WALSH: Nathan Phillips Is A Bully

All of the scorn, contempt, and outrage has been targeted at a bunch of children from a private school in Kentucky. If you were following mainstream media reports about the Covington Catholic incident in DC over the weekend, you may well forget that actual adults were also involved in the altercation.

A group of adults who call themselves the Black Hebrew Israelites kicked things off by shouting ethnic, racial, and anti-gay slurs at the students. The Left has focused entirely on rebuking the kids for their reaction to the taunts. Somehow the adults who made the taunts have escaped criticism. This, of course, is madness. But the BHI bullies are not even the biggest villains of the story. That honor goes to Nathan Phillips, Native American elder. Let’s review how this courageous hero, this advocate of peace and unity, has conducted himself:

Phillips inserted himself into a tense situation where children were being taunted and mocked by grown men. Phillips, rather than coming to the defense of the kids, instead invaded their space and began playing his drum in their faces. Immediately after the incident, in which he had involved himself by his own volition, he ran to the media and blatantly lied about the kids. He said that they surrounded him and wouldn’t let him leave. Video evidence proves this to be a lie. He says they chanted “build that wall,” which, again, video evidence contradicts. He tried to further provoke them and when he failed, he defamed them instead.

Okay, you think, maybe the man was just having a bad day. His behavior on Saturday was certainly bizarre, dishonest, and manipulative, but perhaps he’ll think better of it in the morning. Not so much. While his lies result in death threats and bomb scares, and these kids now live in fear of physical reprisals, and their school can’t even hold classes because of the hysteria he created, Phillips has only doubled and tripled down on his original slander. In various interviews (the man can’t get enough of the spotlight), he has called the boys a “lynch mob” and “beasts” and “beastly” and “scary.” He accused them of “looking for their pound of flesh.” I remind you, these boys and their families are getting death threats. Nathan Phillips, the wise elder, just continues to pour gasoline on the fire.

The media tells us that Phillips is just a kind old man who wants peace and understanding and harmony. Well, he has a funny way of showing it. Originally he turned down an offer to sit and break bread with the Covington students. Now he says he’ll come, but only to lecture the students and their parents about cultural appropriation. Meanwhile, he thinks the kids should possibly be expelled. He also wants various staff and administrators fired.

And then the cherry on the sundae: Phillips says that the Black Israelites were “saying some harsh things but some of it was true.” Which parts were true, Mr. Phillips? The parts where they called Native Americans “totem pole worshipers”? Or where they shouted “f*ggot”? Or where they called a black student at the school a “coon”? Or where they called the children “incest babies” and “future school shooters”? Nathan Phillips has taken the side of avowed racists who verbally assaulted a bunch of kids. Whatever credibility he had is now gone. Considering he had none at all, his credibility account has hit negative. He’s racking up overdraft penalties as we speak.

The media has canonized some absurdly unworthy characters in the past. This may be the most glaring example yet. Nathan Phillips is no hero. He is a bully.