The Nathan Phillips Social Media Storm & Interpretations for Education and Tribal Communities

The Nathan Phillips Social Media Storm & Interpretations for Education and Tribal Communities

After the incident between the Covington Catholic students (participants of the Right to Life March) and Nathan Phillips (Native American participant in the Indigenous Rights March) began to be shared by people online, a storm of social media reporting became available to those of us at home with an interest of "What's going on in Washington," and we were quickly thrown "into the mix."  People (like myself)  then proceeded to gather our news from our plethora of sources, including social media.

When the story of Nathan Phillips, elder from the Omaha Nation, and his group became involved in a "situation" at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, January 19, 2019, at first it caught little attention. But by mid-day on Sunday, January 20, 2019, a slew of various views began to storm the Internet from what some will call "The Far Left," which portrayed the Catholic school boys as "MAGA hat wearing little dipshits" whom a good many commented "would like to wipe that smirk off his privileged little face." (quotes from social media). 

Lest not forget the extreme reporting that ensued on "The Far Right," which then, vilified Nathan Phillips, elder and veteran man from the Native community and highlighted the school as impeccable in their response as the young Nick Sandmann "Stood His Ground." Hence, after a day or two to expose all camera angles of the confrontation, attempts at salvaging the character of the children and the image of the school; a response by Covington Catholic School boys was issued, specifically by Nick Sandmann, after having hired a PR firm, then led to a spot on "The Today Show" this morning.  

Let's just say that by Tuesday morning, I honestly, after hearing about it on all sides, wanted to shut down my social media for 30 days.  I didn't feel betrayed by the media; I felt an overwhelming reaction to the reaction of others; who reacted as I had expected them to.  I am reminded of the saying: "There are three sides to every story. One person's side; the other person's side; and the truth."

It's a great saying, but in this story, there are actually four sides. The side that I picked up on right away but, like most, didn't pay attention to, was the Black Hebrew group of just a few men who had actually been the group engaged in a conflict with the school boys.

So, I'm going to try to give a synopsis, with as little glitter as possible, as to what happened, though I was not there. 

The Black Hebrew group of marchers or protestors were engaged in a conflict with a group of young men from a Kentucky Catholic School, Covington Catholic. These young men were attending the "Right to Life Movement" with chaperones and had been yelling at the Black Hebrew group and were being yelled at as well. Nathan Phillips, Omaha Nation elder and friend, was with other indigenous, Native American people who were ending their March for Indigenous Rights. The groups somehow all ended up at the Lincoln Memorial at the same time. Some banter between all sides had ensued. Sometime during these epitaphs being yelled between groups, Nathan Phillips decided to try and diffuse the tension, and he began to sing the American Indian Movement song. While he was singing, student Nick Sandmann stared at Phillips in the eye and stood directly in front of him. The students from Covington Catholic began what they report were "sports cheers" and "Tomahawk chops" and some jeers were also reported. Evidently the students were thereafter informed that their bus had arrived, and they stopped and ran to their bus. The situation was then pretty much over.

Parts of the story that would most easily be open for argument, I skipped over, because at this point, I do not want to argue. As a Native person myself, I just want to support my friend Nathan, speak a little about how I came to know Nathan, and a little bit about his character as he has demonstrated to me. 

I met Nathan one arctic, December morning, just a few days before Christmas in 2016, at the top of the big hill entrance into Sacred Stone Camp (Standing Rock Sioux Reservation). I had been sitting there for about half an hour, not wanting to wake security, drinking my coffee and watching as the lights across the river to the drill pad were shut off; and as the first light barely broke through in the sky.  I was alone, and had just left my hotel in a huge U-Haul truck loaded down with wood, pulling a trailer with wood for camp. Though I am a farmer/rancher's daughter, I cannot drive anything very well with a trailer on, and had woken up that morning pretty stressed out about having to drive those trucks, loaded down, into a river bed, before it began to thaw the few hours it might thaw mid-day. My crew had headed back home because we had entered in the night before in near-blizzard conditions, and I had about 12 hours to get back out of Standing Rock if I was going to be home with my own children in Rosebud at Christmas.

I reminded myself of the simple prayer, "Whatever you need, will come right into your path." And I prayed, "Tunkasila you know more than me what I need, and I trust that You know that I am here to do Your work, and that You will put whatever and whomever I need today in my path."

