C., to participate in the Indigenous Peoples March. As Cincinnati.com reported, the students surrounded Native American man Nathan Phillips, loudly taunting him as he performed a traditional Native American drum song.

The young men were identified as students from Covington Catholic High School, who traveled to Washington for the March for Life pro-life rally that took place at the same time as the Indigenous Peoples March. The video sparked outrage across the country and prompted the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington to speak out against the actions of the students.

“We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general, Jan. 18, after the March for Life, in Washington, D.C. We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips,” said Laura Keener, a spokeswoman for the district.

Phillips spoke out after the incident as well, saying that the boys were taunting him with chants of “Build the wall.” A visibly shaken Phillips said that he was hurt to hear Americans being so closed-minded.

“When I was there singing, I heard them saying, ‘build that wall! build that wall!'” Phillips said in a video posted to Twitter.

Keener added that the incident is under investigation and that the students involved could be expelled from the private high school.

The school is also facing growing outside pressure to punish the students involved. Many took to social media to call on the school to expel the students, especially one young man who stood inches from Nathan Phillips’ face to taunt the Native American man.

The school has not said if anyone else involved with the trip could face discipline. It was not clear whether there were any staff members from Covington Catholic High School with the students at the time of the incident, as it appeared there were none nearby in the videos posted of the incident this weekend.</s>Covington Catholic High School in Northern Kentucky faced backlash on social media Saturday after video was posted and widely shared showing a tense exchange between indigenous marchers and a group of young men in Washington, D.C.

The video shows a young man wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap standing near a man who is drumming as other young men surrounding them cheer and chant. Some of the onlookers appear to wear clothing bearing insignia from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills.

The man with the drum was participating in an Indigenous Peoples March, according to people who posted about the incident.

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The Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, could not independently confirm that students from Covington Catholic were present during the incident or the origin of the video.

However, Laura Keener, the communications director with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, released a brief statement at about 12:15 p.m. Saturday:

"We are just now learning about this incident and regret it took place. We are looking into it."

The school's website says students planned to attend the March for Life event, held Friday in Washington, D.C.

The uproar spread on social media Saturday morning, with one video receiving more than 1.5 million views.

Messages left with Covington Catholic Principal Bob Rowe and other school faculty members were not immediately returned Saturday morning.

Covington Catholic's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts have been made private, preventing public view of those accounts' content.

Covington Catholic High is a private, all-boys schools with about 550 students, according to privateschoolreview.com.

News of the incident at the march did not surprise Angela Arnett-Garner, who said she is part Shawnee and helped organize Kentucky's first Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in 2017, as well as a similar event in Louisville last year.

She pointed to the controversy over President Donald Trump calling Sen. Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" because the Massachusetts Democrat has claimed she has Native American ancestry.

"I'm not surprised at all," at this incident in D.C., Arnett-Garner said. "The racism in this country after Trump took office has just exploded. People feel like they're entitled to be racist and demonstrate their racist views."

This story will be updated as more information becomes available. The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Louisville Courier Journal are part of the USA TODAY Network.</s>The Kentucky high school students seen in a video mocking a Native American man at a march in Washington, D.C., could be expelled.

Covington Catholic High School and the Diocese of Covington said Saturday that they are investigating the incident that happened at the Indigenous Peoples March on Friday.

"We will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion," the statement said.

The school and diocese apologized to the man in the video, identified as Vietnam veteran and Native American elder Nathan Phillips.

"We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general," the statement said. "... We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person."

More: 'Blatant racism': Ky. high school apologizes following backlash after video shows students surrounding indigenous marchers

More: Native American veteran: 'Mob mentality' in students seen in viral video was 'scary'

Covington Catholic is an all-boys private high school in Northern Kentucky.

The school has about 585 students and 42 teachers, according to the diocese. According to the school's website, it was founded in 1925, and 213 students attended the March for Life in 2017. The trip costs about $130 per student.

Backlash against the school was swift Saturday as the video went viral. It shows a young man wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap standing near Phillips, who is drumming, as other young men surrounding them cheer and chant.

March attendees told the USA TODAY Network that the Covington students surrounded, intimidated and chanted over Native Americans who were singing about indigenous peoples' strength and spirit.

As millions of people viewed videos of the incident circulating on social media, many expressed outrage over the boys' behavior.

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes took to Twitter to condemn the incident. Grimes said she is "a proud alumnae" of a Catholic high school and called on Covington Catholic to "denounce this behavior."

