Ugly images of taunting teens stir outrage
Indigenous group says it’s ‘emblematic of our discourse’
The images in a series of videos that went viral on social media showed a tense scene near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. In them, a Native American man steadily beats his drum at the tail end of an Indigenous Peoples March while singing a song of unity for indigenous people to “be strong” in the face of the ravages of colonialism that now include police brutality, poor access to healthcare and the ill effects of climate change on reservations.
Surrounding him are a throng of young, mostly white teenage boys, several wearing Make America Great Again caps, with one standing near the drummer’s face also wearing a relentless smirk.
Nathan Phillips, 64, a veteran in the indigenous rights movement, was that man in the middle. Phillips said he felt threatened by the teens and that they suddenly swarmed around him as he and other activists were preparing to leave.
Phillips, who was singing the American Indian Movement song of unity that serves as a ceremony to send the spirits home, said he noticed tensions beginning to escalate when the teens and other apparent participants from a nearby March for Life rally began taunting the dispersing indigenous crowd. A few people in the March for Life crowd began to chant “Build that wall, build that wall,” he said.
“It was getting ugly, and I was thinking: ‘I’ve got to find myself an exit out of this situation’,” Phillips recalled. “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.”
The encounter generated a wave of outrage on social media less than a week after US President Donald Trump made light of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre in a tweet that was meant to mock Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who Trump derisively calls “Pocahontas”.
The Indigenous Peoples Movement, which organised the march, called the incident “emblematic of our discourse in Trump’s America”.
Darren Thompson, an organiser, said: “It clearly demonstrates the validity of our concerns about the marginalisation and disrespect of Indigenous peoples, and it shows that traditional knowledge is being ignored by those who should listen most closely.”
Some of the teens wore sweatshirts from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky.
School officials and the diocese of Covington released a statement. “We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general. The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”
Chase Iron Eyes, a lawyer with the Lakota People’s Law Project, said the incident lasted about 10 minutes and ended when activists walked away.
The videos heaped fuel on an argument among abortion opponents as to whether the close affiliation of many antiabortion leaders with Trump since he took office harms the movement.
Abortion opponents debated the March for Life’s decision to feature a greeting from Trump as well as one by commentator Ben Shapiro. Some abortion opponents say the march has become too partisan. Twenty-two per cent of Democrats say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases and 38 per cent of independents say the same, according to Pew Research Centre.
Antiabortion leaders’ embrace of Trump has alarmed a wide range of Christian abortion opponents. They see Trump’s comments on race and immigration, his lying and crudeness as damaging to the “pro-life” label.