By Currents News Staff
**Warning: the video contained in this report contains strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
New video emerges in a story that has gone viral between Catholic school students and a Native American elder named Nathan Phillip.
Phillips found himself surrounded by students- one staring him down, the others chanting around him. Phillips says he was trying to create calm between two groups at odds.
“I realized I had put myself in a really dangerous situation,” Phillips says, “You know there’s like, here’s a group of people who were angry at somebody else and I put myself in front of that and all of sudden I’m the one who all that anger and all that wanting to have the freedom to just rip me apart.”
Video shows what happened long before Phillips shows up. Five black men who identify as Hebrew Israelites are preaching. They start taunting people of all colors: other black visitors, natives and a Catholic priest.
“That’s make America great again. A bunch of child molesting fa*****,” they yell.
This is the moment that group is aware of the students — some wearing Make America Great Again hats.
At first the Catholic students are there in small numbers. But more and more students begin to gather, watching with few weighing in. The small group of men continues taunting them. The students begin to react but do not approach the men. The black Israelites continue to condemn the kids.
“You worship blasphemy,” they say, “We’ve got angels that work for us.”
Then one of the students takes off his shirt and the group begins chanting. Two minutes later, you hear a drum beat: Phillips and another native drummer. He says it was an attempt to thwart potential violence. The kids dance to it and some begin chanting along with the native song.
But for those who think they were enjoying each other’s company, Phillips says that is not at all how it felt; especially because of the student standing before him.
Phillips says he felt “fear, not for myself, but fear for the next generations. Fear where this country’s going. Fear for those youths. Fear for their future, fear for their souls, their spirit, their — their what they’re gonna do to this country.”
Nick Sandmann, the student in the video, released a statement on the incident Sunday, saying Phillips confronted him and singled him out. He denied blocking or provoking Phillips and said his family has received death threats after the video surfaced online. Sandmann said he’s given his account to his local diocese and will cooperate with their investigation of the incident.