Nathan Phillips stopping several feet between two groups on the Lincoln Memorial mall
A witness to the entire Covington Catholic High School debacle mocking Native American Nathan Phillips recorded the entire incident and posted it to YouTube.
The first hour and twelve minutes are the African American group on the Lincoln Memorial mall having their own protest. Along comes the Covington teens, and things get tense.
Around the 1:12:00 mark, Phillips enters the scene with his drum, clearly intent on diffusing the tensions before they escalate. He clearly stops yards away from both groups. The teens then approach him.
Some students from the school have attempted to say Phillips was the aggressor with the boy. We do not see Phillips step up to the primary MAGA-hatted teen in the other videos.
This video doesn’t show the close-up of the Vietnam Veteran and the boy, but it does support Phillip’s story – along with several witnesses – that he was trying to stop something before it escalated into worse.
Hit play and the video will start shortly before we see Phillips.
In an email exchange with a reporter at Heavy.com, a woman who claimed to be the teen’s mother said that it was Phillips, who she referred as “this man,” who was drumming close to the teen’s face.
She added that the students were harassed “by black Muslims,” later identified as members of the Black Hebrew Israelites.
The Covington Catholic mother wrote, “Shame on you! Were you there? Did you hear the names the people where calling these boys? It was shameful. Did you witness the black Muslims yelling profanities and video taping trying to get something to futher (sic) your narrative of hatred?? Did you know that this “man” came up to this one boy and drummed in his face? Shame on you. Only reporting what you want. More fake news.”
Somehow, the woman was attaching the behavior of the African Americans to the Indigenous group, who we don’t see yelling any profanities in any video at the teens.
When the Heavy reporter thanked her for the correspondence and explained that it would be added to the story, she demanded her emails be erased.
Nathan Phillips, the 64-year-old Vietnam Veteran and Native American elder who found himself being mocked and taunted by a group of high school boys from Covington, Kentucky, shared his view of the appalling incident with The Washington Post.
Phillips, who was singing the American Indian Movement song 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 the 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 and finish my song at the Lincoln Memorial,’ ” 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.”
Phillips kept drumming and singing, thinking about his wife, Shoshana, who died of bone marrow cancer nearly four years ago, and the various threats that face indigenous communities around the world, he said.
“I felt like the spirit was talking through me,” Phillips said.
Defenders of the young boys shared on social media a video clip that appeared to show Phillips approaching the school group at one point.
They claimed Phillips was the instigator, but other witnesses say Phillips saw the teens taunting another group and was trying to peacefully defuse a situation before it escalated.
More from The Post:
Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney with the Lakota People’s Law Project, said the incident lasted about 10 minutes and ended when Phillips and other activists walked away.
Phillips and the people involved in the Indigenous Peoples March had been using what he described as a “permitted space” near the Lincoln Memorial for hours. But as they were wrapping up, other people with opposing viewpoints — including some from the March for Life — had entered that permitted space and were making demonstrations of their own.
He told The Post that he hoped to get closer to the Lincoln Memorial to conclude the ceremony. That’s when he encountered the large group of boys.
“It was an aggressive display of physicality. They were rambunctious and trying to instigate a conflict,” Iron Eyes said. “We were wondering where their chaperones were. [I] was really trying to defuse the situation.”
Five years ago this weekend, HBO premiered LOOKING, it’s pioneering dramedy about a group of 30-something friend making their way through the exciting, and sometimes challenging, options available to contemporary gay men living in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The year was 2014, and the fight for marriage equality was quickly gaining momentum in the courts. The LGBTQ community was making progress in social and legal arenas, often on a near-daily basis.
The series explored that progress of acceptance through its three leads, as they searched to find their place in a world with ever-shifting ground.
Modern love, professional fulfillment, intimacy, happiness and an appreciation for self-awareness were the goals for ‘Patrick’ (Jonathan Groff), ‘Agustin’ (Frankie J. Alvarez), and ‘Dom’ (Murray Bartlett).
At the time, many in the LGBTQ community complained and criticized the show, unfairly in my opinion.
I saw the series as thoughtful, smart and honest.
I was especially drawn to Jonathan Groff’s ‘Patrick’ for often overthinking his straightjacketed emotions.
And the season 2 addition of Daniel Franzese as lovable bear ‘Eddie,’ who has no time for self-doubt, was refreshing.
The series also utilized current pop music in clever, subliminal ways.
The first episode of season 2 ended with our heroes searching for, and finally, attending a dance party in the woods, grooving along to the strains of Hercules and Love Affair’s “Blind.” (Looking/Blind – lost in the forest – get it?)
Check out the promo videos from the two seasons of LOOKING below. You can find the entire series now on HBO NOW.
Social media has recently embraced a trend of posting side-by-side pictures of yourself in 2009 (or thereabouts) and in 2019, to show the world how life has treated you over the years. I thought I’d do a round-up of notable LGBTQs, Instagram faves and more who have been taking part in the “How hard did aging hit you?” challenge, aka the “10 Year Challenge.” Maybe it’s me, but I think most folks look way better with the additional decade than before. Some of the posts have been humorous, and many definitely inspiring. Scrolling through the side-by-side pics, there are folks who have seriously age-defying DNA (or very good at FaceTune), and some are literally different people. Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it? Let’s take a look. Eliad Cohen looked great in swim suit ten years ago, but the “Papa Party” prez is just that much hotter today.
