Native American elder Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam War veteran, may not be a household name, but his presence has been felt across social media where a video captures him hand drumming amid a throng of taunting white youths adorned with Make America Great Again caps.
The group of white youths appear to be harassing Phillips as he sang and participated in an Indigenous People’s March near a March for Life rally in the nation’s capital in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial last Friday.
There is some debate about what actually occurred at the event that included several African-American Israelites and what words were exchanged between the groups. Some accounts state that Phillips was merely attempting to calm things between the Black Hebrew Israelites and the youths.
Our attention was drawn mainly from seeing the students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky demonstrating with a number of them wearing MAGA hats. They were there as part of an anti-abortion rally.
From their caps and their chants of “build the wall” and “Trump 2020,” it’s easy to deduce the purposes of the young people assembled there.
This was obviously a perfect moment for Trump to wade into the situation Monday night during a chat with Tucker Carlson on Fox News and in a tweet Tuesday.
He said the students had been treated unfairly. “…the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be,” he tweeted. “They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good—maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!”
We are not surprised by his involvement in the confrontation nor by his position in support of the students. Many of us will never forget his response to African-American athletes in the NFL who kneeled to protest police brutality and his comments about the rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.
All of this furor and standoffs coming in the wake of the celebration of Dr. King’s birthday is yet another reminder of just how far we have to go in bringing about racial harmony, a trip made even longer and more challenging in the time of Trump.
By inserting himself into the turmoil he brings only blame, not balm as Phillips was trying to do. His taking of sides in such affairs only fuels the rancor, only intensifies the discord, which is just the kind of distraction he seeks with the government shutdown a month long with no end in sight.
The gap between the young people from Covington and the elder from Michigan is deeply troubling and a sad example of a divide, a chasm that can only be bridged by understanding. Make America Great Again—Trump Must Go!
