3:04
- ABC News
- January 21, 2019
Video of teens taunting Native Americans now viral
A series of viral videos is sparking outrage across the political spectrum.
3:04
Then, in a blistering statement posted to her verified Facebook account shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes called the viral videos “horrific.”
“In spite of these horrific scenes, I refuse to shame and solely blames these children for this type of behavior. Instead, I turn to the adults and administration that are charged with teaching them, and to those who are silently letting others promote this behavior.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/native-american-taunted-ugc-mo-20190119_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
“This is not the Kentucky we know and love. I call on the Covington Catholic High School to denounce this behavior. As a proud alumnae of a Catholic High School, I hope a school that stands for ‘Building Minds. Living Faith.’ would not stand for this.”
Less than an hour later, the diocese of Covington and the Covington Catholic School issued a joint statement.
“We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general…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.”
Meanwhile, Twitter lit up over the incident, with many conservative voices condemning the hostility on display among the teens.
“The contrast between the calm dignity and quiet strength of Mr. Phillips and the behavior of the #MAGA brats who have absorbed the spirit of Trumpism – this spectacle is a lesson which all Americans can learn,” conservative commentator Bill Kristol, long a critic of the president, said in a tweet.
The contrast between the calm dignity and quiet strength of Mr. Phillips and the behavior of #MAGA brats who have absorbed the spirit of Trumpism--this spectacle is a lesson which all Americans can learn. https://t.co/EbXMa6Bbel
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 19, 2019
Earlier this week, Native Americans leaders called on Trump to apologize for invoking the Wounded Knee Massacre and the Battle of Little Bighorn in the course of mocking Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whom he often refers to derisively as “Pocahontas,” in a tweet.
If Senator Elizabeth Warren, (D-Mass.) often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash! pic.twitter.com/D5KWr8EPan
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019
Trump made fun of an Instagram video Warren released on New Year's Eve in which she drank a beer on camera. He tweeted, “If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash!”
The incident came three days after what would have been the 90th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and prompted a response from the assassinated civil rights icon's daughter, Bernice King.
\"We are not a post-racial or post-racism nation,\" Bernice King wrote on Twitter. \"Courageous people, like this Native elder, face overt racism and racist ideologies and systems each and every day. This is ugly, America. Truth, education and corrective action matter.\"
On Sunday, Bernice King tweeted, \"America has cowered in the drudgery of racism and bigotry for 400+ years. Colonialism and white supremacy have violently shaped systems, including education, across the globe. What we teach NOW matters. Our children are influenced by the hate OR the love we give. Choices.\"
We are not a post-racial or post-racism nation. Courageous people, like this Native elder, face overt racism and racist ideologies and systems each and every day. This is ugly, America. Truth, education and corrective action matter. https://t.co/VrF8tRr30S
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 19, 2019
America has cowered in the drudgery of racism and bigotry for 400+ years.
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 20, 2019
Colonialism and white supremacy have violently shaped systems, including education, across the globe.
What we teach NOW matters.
Our children are influenced by the hate OR the love we give.
Choices.
Vincent Schilling, the associate editor of Indian County Today, a website covering Native American issues, told ABC News that Phillips has told him in previous interviews about being spat on when he returned home from Vietnam and being taunted at subsequent indigenous peoples' rallies, including one where university students threw beer cans at him.
\"He's been the subject of racism and ridicule many times in his life,\" Schilling said. \"And to see him stand there and maintain his composure and resolve was just an incredible testament to his heart and his ability to be a warrior.\"
ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin and Chris Donovan contributed to this report.
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