"In spite of these horrific scene, I refuse to shame and solely blame these children for this type of behavior," Grimes said. "Instead, I turn to the adults and administration that are charged with teaching them, and to those who are silently letting others promote this behavior. This is not the Kentucky we know and love."

News of the incident at the march did not surprise Angela Arnett-Garner, who said she is part Shawnee and who helped organize Kentucky's first Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in 2017, as well as the first Indigenous Peoples Day event in Louisville last year.

She pointed to the controversy over President Donald Trump calling Sen. Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" because the Massachusetts Democrat has claimed she has Native American ancestry.

"I'm not surprised at all," at this incident in D.C., Arnett-Garner said. "The racism in this country after Trump took office has just exploded. People feel like they're entitled to be racist and demonstrate their racist views."

State Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat, tweeted the incident "is embarrassing and wrong."

"Yes, these kids should apologize and (hopefully) learn from this," McGarvey wrote. "However, we also can't excuse the leaders who normalize this conduct. We all should do better...especially on MLK weekend."

Follow Rachel Aretakis and Billy Kobin on Twitter: @raretakis and @Billy_Kobin</s>CINCINNATI – A Catholic high school in Kentucky faced backlash on social media Saturday morning after a widely shared video showed a tense exchange between indigenous marchers and a group of young men in Washington, D.C.

The video shows a young man wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap standing near and staring at a man who is drumming as other young men surrounding them cheer and chant. Some of the onlookers appear to wear clothing bearing insignia from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky.

"We are just now learning about this incident and regret it took place. We are looking into it," Laura Keener, the communications director with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, said in a statement Saturday.

The Cincinnati Enquirer could not independently confirm that students from Covington Catholic were present during the incident or the origin of the video.

According to people who posted about the incident, the man with the drum was participating in an Indigenous Peoples March.

Twitter users condemned the incident as an attempt by the group to intimidate the marchers and called for a response from the school.

Messages left with Covington Catholic Principal Bob Rowe and other school faculty members were not immediately returned Saturday.

The school's website says students planned to attend the March for Life event, held Friday in Washington, D.C., the same day as the Indigenous Peoples March.

The uproar spread on social media Saturday morning, with one video receiving more than 1.5 million views.

Covington Catholic's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts have been made private, preventing public view of those accounts' content.

The high school, about 5 miles south of Cincinnati, is a private, all-boys school with about 550 students, according to privateschoolreview.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ky. high school faces backlash after video surfaces of tense exchange with indigenous marchers</s>Diocese in Kentucky says it is investigating the matter, caught on video by onlookers

A diocese in Kentucky is looking into videos that show youths, possibly from the diocese’s all-male high school, mocking Native Americans at a rally in Washington.

Laura Keener of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington said Saturday it regrets the incident and is investigating but didn’t comment further.

The Indigenous Peoples March in Washington on Friday coincided with the March for Life, which drew thousands of anti-abortion protesters, including a group from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills.

Videos circulating online show a youth staring at and standing extremely close to an elderly Native American who was singing and playing a drum. Other youths, some wearing clothing with Covington logos, surrounded them, laughing and shouting. Many of the youths were also wearing “Make America Great Again” hats.

The “Indian Country Today” website identified the elderly man as Nathan Phillips, an Omaha elder and Vietnam veteran who holds an annual ceremony honouring Native American veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

State Rep. Ruth Buffalo, a North Dakota state lawmaker and member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, said she was saddened to see students showing disrespect to an elder who is also a U.S. military veteran at what was supposed to be a celebration of all cultures.

“The behaviour shown in that video is just a snapshot of what indigenous people have faced and are continuing to face,” Buffalo said.

She said she hoped it would lead to some kind of meeting with the students to provide education on issues facing Native Americans.

U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico sharply criticized what she called a display of “blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance.”

“This Veteran put his life on the line for our country,” she tweeted Saturday. “Heartbreaking.”

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>A Catholic archdiocese outside Cincinnati is investigating the actions of some of its high school students during the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington Friday.

Some students wearing Make America Great Again hats and clothing surrounded and taunted a Native American troupe as it performed the "American Indian Movement" song about strength and courage. It's not clear which of those young people surrounding the Native Americans are students of Covington Catholic High School in Covington, Kentucky.

But the Diocese of Covington criticized any students who participated in the action, which broke out as a group from the school was in Washington for the anti-abortion event March for Life.

Its statement, forwarded by archdiocese spokeswoman Laura Keener, singled out Native American leader Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam War veteran and Omaha elder. In social media videos of the incident Phillips can be seen singing as a male taunts him smilingly and gets close to his face.

The male was not identified.

