In late afternoon, when the last group of the March participants were still on the Plaza beside the Reflecting Pool, an incident occurred involving a small group of March participants including Omaha tribe member Nathan Phillips, five Black Hebrew Israelites men, and dozens of Covington Catholic High School teenage students on a school trip arriving at their meeting place after attending the pro-lifeMarch for Life rally. In the wake of the widespread sharing of more detailed video clips, media analyses of the videos, and statements, public opinion became polarized, with some claiming the students were completely absolved of all wrongdoing and others saying they were disrespectful of a Native American elder on a day that should have been a celebration of the first Indigenous Peoples' March.[6]
Context
The goal of the march was to build on the momentum of the 2016–2017 Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests, which had drawn attention to concerns of indigenous peoples globally.[2][7][Notes 1] The organizers of the "grassroots effort"[8] included indigenous leaders, tribes, and celebrities, many of whom were part of the Indigenous Peoples Movement.[9][10]
The Indigenous Peoples March which took place the day before the third annual Women's March, was a grassroots effort intended to "unite indigenous groups globally, not just in the United States, according to The Herald Sun.[3]
Event organizers
The main organizers of the event were Cliff Matias[11] and Nathalie Farfan.[12]
Farfan is an Ecuadorian Indigenous woman who co-hosts the Latina feminist podcast Morado Lens[13] and New Jersey-based La Brujas Club spiritual wellness community.[14]
Matias is a director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council in Brooklyn, New York[15] He had previously organized the Standing Rock Protests and New York City area pow-pows and Indigenous Peoples' Day events,[16] and claims heritage in both the Taíno (Puerto Rican) and Quechua (Peruvian) indigenous traditions. [17]
Program
The march began at the Interior Department, proceeded to the Lincoln Memorial, for an all-day rally, where Indigenous leaders addressed the crowd at the memorial. The evening program consisted of a fundraising concert at the Songbyrd Music House.[18]
Prior to the march procession starting, prayers were held on the steps of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Indigenous elders continued to speak, sing, and drum even as a concurrent March for Life rally "began to overlap the Indigenous Peoples Movement among the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial."[10] The day ended with a round dance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with chants of "We are still here."[23]
Organizers expected about 10,000 people would attend.[3]Native News Online said that "thousands of American Indians, Alaska Natives, American Samoa, Australia and other indigenous peoples from various parts of the world" attended the march.[8]
A delegation representing eight tribes from Oklahoma included Reverend David Wilson, a member of the Choctaw Nation and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference superintendent. Wilson said that half of his group were young American Indian Methodists in the group ranging in age from 20 to 32 "who are more inclined to work on issues of social justice, more so than other generations.... Social justice is in their DNA".[25] Women carrying a banner calling attention to missing Indigenous women wore red, and one woman carried a red dress, a symbol of the missing Indigenous women.[10]
Filmmaker and visual anthropologist Queen Melé Le'iato Tuiasosopo Muhammad Ali, whose mother is American Samoan and father is African American, shared the health issues faced by American Samoa and Pacific Islanders during her speech.[26][27]
In the late afternoon on January 19, 2019, when two rallies (Indigenous Peoples March and March for Life) taking place that day at the National Mall had ended, an incident occurred at the Lincoln Memorial involving five Black Hebrew Israelites men, Covington Catholic High School teenage students on an annual school trip to attend a pro-life March for Life rally, and Native American marchers. The first short videos of the encounter that were uploaded to Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube received millions of views.[28] A photo of one of the students wearing a MAGA hat standing face-to-face with Nathan Phillips as he beat on a ceremonial drum was published in numerous mass media outlets. The first social media video clips were short and focused on this moment, leading to harsh criticism of the high school students, who some described as mocking and harassing the elder. Some people affiliated with the March described the boys as appearing threatening due to their numbers, actions, and the "Make America Great Again" caps and clothing that some wore.[6] By the next day, January 20, longer videos had been uploaded, revealing how the encounter had unfolded. Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the crowd of students,[1] in what he said was an attempt to defuse what Phillips perceived to be a brewing conflict between the students and the group of five men, later identified as Black Hebrew Israelites, who had been taunting the students.[29]
Over the next several days, statements from a spokesperson for the March, from an attorney for the Lakota People's Law Project, from Nicholas Sandmann, the student seen in the video standing face to face with Phillips, which was prepared with the help of a publications relations firm hired by his family,[30][31][32] and statements from other officials, each offered different perspectives on the incident. In the wake of the widespread sharing of more detailed video clips, media analyses of the videos, and statements, public opinion became polarized, with some saying the students were completely absolved of all wrongdoing and others saying the students were disrespectful of a Native American elder on a day that should have been a celebration of the first Indigenous Peoples March.[6][33][34]
^Reinstein, Julia; Baer, Stephanie K. (January 20, 2019). "The MAGA Hat–Wearing Teens Who Taunted A Native American Elder Could Be Expelled". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved January 21, 2019. What we saw yesterday, the display surrounding Mr. Phillips, is emblematic of the state of our discourse in Trump's America. It clearly demonstrates the validity of our concerns about the marginalization and disrespect of Indigenous peoples, and it shows that traditional knowledge is being ignored by those who should listen most closely.
