Covington Catholic High School students ‘wore blackface’ to basketball pep rallies
Covington Catholic High School has landed in even more hot water after photos and video have emerged showing students wearing blackface to sporting events.
This comes after students were filmed taunting Native American Vietnam war veteran Nathan Phillips in Washington.
The students had been a part of the anti-abortion March for Life rally, which happened at the same time as the Indigenous Peoples March.
Unearthed images and video clips were uploaded on YouTube (and since deleted) and the post was titled, ‘Compilation video of the Colonel Crazies from over the past decade. With a Spirit that Will Not Die!'
Footage of pep rallies - a student gathering just before sports games in America as a show of spirit - shows some of the students covered in black paint.
The high school hasn’t commented on the images, and its website and Facebook page have been shut down.
There are several images of students dressed in hunting clothes attending Braveheart marches. In 2011 there was one student whose entire upper body was painted black as he attended a ‘blackout’ event.
In 2012, during an event called Hillshire Farm, two students covered their upper bodies in black paint.
The confrontation between the 64-year-old Native American war veteran and students shows some of them standing very close to the man. A number of them wore Make America Great Again hats and hoodies, and the mob of students jeered and laughed at Phillips.
One student in a MAGA hat squared up to him. He was later identified as Nick Sandmann, who claims he was just trying to "diffuse the situation".
He released a statement about what happened, and insisted he hadn’t heard his party shout ‘build the wall’ and defended his actions.
Trump also defended the actions of the students and accused the media of a smear campaign against them. However a woman and her friend released footage which shows some of the students allegedly acting rowdy before the incident with Nathan Phillips.
Last thing, for people wondering what they yelled, all we specifically heard was 'MAGA', 'Build the Wall', and some people say they hear 'slut' at the end of the video ok it's past my bedtime goodnight twitter.
Others have since come out to share their own experiences with discrimination at the school.
The school apologised for the events at Lincoln Memorial: "We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general."
We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behaviour is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.
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