Another Example of Blatant Disrespect

In class, we have been talking extensively about racism, the repercussions it has and the negative legacy that is left behind. From mistreatment and severe abuse to derogatory words and stereotypes. We understand that, in order for us to never allow something like this to occur, we need to learn from historical mistakes.

But… not everyone feels this way. 

What do you mean? Well, this story takes place in Washington, U.S. A student, who is from 

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Kentucky (see map), mockingly stood in front of an Indigenous Elder. The students, who go to an all-male, Catholic private school, were attending another march which relates to their personal/religious views. They came over to the Indigenous Peoples’ March and screamed things like, “Make America Great Again.” It is very clear that this student was aware of his malicious behaviour as he continues to smile while his terrible friends laugh and cheer him on. 

We have to applaud how Nathan Phillips reacted to this student. He remained calm and composed, and continued his chant. We could probably guess how: Lim, Mark, Berocious or Daniel would have reacted… enough said. 

You can watch the video clips and read the full article online here: 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/indigenous-march-student-mock-1.4985493

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So, it is time for you to weigh in. What are your thoughts about this issue? How did you feel when you watched the incident? Try to think about this critically by asking questions like: who, what, where, when, why or how? For example, I thought: where was this student’s teacher?  Also, what are your thoughts about what Phillips says: “When I was there singing, I heard them saying ‘Build that wall, build that wall…this is Indigenous land. We’re not supposed to have walls here. We never did.”

UPDATE: This student came on t.v. and told his side of the story. You can view it and read what he claims to be what happened. You will notice a few differences in the article below as opposed to the one above. 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/19/us/teens-mock-native-elder-trnd/index.html

Of course, it is your time to weigh in. What do you feel about what happened? What do you think might have been what truly transpired on that day? Do you think that these students were being disrespectful or racist, or were they just messing around and were unaware of their conduct? Please provide detailed responses of at least 20 (grade 5) – 25 (grade 6) sentences. 

   

31 thoughts on “Another Example of Blatant Disrespect

  1. kenrich1 says:

    So I don’t think is a problem but still it might pose a little bit of a threat. Let’s find out why? (Oof) I wll tell you why it is not a problem first. (Skip to 7 sentences if you are lazy for the why it is a problem :D. ) So if that boy wanted to stand in front of his face and on what he said on CBC he was just trying to be friendly. He didn’t want to cause harm. Another thing is that he didn’t get in his face the first it was later in the performance. Oh and kids have a mind of it’s own and that is why they are crazy. The man who was playing the drum… (Actually it was a group of people but whatever) anyways the elder what guy (I don’t know what he is) He didn’t mind so as long as they don’t mind you can do whatever you want to them (I recommend permission first.) Now I will tell you why it is not ok to do this whatever Dumb stuff that teen just did. (For people who don’t even give a S*** lol, here you go. Now go away. <:() Firstly,i t might not be safe. Sometimes when you do that they might beat the living crap out of you and people might yell at you like BOOOOOOOOOOO pretty much like that. (lol) Another thing is they really aren't to easy going. Ok I know for some people it isn like nice peeps like Vincent, Billy and Frederick but there are also peeps who aren't easy going like Mark, Lim and Bernice yup those kids XD. Also that is disrespecting people so like if you are a trump supporter and you get in a canadian face, that is disrespecting (One way at least) not only that some people who do that actually yell at them which could get you arrested. Well what is your opinion on this weird thing you think is ok, not ok like wat do you think. Oh and Bye.

  2. kevin48 says:

    I don’t know how bad it is but I think it is disrespecting the indigenous elder by standing in the way and having a mischievous grin on his face. They were laughing at the indigenous ceremony and their aboriginal song. They shouldn’t have been laughing because it is actually very serious to their culture. It is also very rude to run up to a performer and just stand in front of them. I sometimes do very daring things but I would never run up to a guy in a parade and block the performer in front of like 1,000,000 people and start grinning at them. It makes this teenager look very stupid and a big idiot. The thing that probably makes everything worse is that there are probably around one thousand people there wearing hats that said “Let’s make America Great Again!” Around like fifty people were wearing Trump shirts. Whenever Donald J Trump has something to do with it, it’s never good even if somebody’s just wearing a Donald Trump T-shirt. If I was that elder, I would have just smacked that teenager into the ground because the teenager would probably not fight back. But if he did fight back, I’m dead. I am shocked by how calm the old geezer was even though they were yelling “Make America Great Again!” and “Ho ha ha blab la bola!” and saying other random things. How does he become so calm when someone is blocking his way with a stupid smile and a bunch people teasing him and laughing at his cultures anthem! I saw a bunch of people in the video forming a wall and blocking the indigenous way so he turned around and bumped into the stupid idiot jerk teenager guy. The teenager probably used some of his Cristian background and used it for self-defence when he went on TV. He was really smart for doing that but its best if he just tell the truth so people won’t go more in depth with it. Come on man! Each new thing you say to protect yourself only makes it worse! Your mom is going to kill you after this situation! She’d probably kill you sometime soon because she already put you in a private school because you’re such an idiot! I will only write this much because its 2:59 and school is almost over!

