Nathan Phillips says CovCath teens were disrespectful after investigation clears them

CINCINNATI – An investigation commissioned by the Diocese of Covington (Kentucky) cleared Covington Catholic High School students Wednesday of wrongdoing.

But Nathan Phillips, the Native American elder who sang before the chanting students, stands by his "original observation that the situation seemed potentially dangerous" and that the students were disrespectful.

Phillips played a drum before students last month on the National Mall. Some students performed the tomahawk chop, which many Native Americans find racially insensitive.

Phillips issued a statement through the Lakota People's Law Project to Indian Country Today, reiterating that he felt compelled to sing between the students and the Black Hebrew Israelites to serve as a "peacemaker."

"I ask everybody to remember what we all saw – students performing a culturally-appropriated ‘school chant’ and the tomahawk chop just feet away from me on that fateful day," Phillips said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nathan-phillips-says-covcath-teens-were-disrespectful-after-investigation-clears-them/ar-BBTEdg8?li=BBnb7Kz