Nathan Phillips

erickson

erickson

Honorable
The video clips of Nathan Phillips - a Native elder and pipe holder - being surrounded by teens with MAGA hats, doing Tomahawk chops and chanting "Build the Wall," became viral before I saw them.

Maybe we should all listen to what Mr. Phillips was singing:



The proper response to that song is to stand and be silent . . . And to while it important to respond to the incident, it is also important to listen to what indigenous writers are telling us. So the less I say here is better. Other than listen.
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
It was all bs, a hoax...(most of the videos on the link I could not embed here, check the link to see them all)

HATE HOAX: Native American Activist Approached Chanting Covington Catholic Teens, Got In Their Face

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The viral Twitter posts claiming a group of Covington Catholic teenagers aggressively "surrounded" a Native American man on Friday and "mocked," "harassed" and "threatened" him is officially the biggest hate hoax of 2019.

An out-of-context video showing one teenager standing still and smiling (with other students around him singing a school chant) while Native American activist Nathan Phillips bangs a drum and chants in his face went viral on Twitter on Saturday, quickly amassing over 5 million views.

The story was picked up by hundreds of news outlets -- without a hint of skepticism -- who portrayed the kids as evil racists.

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The school themselves -- before investigating -- issued a statement condemning their own students and saying they may be expelled.

Phillips told the Washington Post on Saturday that the student in the MAGA hat "blocked" his way and "wouldn't allow" him "to retreat."

"They were in the process of attacking these four black individuals," Phillip told The Detroit Free Press. "I was there and I was witnessing all of this ... As this kept on going on and escalating, it just got to a point where you do something or you walk away, you know? You see something that is wrong and you're faced with that choice of right or wrong."

"There was that moment when I realized I've put myself between beast and prey," Phillips said. "These young men were beastly and these old black individuals was their prey, and I stood in between them and so they needed their pounds of flesh and they were looking at me for that."

As the Free Press reports: "Phillips said he recalled 'the looks in these young men's faces ... I mean, if you go back and look at the lynchings that was done (in America) ...and you'd see the faces on the people ... The glee and the hatred in their faces, that's what these faces looked like.'"

Phillips told CNN he feared the teens may "rip him apart" and "spring" on him:

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Newly released video shows it was Phillips who approached the teenagers as they were happily chanting their school's various anthems on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial while getting ready to leave after the March For Life rally finished.

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This second video is even more dramatic:

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Here's a third:

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Another video shared by Joey Salads shows the students were actually being berated with racist hate by the "black individuals" Phillips described as "prey".

Instagram user "CashBently" also shared video of himself hurling racist hate at two students for wearing MAGA hats.

You can see in this longer video which starts after Phillips walked into the crowd that he gets up in the student's face and begins chanting at him:



The student merely sits quietly in place smiling.

In this longer video, one of the indigenous activists can be heard shouting at a student: "You white people, go back to Europe where you came from! This is not your land!"



The student seen previously standing still is seen casually walking away from the scene -- in no way "blocking" Phillips' "retreat."

Towards the end of the video, when the Black Hebrew Israelite activists are heard condemning homosexuals, the students responded with shock and condemnation saying "they're still humans!"

Two students at the school shared their story with YouTuber Joey Salads:

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Salads has a questionable history but I was able to contact the first student in the screenshot for myself for comment and he confirmed the statement he shared with Salads was accurately reproduced.

The same student told me they "thought the guy was just like getting everyone excited and cheering with us."

He also said they were chanting "Covcath is the best," as well as their "victory cheer" and "sumo cheer."

He said they "were just at the Lincoln memorial making sure nobody is lost and that everyone is ready to get on the bus. They just happened to be there."

Another student shared his story with WKRC and begged the media to look at the actual evidence and not lie about what happened:

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In 2015, Phillips made the news after he claimed he approached another group of students at Eastern Michigan University and accused them of being "racist" for wearing Native American garb:



Regardless of the actual facts, this is how the Twitter mob reported the story:

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The video embedded there was only around 50 seconds of the student looking at Phillips and smiling. The poster, "Talia," has since locked down her account.