"We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general, Jan. 18, after the March for Life, in Washington, D.C.," the archdiocese's statement reads. "We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person."

The archdiocese said the matter was under investigation and students could be expelled.

During the incident some young people surrounded Native Americans and others started to jump and chant. One young person is heard saying during the Native Americans' song, "This is deep."

Phillips told NBC News that some of the young people surrounding him chanted support for President Trump's proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Chants of 'Build the wall' and other things that were even worse," he said as he stood in the rain in Washington. "They were brought up to believe I’m less than human."

The elder said he's getting hateful phone calls and is afraid to answer his phone in the wake of the incident, which came nearly a week after Trump mocked U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's claim to Native American ancestry.

"I’m still trying to process it," Phillips said. "Who they were, who those young folks were, where they came from and who’s bringing them up. Where were the chaperones? How did this come to take this point ... ?"

"It’s gonna take us all to come together," he added. "I’m about prayer, but then you have to have some action to go with it."</s>A crowd of students surrounds the Native American man, laughing and filming on cell phones. One boy, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, stands just inches away from the man’s drum, staring at him with a wide smile.

Nathan Phillips, an Omaha elder participating in the Indigenous Peoples March, keeps drumming and singing.

The jeers of the students – and Phillips’ stoic response – were captured in a video that has sparked widespread criticism and drawn apologies from a Kentucky prep school and diocese.

The students and Phillips had both converged in Washington, D.C., last Friday. The students, a group of boys from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, were there to attend the March for Life. Phillips had come for the first-ever Indigenous Peoples March, on the same day.

Videos show a number of young men and women, predominantly white, jumping, cheering and chanting, in a dense circle around Phillips. Many are wearing Trump paraphernalia, and some are wearing clothing associated with the Covington high school.

“I heard them saying, ‘Build that wall, build that wall,’ ” Phillips says in another video posted to social media, wiping away tears. “This is indigenous lands. You know we’re not supposed to have walls here. We never did, for millenniums, before anyone else came here. We never had walls.”

Covington Catholic High School, a private, all-male school located in Park Hills, Ky., issued a joint statement with the Diocese of Covington on Saturday, condemning the incident and saying it would investigate and “take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”

“We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips,” the school wrote. “This behavior is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.”

Phillips, a well-known Native American activist, is a Vietnam veteran and a former director of the Native Youth Alliance, according to Native News Online. He was singing the American Indian Movement anthem in front of the Lincoln Memorial, at the close of the march, when he was confronted by the boys.

He said the situation started to get ugly and he tried to find an exit, The Washington Post reports.

“I felt like the spirit was talking through me,” Phillips told the Post. He says he kept drumming while thinking about his late wife and threats faced by indigenous communities around the world.

The incident drew condemnation from Native Americans and lawmakers. Darren Thompson, an organizer for the Indigenous Peoples Movement, which coordinated the march, said in a statement that the incident was “emblematic of the state of our discourse in Trump’s America,” echoing sentiments on social media and among organizers that the current administration’s rhetoric has emboldened acts of harassment and racism.

“It clearly demonstrates the validity of our concerns about the marginalization and disrespect of indigenous peoples,” Thompson wrote.

Another spokesperson for the march, Chase Iron Eyes, also placed the blame on President Trump.

“Conservative people are fearful now,” he said, referencing the recent elections of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress, Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids. “Trump has riled up a reactionary voting block that reminds us that we are a nation founded on patriarchy, genocide and racism.”

Haaland, who was elected to the House of Representatives last fall, also condemned the incident.

“This Veteran put his life on the line for our country,” the Democrat from New Mexico wrote on Twitter. “The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking.”

Covington Mayor Joe Meyer, a Democrat, said footage was not representative of the core values of his town. “Videos of the confrontation are disturbing, discouraging, and — frankly — appalling,” he wrote in a statement. “And they are rightfully inspiring a tidal wave of condemnation.”

Organizers added that the march encompassed more than just that viral moment.

“The good news is, that connection to the sacred may have resonated with some of the Catholic youths,” said Nathalie Farfan, another organizer, in a statement. “What is not being shown on the video is that the same youth and a few others became emotional because of the power, resilience and love we inherently carry in our DNA. Our day on those steps ended with a round dance, while we chanted, ‘We are still here.’ ”

The march stemmed from the 2016-17 protest at Standing Rock over plans for an oil pipeline to cross Sioux Lands in North Dakota. Phillips was also a leader in that movement.
Covington Catholic High School faces backlash after a video of students were seen mocking a Native American elder at the Indigenous Peoples' March in Washington DC.