A newly elected House Democrat just excoriated the group of MAGA hat-wearing student March for Life attendees in Washington, D.C. who were caught on video mocking and harassing a Native American war veteran while he sang and drummed in the Indigenous Peoples March.
Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) is one of two Native Americans that Democrats swept into office in last year’s blue wave election and was absolutely horrified by the display by the smug, MAGA-hat sporting white teens:
This Veteran put his life on the line for our country. The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking. https://t.co/NuPnYu9FP4
— Congresswoman Deb Haaland (@RepDebHaaland) January 19, 2019
It’s no surprise that the MAGA crowd would act shamefully when confronted with the person of a Native American given that President Donald Trump has spent the last year making racist jokes about “Pocahontas.”
Just last week, Trump posted an inflammatory tweet joking about the Wounded Knee massacre in South Dakota, when the US Army slaughtered over 300 unarmed Native Americans.
Even South Dakota’s reliably obedient Republican Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune condemned the President’s comments, but it’s obvious that his message of bigotry and hate is penetrating the teenage children of his followers.
Today, those high school students from Covington Catholic High are facing expulsion from school in the wake of their contemptuous acts.
The students chanted “build the wall” at Nathan Phillips, which is sadly ironic since their families all immigrated to the United States, as opposed to the Native American elder.
Afterward, Phillips spoke out after the MAGA students mocked him and pointed out poignantly that Native Americans never built walls. In fact, he pointed out that indigenous tribes lived in America for a millennium.
https://twitter.com/LeMeTellUSumtin/status/1086668786814644229
Europeans arrived by sea and committed genocide against the indigenous peoples with an early form of biological warfare followed by centuries of exploitation and oppression.
Sadly, if you asked Trump’s supporters who arrived first, they’d probably exclaim that they’re the only natives in this country, blissful in their ignorance and wise in their stupidity about the claim.
Democrats did the right thing by electing Rep. Haaland and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) to stand up for America’s only indigenous peoples against the bitter vitriol that Donald Trump spews against Native Americans. It’s far past time the real Americans had their voices heard in Congress.