Disgraced journalist Kurt Eichenwald said the children needed to be doxxed and "denied all work in perpetuity".

(much more on the link)

.
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
The Catholic school is considering suing the media outlets for this pathetic smear attempt...

...
 
Ron67

Ron67

Ignorance isn’t bliss!
I’m not a fan of Trump (or Clinton) But the footage I had seen didn’t match the rhetoric.There are plenty things you can criticise Trump for and the Catholic Church.This without further evidence isn’t one of them.
 
erickson

erickson

Honorable
I hear a lot of angry voices before the incident began.

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Covington Catholic, Racism, and the March for Life

I believe Mr. Phillips when he stated that he sought to stand between two groups - and viewed it as a responsibility - but did not fully realize what he was getting himself into.

The whole story: Before and after video of Nathan Phillips, #MAGAyouth and more - IndianCountryToday.com

I see Phillips singing a song that had been gifted to the people many years ago as part of their struggle. Yes, he and one of the teens stood close to each other. I see a group of teens doing the tomahawk chop and otherwise taunting. I have read the statement written for one of the teens - but still see a smirk and the tomahawk chops.

I am sure that there were many voices. Some may have said build a wall. Others may have said to back to Europe. When I walked with the Longest Walk to D.C. many years ago I was called Custer two or three times. It happens - at various points during the walk we met with elders, we talked, we learned. And I was aware of the privilege that I could have when the walk was over.

I was also invited into the sweat lodge and taught that it's purpose was to pray for the people. I learned what the song meant. I watched how my Japanese Buddhist friends joined with their drums and prayers - what it meant to offer support, and I joined them in that.

I agree that it is not about Trump - although using Pocahontas as a slur probably made it easier for the teens to respond with Tomahawk chops. And from other things that have surfaced from the Colonel Crazies, that response did not come out of nowhere.

Mr Phillips is said by one of the teens to have a "history of claiming racial harassment" - I don't find racial harassment surprising at all. What might more surprising is that he referred to everyone as relatives.

Again, sometimes it is important to listen to what the indigenous people have to tell us. It would s always important.
 
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erickson

erickson

Honorable
Just to add that undoubtedly the incident was magnified by social media - images can be powerful and whatever the particular context, the image here had hundreds of years behind it.

It's the images we don't see that are probably more important and Native people have often either been invisible or or subject to one stereotype or another - itself a form of invisibility.

One writer (Rebecca Nagle) stated that this was one of the few times that non-natives have paid attention - she hoped it would be more than a blip.

The starting point is to listen.
 
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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
erickson said:
I hear a lot of angry voices before the incident began.
Click to expand...

Yes that was likely because of this:

Mother of student at Lincoln Memorial rally blames 'black Muslims' for sparking confrontation between boys and Native American protesters
  • Group of school students were filmed confronting Native American protesters
  • Mother of one of the boys says 'black Muslims' to blame for starting altercation
  • She also accused 64-year-old war veteran Nathan Philips of 'coming up to this one boy and drumming in his face'
  • Footage has emerged of African American protesters shouting profanities at the boys close to the Lincoln Memorial
8767852-6614941-Some_protesters_pictured_at_the_March_for_Life_Rally_on_Saturday-m-21_1548068136328.jpg
 
Wade

Wade

Stare..... They are always staring
There's an interesting clip from CNN on YouTube about this whole kerfuffle. There's about 3 different stories story lines going on and everyone seems to have their hackles up about being disrespected. I feel it's a whole lot of nothing, one of those "things" that probably someday is going to turn into something much bigger than it should have been....like this.
 
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Creepy Green Light

Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
erickson said:
The video clips of Nathan Phillips - a Native elder and pipe holder - being surrounded by teens with MAGA hats, doing Tomahawk chops and chanting "Build the Wall," became viral before I saw them.

Maybe we should all listen to what Mr. Phillips was singing:



The proper response to that song is to stand and be silent . . . And to while it important to respond to the incident, it is also important to listen to what indigenous writers are telling us. So the less I say here is better. Other than listen.
Click to expand...

