NATIVE AMERICAN ELDER IN VIRAL VIDEO OFFERS TO MEET WITH COVINGTON CATHOLIC STUDENTS

Source: Newsweek


BY CHRISTINA ZHAO ON 1/22/19 AT 6:50 PM

The Native American elder in a viral video, which showed a group of students from Covington Catholic harassing him at an Indigenous Peoples March on Friday, has offered to meet with the teenagers after the incident sparked a nationwide debate.

Omaha activist Nathan Phillips is proposing to “travel as a delegate representing the international coalition behind the Indigenous Peoples March to Covington Catholic High School in Northern Kentucky and have a dialog about cultural appropriation, racism, and the importance of listening to and respecting diverse cultures,” according to a statement released by the Lakota People’s Law Project, a North Dakota-based organization working to “secure the Lakota’s rights to autonomy and self-determination, and to renew their culture.”

“Race relations in this country and around the world have reached a boiling point,” Phillips said, as per the news release. “It is sad that on the weekend of a holiday when we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., racial hostility occurred on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, where King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”

The crowd of Covington Catholic students—who were visiting Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life, an anti-abortion rally that was held at the same time as the Indigenous People’s March—came under fire after a viral video was uploaded following the Friday events, which appeared to show them mocking Phillips as he peacefully chanted and beat a drum.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/native-american-elder-viral-video-offers-meet-covington-catholic-students-1301028?piano_t=1