Tribal elder Nathan Phillips wants to sit down with Covington Catholic kid who is spinning narrative to look innocent

Jan 24, 2019

Nathan Phillips, the Native American elder who made headlines after a standoff with Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, isn’t convinced the school boy is sincere after appearing on the Today Show.

But he said he’s willing to meet him and could even forgive him.

—Nick Sandmann on confrontation with Native American elder: ‘I had every right to do so.’—

“Coached and written up for him. Insincerity. Lack of responsibility. Those are the words I came up with, but then I went to go pray about it,” Phillips said Thursday on TODAY. “And then I woke up, and I woke up with this forgiving heart. So I forgive him.”

In a televised interview with the Today Show, Sandmann was not apologetic and appeared defiant of his critics saying, “I had every right to do so,” when he confronted Phillips as he beat his ceremonial drum footsteps from the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. during a traditional ceremony.

He continued: “As far as standing there, I had every right to do so. I don’t – I – my position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips. I respect him. I’d like to talk to him. I mean – in hindsight I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing.”

Phillips said after hearing Sandmann’s robotic response, he wants to meet the teen and other Covington Catholic students.

—WATCH: Racist video appears to show Covington Catholic students in Blackface—

“I have read the statement from Nick Sandmann, the student who stared at me for a long time. He did not apologize, and I believe there are intentional falsehoods in his testimony,” Phillips continued. “But I have faith that human beings can use a moment like this to find a way to gain understanding from one another.”

Phillips considers a meeting as a teachable moment and wants to take a trip to Covington Catholic High School as a delegate representing the international coalition behind the Indigenous Peoples March to open up a conversation about cultural appropriation, racism and the importance of listening to and respecting diverse cultures, he said in a news release.

“Race relations in this country and around the world have reached a boiling point,” said Phillips. “It is sad that on the weekend of a holiday when we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., racial hostility occurred on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”

The Indigenous Peoples March and the Lakota People’s Law Project are reportedly preparing for a meeting with Covington Catholic students, their community and Catholic Church officials, they said.

—The Magic of White Privilege: How the media is turning a smug faced teenager into a ‘bullied’ saint—

How Sandmann colonized the narrative

Phillips, like many others, is upset that Sandmann got a national platform and an opportunity to explain away his behavior on the Today Show.

The high school junior was far from apologetic and even defiant of his critics saying, “I had every right to do so.”

“Do you feel from this experience that you owe anybody an apology? Do you see your own fault in any way?”

Tune in to @NBCNightlyNews for a preview of @SavannahGuthrie‘s interview with Nick Sandmann. Full interview tomorrow on TODAY. pic.twitter.com/7Croh0Toyj

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 22, 2019

He in fact, colonized Phillips’ narrative, the tribal elder said, as Sandmann positioned himself as the peacemaker.

“He (Sandmann) stole my narrative,” Phillips said. “From the time I hit that first beat of the drum until I hit the last beat, I was in prayer. Now all of a sudden, he’s the prayer guy and the passive one,” he said.

Phillips is referencing Sandmann’s statement which said: “I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse (sic) the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.”

Phillips said he stepped in to diffuse the confrontation between the students and a few men from the Black Hebrew Israelites. He said he “was called by God” to step in.