The Native American activist at the center of the Covington Catholic school controversy, Nathan Phillips, has modified his story here and there, but the video evidence says it all. Those boys didn’t “harass” him. The original narrative was FALSE.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, a local restauranteur offered to pay to have Phillips meet with the kids to solve their misunderstandings.
On Monday, Ruby offered to fly Phillips first class to have dinner with the CovCath students at one of his high-end restaurants.
Phillips initially refused.
“It’s not the right time,” he said. “I might consider it at some point. There’d have to be certain assurances in place, give and take, and understanding.”
Well, it sounds like he’s already changing his mind. Here’s the big update:
He’s offering to travel as a delegate representing the international coalition behind the Indigenous Peoples March to Covington Catholic High School in and have a dialogue 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.”
Now, he says he’d like to use what occurred as a teachable moment.
By that, I hope he means it’ll be a teachable moment for HIM as well. I doubt it though. He doesn’t seem to think he did anything wrong. He even disputed Nick Sandmann’s statement.
“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 said. “But I have faith that human beings can use a moment like this to find a way to gain understanding from one another.”
“So, let’s create space for the teaching of tolerance to happen,” he added.
We’ll see if this actually comes to fruition.