Mr. Phillips is a scum bag instigator. The students were minding their own business until he just had to come up with inches of the kids face banging his drum yelling. He's also a liar. He's no Vietnam Veteran. He went in the service as a Private and got out as a Private. Probably had something to do with the multiple times he went AWOL. All he is is a professional s**t disturber.

 
erickson

erickson

Honorable
A group of Tomahawk chopping teens, laughing and jeering, is somehow excused because Mr. Phillips is a professional instigator? I might call him an activist for his people. I'll trust the judgment of someone who walked 40 miles through snow and ice with him.

I think instead about how much the narrative changed in some people's mind after Mr. Sandmann hired a PR firm (with ties to Mitch McConnell).

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And so it has been. But as Ms Nagle wrote, I Know What I Saw

I saw Mr. Phillips, as he has stated, walk up in what seems to be an attempt to diffuse a tense situation as he walked between two groups. I see the teens respond by laughing, dancing, chopping, the red MAGA hsts, the smugness of power. Regardless of Phillip's service record or problems he had while a youth, that image remains.

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And no, Mr Phillips was not banging his drum, yelling. Listen to the song that he sang, which was gifted to the people. Understand it's meaning.

Maybe the behavior that I see goes with the territory of the school. Or at least what was expressed in this photo from a few years back.

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But we can do better than that. Perhaps we don't in regard to this incident because two-thirds of American people don't believe that Native Americans experience racial discrimination.

Invisibility is the Modern Form of Racism Against Native Americans

Please read what Native writers have written.

American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Native Perspectives on Nathan Phillips and the Covington Catholic School boys
 
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wwkirk

wwkirk

Divine
nivek said:
Yes that was likely because of this:

Mother of student at Lincoln Memorial rally blames 'black Muslims' for sparking confrontation between boys and Native American protesters
  • Group of school students were filmed confronting Native American protesters
  • Mother of one of the boys says 'black Muslims' to blame for starting altercation
  • She also accused 64-year-old war veteran Nathan Philips of 'coming up to this one boy and drumming in his face'
  • Footage has emerged of African American protesters shouting profanities at the boys close to the Lincoln Memorial
8767852-6614941-Some_protesters_pictured_at_the_March_for_Life_Rally_on_Saturday-m-21_1548068136328.jpg
Click to expand...
I think they were actually Black Israelites.
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
erickson said:
A group of Tomahawk chopping teens, laughing and jeering, is somehow excused because Mr. Phillips is a professional instigator? I might call him an activist for his people.
Click to expand...

I call him a troublemaker, not professional but he was there to cause trouble obviously...He had no good reason to get involved with that or any other Catholic school...

Don't get me wrong, my closest friend is Southern Paiute, he also thinks Phillips was there to cause controversy and problems and I agree with him...This isn't about a teaching song or a lesson, this wasn't the environment for that and Phillips knew that...

...
 
Creepy Green Light

Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
erickson said:
A group of Tomahawk chopping teens, laughing and jeering, is somehow excused because Mr. Phillips is a professional instigator? I might call him an activist for his people. I'll trust the judgment of someone who walked 40 miles through snow and ice with him.

I think instead about how much the narrative changed in some people's mind after Mr. Sandmann hired a PR firm (with ties to Mitch McConnell).

View attachment 5515

And so it has been. But as Ms Nagle wrote, I Know What I Saw

I saw Mr. Phillips, as he has stated, walk up in what seems to be an attempt to diffuse a tense situation as he walked between two groups. I see the teens respond by laughing, dancing, chopping, the red MAGA hsts, the smugness of power. Regardless of Phillip's service record or problems he had while a youth, that image remains.

View attachment 5516

And no, Mr Phillips was not banging his drum, yelling. Listen to the song that he sang, which was gifted to the people. Understand it's meaning.

Maybe the behavior that I see goes with the territory of the school. Or at least what was expressed in this photo from a few years back.

View attachment 5517

But we can do better than that. Perhaps we don't in regard to this incident because two-thirds of American people don't believe that Native Americans experience racial discrimination.

Invisibility is the Modern Form of Racism Against Native Americans

Please read what Native writers have written.

