Native American activist Chase Iron Eyes told MSNBC on Monday that despite spin to the contrary, the Covington Catholic High School students were indeed harassing Native American elder Nathan Phillips, and the video proves it.
“The young MAGA-swag, hat-wearing kids numbering between 60 and 100, obviously felt antagonized” by the Black Israelites, said Iron Eyes. The group has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
“What we perceived was a very tense situation,” he added. “Our elder, Nathan Phillips did what he thought he could offer, and stand in a peaceful and prayerful way, and try to diffuse that situation.” He urged Americans to ignore the spin and watch the entire video.
Host Craig Melvin asked Iron Eyes if he was absolving the teenagers, and drew decidedly negative response.
“All you have to do is watch the video, and you’ll see them doing what’s known as the tomahawk chop,” he said. “We’re in a city that has a textbook racial slur as their football team.”
“We have a racially charged environment with a president who is giving license to this behavior,” Iron Eyes continued. “These kids show up being very loud, very disruptive, and doing the tomahawk chop, it is on video, making the fake war whoop we all know how to make.”
“It doesn’t matter how people spin it,” he said. “Our elder felt threatened there.”
Watch the video below.