It was with prayer and some caffeine that I ended up on top of that hill, waiting and wondering, with the motor running, just how I was going to pull this wood haul off. I had the one loaded down truck I was driving; and I had one more back at the Casino parking lot to haul in too.  

That was when I saw a tall, Native man walking toward me. As he got near to the truck, I rolled the window down and said, "Good Morning." Conversation ensued, and I soon asked, "Do you know how to drive a truck?" Nathan replied that he did; and I then said, "Do you think you could help me drive this truck down into the river bed and get it back out without getting stuck?" Nathan replied, "Yes, I think I can. I used to drive a truck." So, I took him at his word and said, "Okay, let's go get the other truck!"

Nathan got both of those trucks down into the river bed nicely, and it was a pretty nervous moment when he went up the hill with the first truck and trailer after we emptied it out of all the wood we had brought in from the Rosebud. I keep thinking to myself, "Man, if he gets stuck, I am not going to get out of here today," because in the back of my mind, we still had to drop trucks off in Bismarck, pick up my car from my friend David Demo, get groceries and supplies for my crew and provide for the short list given to me from crew and from campers, and then drive myself back home (about 5 hours) south to my kids before it started to snow again.

My new friend pulled through! One of the best moments ever was watching him walk down that hill and make it back to the river bed.  We were working on unloading the second truck by this time. The helicopters were whirling above us, and I was joking with the people helping us unload, saying, "Man, the government must be really disappointed that all they will see is wood!" More colorful screams erupted from time to time as the helicopters came near and hovered above, campers shouting, "No DAPL!"

With the second truck and trailer unloaded, Nathan and I jumped in the truck cab and took deep breaths. We didn't even say anything, but we both knew it was one of those "make or break moments."  We had unloaded by "Yurt Village" at Sacred Stone Camp, which was just beyond the "Back Gate" and down in the actual riverbed of the Cannonball River. There was a kitchen down there, and many of the campers were having a hard time going to the top of the hill to get wood; so it was a high risk to sink and get stuck anywhere between the riverbed and the top of the hill having that truck down where it was. With a silence we started out, and he gunned the engine just a little bit as we approached the big incline to get out of the riverbed. The truck and trailer easily cleared the top of the bank and caught firm dirt under its tires, and with windows down, we both threw a fist out and screamed, "HOKA HEY!"

This is one of my most memorable moments of the Movement at Standing Rock. It was a moment of victory. We had overcome so much; and my main objective had been done.  We did get those trucks back, and I learned a lot about Nathan Phillips, and came to call him my friend.

I learned that it was only about a year since his wife passed away, leaving behind a youngest daughter who was still a minor.  We went shopping for camp and I took him to Kmart and told him to buy anything that they needed.  He bought food and clothing, and was very humble about everything. We shared some food and bought some more for his daughter, and went to Old Navy to buy her warm clothing for Christmas.  I made sure they gave him boxes for Christmas at checkout.  As the weeks went by, I tried to stay in touch with him and assist however I could. And Nathan became apart of the Movement in an increasing way as the government and Tribe and community of Cannonball began to order the camps' shutdowns. I was eating dinner with him the night before the "Main Camp Takeover" and he was worried about his daughter, Alethea, who had insisted on staying there overnight. 

Nathan continued his activism in the community that had come from the fringes of the Standing Rock Movement. Nathan and his daughter had arrived at Standing Rock about the time that the veterans did and the first thing that happened was they were snowed in at camp, without much resource at all. It was a bit of a blessing to us both, to have met one another. We became allies, and are still allies, in the rights of indigenous peoples. 

The Teaching Implications of this happening with the Covington Catholic school students, Nathan, and other group is an example of so many things. The teachable moments are endless.  But I will say two things in final response:

1.) Native American people are forgiving people; many of whom are also Catholic. It is with no reservation that I can state that forgiveness will be given to all in any instance where it needs to be given. Perhaps it will take some more time than others, but a peace will quickly be restored.

2.) Native American people do not forget. We come from an oral tradition. And as best said by Megan Red Shirt-Shaw on her public Twitter account, "I don't need 15 camera angles or 500 news articles - I just need 1 shot of that face. We don't need conspiracy theories, the Native community knows exactly who this kid is, who all these kids are, and that's all that matters."

Wopila, pilamaye.