American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Native Perspectives on Nathan Phillips and the Covington Catholic School boys[/QUOTE
He instigated. Why couldn't he stay away from the students? Why'd he have to get 1" from the kids face? I know what I would do if someone got 1" from my face while yelling & banging a drum. He's got a track record of being a disturber. Plus, in my book - if you've got AWOL multiple times while in the service - then you are a shit bird. BTW - when left wing news stations ran with the "He's a Vietnam Vet" lie - it's funny, because I remember the left wing spitting on our military and beating them up when those Vet's returned home. Now all of a sudden they are a champion of Vietnam Vets? LOL.

Here's 3 quick videos of why I'll never vote left again. Because if I did, these are the violent, whacko, mob-rules type people I would be aligning myself with; (Lies, lies lies yeah-ah. They're gonna getcha!)


Click to expand...

 
pigfarmer

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
So there's more to this story and not everything is as it first seemed. Excellent object lesson about the value of eyewitness testimony and people front loaded with strongly held belief.

I'm not talking about this incident, I'm referring to UFO, cryptid and other Weird Shit reports.
 
erickson

erickson

Honorable
I agree that not everything may be as it seems - and often isn't. We have looked at this incident through several videos.

It is clear that there was controversy before Mr Phillips took any action.

View attachment 5469

Witnesses described being part of the Indigenous People's March which ended at the plaza before the Lincoln Memorial. There were reasons why the March ended there. And why people lingered there.

What It Felt Like to Stare Down the MAGA Teens

Phillips and others stepped between the Covington teens and the Black Hebrew Israelites. Phillips was not beating on his drum and shouting. Rather he was confronted with hostility

Rebecca Nagle wrote:

In what reality do intimidated and frightened teenagers scream, chant, and rip off their shirts? In what universe does singing a hand drum song — the AIM anthem — equal a threat or confrontation? How on earth is staring someone down and smirking an expression of respect and peace?
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I know what I saw when I watched the Covington video

I wondered where what the Covington chaperones were doing. Some fault a Native person for saying that people should go back to Europe. I might have thought the same thing, I would have thought the same thing.

The incident became viral because of the image of the teen standing in front of Phillips. To me, the most important part is how we respond to that image -

For a brief moment Saturday our country was poised to have the exceedingly rare and desperately needed conversation about contemporary racism against Native Americans. Despite the fact that Native Americans are more likely to live in poverty, experience rape or abuse, and be killed by police than any other ethnic or racial group, two-thirds of our fellow American citizens believe we don’t experience significant discrimination.
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I first heard the AIM song that Phillips sang 40 years ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Its part of a complex history that is often far from clear, and those who have sang it have often been called troublemakers - as have others who work for human and environmental rights. But the song has stayed with me which is why I started this thread.

I am stepping back from this thread because I have written all that I need to say about it. But again, the Native voices should not disappear. There are important issues that should be part of the discussion long after the dust has settled on this incident. There are the reasons why the Indigineous People marched.
 
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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
erickson said:
I first heard the AIM song that Phillips sang 40 years ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Its part of a complex history that is often far from clear, and those who have sang it have often been called troublemakers - as have others who work for human and environmental rights.
Click to expand...

From my perspective this issue has nothing to do with that, I do not consider Phillips a troublemaker because of him singing that song nor because of any possible connection to human rights or environmental issues, this has nothing to do with that and in my opinion it only serves to blow this issue further out of proportion by adding in elements that inadvertently end up causing false narratives or conclusions which divide people more...Facts of a case or situation should always unite people in understanding...

Time and place are so important, he should have chosen a different time and/or place...For example, when some protesters decide to march in some city and let's say a group in opposition decide to march in the same city and get in the faces of the other group, what do you think will happen?...

I can say that most likely neither group's message will be heard, neither group will get their message across to anyone because there will be heightened friction between the two groups and most likely a violent incident...The facts will get blurred and accusations will fly from both sides and from onlookers...We see it all the same and both groups fail at getting their message across to the public...If they had chosen to just do their thing and not get in the faces of each other their message would get better responses because it's a peaceful thing then, not the spectacle we are discussing here...

...
 
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