^Lee, Danielle (January 18, 2019). "First Indigenous Peoples March takes place in Washington DC". The Free Lance Star. Fredericksburg News. Retrieved January 25, 2019. Cliff Matias from New York City is part of the Kichwa/Taino tribe and a main organizer of the event. He directed the crowd at the first-ever Indigenous Peoples Movement in Washington D.C. through a red bullhorn, the same one he used during the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
^Rodriguez, Cindy. "Why I chose to do a podcast". www .therealurbanclassy .com. Retrieved January 25, 2019. I, along with a childhood friend, set out to create a podcast for women just like us, Latinas who live in the U.S. seeking to see themselves in a medium that wasn't already producing relatable content. We called it Morado Lens,... The second half of Morado Lens, Nathalie Farfan, has been building a community of #fellowbrujas focused on empowerment and mystical journeys, all in the name of Latina feminism.
^Jackson Connor (July 7, 2015). "Mayor of Whitesboro, N.Y., Insists This Village Seal Is Not Racist". The Village Voice. Retrieved January 25, 2019. The first thought that anyone has of this image is, 'There's some white guy killing an Indian, strangling an Indian,'?" Cliff Matias, director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council in Brooklyn,
^Licea, Melkorka (October 2, 2016). "Native American tribes maintaining anti-Columbus Day tradition". New York Post. Retrieved January 25, 2019. Members of 200 Native American tribes, who consider the Italian explorer more criminal than conqueror, will skip the Manhattan parade on Oct. 10 and instead descend on Randall's Island for the second annual Indigenous People's Day celebration. "I thought it was important to have a free day for people to come and learn about what Columbus Day really means. It's a blemish on our history that we choose to fabricate and reinvent," said Cliff Matias, 40, who is a Taino Indian, the director of the Red Hawk Native American Arts Council and the festival founder.
^Frazier, Ian (June 24, 2014). "Poll". New Yorker Magazine. Retrieved January 25, 2019. Matias is part Taíno and part Quechua; the first is a large Puerto Rican tribe, the second is Peruvian.
^Ryan, Lisa (January 18, 2019). "Mob of MAGA Hat-Wearing Teen Boys Caught on Video Harassing Native Elder". The Cut. Retrieved January 19, 2019. The Cut quoted an Instagram post, "As we tried to move through the crowd, they closed in tighter around us, and wouldn't allow anyone to pass. It was obvious that they wanted any excuse for the day to turn violent. They repeatedly 'bumped' into us, trying to agitate people into confrontation. But instead, the very few of us left stood quietly, trying to remain calm. I was seething with anger and rage and disappointment. I was so confused about why these boys would go out of their way to harass such a small, vulnerable group."
^Condon, Ed. "Basilica confirms Nathan Phillips protest attempted Mass disruption". Retrieved January 25, 2019. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has confirmed that protesters led by the Native American activist Nathan Phillips attempted to disrupt the celebration of Mass on the evening of Jan. 19... The statement said that while Mass was being celebrated, "a group of approximately 50 individuals attempted to gain entrance to the basilica while chanting and hitting drums" ... A California seminarian present at the shrine during the demonstration told CNA that protesters could be heard "banging on the doors" of the basilica after they were locked out.
^Beinart, Peter (January 2, 2019). "There's a Reason Many Voters Have Negative Views of Warren—But the Press Won't Tell You Why". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 3, 2019. The better explanation for why Warren attracts disproportionate conservative criticism, and has disproportionately high disapproval ratings, has nothing to do with her progressive economic views or her dalliance with DNA testing. It's that she's a woman.
