[ Kurly Tlapoyawa ]

A bizarre and hate–fueled event unfolded in Washington DC, following the Indigenous People’s March on Friday, January 18th. The trouble began when Students from Covington Catholic High School, who were in Washington to attend the “March for Life” rally began taunting a group of black men who appear to be Hebrew Israelites near the Lincoln Memorial.

As the group of men exchanged words with the MAGA wearing high schoolers (who look like a bunch of pre-pubescent Hitler youth), Vietnam Veteran and Water Protector Nathan Philips took up his hand drum and began to sing in an effort to defuse the situation.

The following video captures the moment when Nathan steps in:

 

 

To no ones surprise, the trumpitos immediately surrounded Nathan and began to mock him, chanting wildly and attempting to drown him out. One little shit-stain in particular stood directly in front of Nathan as he sang:

 

 

A woman who was present at the event tweeted the following:

The few of use left lingering to chat and  meet were confronted and surrounded by 50-70 young people wearing Trump’s hats, T-shirt’s and other apparel.

The group consisted of mostly white men who sought to intimidate, mock and scare us with a mob mentality in order to silence a demonstration that was mostly concluded.

The group outnumbered us and enclosed our small group, chanting ‘build the wall’ and other trumpisms.

The group was clearly looking for ANY opportunity to get violent and they consistently infringed upon our space, inching closer and closer, bumping into us and daring us to get physical.

They surrounded us, screaming, cajoling, and mocking the elder singer with intentionally disrespectful dancing and attempting to chant/sing louder than him.

He did not break focus or move an inch for the entirety of the encounter.

And perhaps the saddest part of all is that his son was medicine to calm the anger and toxicity of these men.

The reaction on social media was immediate, with people being encouraged to call the High School and voice their displeasure. Of course, the Catholic Church isn’t exactly known for giving a shit about Native people, so who knows what effect such phone calls will have.

Congresswoman Deb Haaland tweeted the following:

Nothing so perfectly encapsulates the current state of this country than the image of a young, right-wing white male wearing a MAGA hat and pathetically trying to intimidate a Native American Vietnam veteran.

This is America, folks.

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, author, and ethnohistorian. His research focuses primarily on the interaction between Mesoamerica, Western Mexico, and the American Southwest. Kurly has lectured at UNLV, University of Houston, and Yale University on topics related to Mesoamerica. His recent book, “Our Slippery Earth: Nawa Philosophy in the Modern Age” was published in 2017. In addition to his work in Archaeology and Ethnohistory, Kurly is a professional stuntman with over 35 credits to his name. Follow Kurly on twitter @KurlyTlapoyawa Enjoy this article? Become a patron and support independent, Indigenous media!

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Interested in learning more about Mesoamerican ritual and cosmovision? Check out our new book “Our Slippery Earth: Nawa Philosophy in the Modern Age” available on Amazon.com. In it, I discuss basic themes of Nawa philosophy, and how these themes can be practiced in the modern age.