A post shared by Caitlyn Jenner (@caitlynjenner) on Jan 15, 2019 at 8:44am PST
And then there’s superstar Mariah Carey, who admits she really doesn’t get the point of the ten year challenge. Writes Mimi, “Time is not something I acknowledge.”
Donald Trump, in a national address from the White House, offered a temporary extension of protections for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion to fund his beloved wall.
In casting the proposal as a compromise, Mr. Trump sought to shift pressure to Democrats to end the government shutdown.
The president, delivering a 13-minute address from the White House, said he would extend the legal status of those facing deportation and support bipartisan legislation that would allow some immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children, known as Dreamers, to keep their work permits and be protected from deportation for three more years if they are revoked.
“That is our plan,” Mr. Trump said. “Straightforward, fair, reasonable and common sense with lots of compromise.” The proposal, Mr. Trump said, was intended to “break the logjam and provide Congress with a path forward.”
But he reiterated his demand for $5.7 billion in funding for a border barrier, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of his remarks that she considered his proposal a “nonstarter,” in part because it offered no permanent pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
I agree with Pelosi. If he wants a permanent wall, then we want permanent protections for the DACA Dreamers.
Last year, Republicans rejected a Democratic bill for $25 billion in border wall funding in return for DACA amnesty.
It’s worth noting that Trump himself started the issue with DACA. So, now he’s merely offering a temporary solution for a mess he made.
As expected, President Trump offered Democrats temporary protections for so-called “Dreamers” in exchange for border funding. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has signalled that the Democrats will reject the proposal. https://t.co/w1zo5dcUuy
What is original in the President’s proposal is not good. What is good in the proposal is not original. Democrats will vote next week to add additional border security funding for ports of entry, advanced technology for scanning vehicles for drugs & immigration judges.
It was President @realDonaldTrump who single-handedly took away DACA and TPS protections in the first place—offering some protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking.
Trump ordered the end of DACA and TPS. Then he shut down the government. Now he’s holding federal workers hostage, saying he’ll temporarily give back what he took away—only if we give him a pointless, ineffective wall he falsely promised Mexico would pay for. This is a bad deal.
Trump’s almost impossible proposition: he wants a PERMANENT wall for a TEMPORARY extension for Dreamers and TPS recipients. (Or $ 5.7 B for 230 miles of new wall/metal barriers for extending DACA and TPS for 3 years.) It seems unfair. Why not permanent for permanent?
Trump stole DACA protections from all the Dreamers. Now he wants us to give him a wall in exchange for 3 years of deportation protection so he can deport them later when it’s finished.
Covington Catholic High School student attempted to harass & intimidate a Native American elder and Vietnam Veteran
Update on the hideous incident involving pro-Trump, MAGA hat-wearing high school students from Covington, Kentucky, who harassed Native American elder and Vietnam Veteran, Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial Mall yesterday.
Covington Catholic High School is the only Catholic school in the diocese, so the the church is definitely getting involved.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, along with the school, acknowledged the situation Saturday afternoon, saying the matter is being investigated.
Laura Keener, of the diocese, released the following statement:
“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 matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.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.”
In related news, it turns out these hateful brats aren’t the only problems in Covington, Kentucky.
He was arrested and faces three felony charges: One of rape and two of sodomy.
This is some high school, huh?
Boone County deputies say Jake Walter, a one-time Covington Catholic basketball standout, held a woman down this weekend and repeatedly raped her until she bled.
Trending on Twitter right now, a group of students, who some say are from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, appear to mock & intimidate a Native American protestor at the Indigenous Peoples March yesterday in Washington, DC.
On Covington’s Twitter account (which has been switched to private due to this video), the school describes itself as “Educating Young Men Spiritually, Academically, Physically and Socially.”
Does this kid look ‘spiritually’ educated?
The school’s online schedule shows students were in DC to participate in the March for Life. This episode apparently happened after they took part in that march.
Here’s another video of these kids harassing this Native American protestor. The ignorance, the bigotry, is infuriating. This is not the future of this nation.
The Native American elder that MAGA racists mocked is Vietnam veteran Nathan Phillips. He holds a regular ceremony for Native American veterans buried at Arlington.
So the racists who claim kneeling dishonors Vets—just dishonored a Veteran to his face😑https://t.co/Mdb3Ng6Dho
The Native American protestor showed true strength and integrity in the face of bigotry. He was not intimidated or defeated in any way. https://t.co/poUG0ivB8g
Dear Principal Bob Rowe of Covington Catholic High School in Covington Kentucky: your students acted like a gang of Brownshirt Nazis yesterday by surrounding, intimidating, and denigrating Native Americans.
I’m an all-male Catholic high school alum. I am extremely disgusted.
Axios‘ Jonathan Swan is reporting Donald Trump plans to offer passage of the BRIDGE Act for DACA recipients to Democrats today in exchange for the $5.7 billion he wants for his beloved wall.
President Trump plans to use remarks from the Diplomatic Reception Room on Saturday afternoon to propose a notable immigration compromise, according to sources familiar with the speech.
Details: The offer is expected to include Trump’s $5.7 billion demand for wall money in exchange for the BRIDGE Act — which would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — and also legislation to extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, according to a source with direct knowledge.