  3. frederick1 says:

    I think that racist,rude, mean plus they did not care at all! They should not block the elder because it’s
    rude disrespectful. Why where there grade 5 and 6 they should know better. some kids said this make america grate again witch is made by Donald trump who is some one that’s also racist. That kid was
    also lying about his story in the internet.

  4. arnav1 says:

    This is full on messed up heres why. like that is raciest because the indigenous man was just chillen playing some music and you see a ugly kid and his ugly friends just pop up and start being offensive and saying maga/make America great again which was a figure of speech made from the idiot himself Donald trump. i dont get it why this kid acted this way. either to act cool or his just a stupid *******. if i was the indigenous person i would chill for a bit and wait for him to go but if he still dosnt go i will tell him nicely to go if he still dosnt go i will rip is head which will make his friends scared and he would never want to mess with me again.i felt sad the guy was just playing music and they kid had to stand in front of him. the man didn’t even react he just kept doing his thing. i would congratulate the guy other people would probably react back and start a fight but instead he dealed with it like a real man. other people would also start crying. im pretty sure if the kid was in the situation he would probably react back in a aggressive way . the thing the kid did was disrespectful. why didn’t the teachers do anything about it? especially the kid didn’t look as young. he looked like his teenage years he should be more mature. i wanna swear so badly at him but sadly ms panesar will not allow me.

  5. amelia15 says:

    in my opinion, i disagree about this disrespectful event is and what this random kid did to disrespect the first nation chant. And I’m wondering why he would ever do something without thinking about the impact that this will cause. I’m on the elder side because I’m not really sure why and who would really agree with this. And I have a lot of question towards this dumb dumb person. fist question, who pressured you to ever do something lame like this? Are you doing it to look cool or get popular? Its kinda like whoever pressured you to do something for example said to jump off a cliff, and this kinda shows me that you would probably not think and do it anyways. Yes, I’m using my famous scolding that my dad tells me when i do stupid things. Second question, Aren’t you technically lowering your schools and your reputation by being a total weirdo standing and giving a wonky grin to some poor elder dude whose just singing and drumming to their traditional songs. I wonder what your parents would say? Third question, Why would you try to hide the truth by covering it up? That’s just really dumb because many people would see this and maybe even expose you for lying. so why cant your tell the truth and then there wont be much of a problem and all that weight and all that same that you did something wrong will all fall off your back, by just telling the TRUTH! It’s pretty much that simple. you could even write a nice apology to show that your sorry and then your technically healed parts of that sad wound that you created. Fourth question, I’m just very disappointed in this cruel act Because its soo unnecessary. And i’m just wondering how the poor elder didnt hit that one guy who was standing infront t of his and didnt wack him in the face at all to be honest my temper would have been over the top and i would have chosen a bad destination and hit him on the head and teach him his lesson

  6. beatrice7 says:

    First, I will speak about my thoughts on the boy with the creepy smile. I think these boys were being racist, because I think they’re Trump supporters. I wonder if they were influenced by Trump’s racist side. I think the boys were to either, trying to imitate the Aboriginal men with their chant (which is probably least likely), or they were making fun of their chant by saying random syllables. I feel like if the boy was truly faithful to his religion, he would not be making fun of somebody’s culture, because he would know God created that man Aboriginal (see the last sentence on why i know this). I also think if he was dedicated to his religion, he would be respectful to older and wiser than him. If I had no idea whether he was being racist or just simply messing around, I would just wonder, “Why the heck would you step right up to somebody’s face and then smile?!”. Like, seriously; why? It is pretty rude to do that in any situation anyways. Now for my perspective on Nathan Phillips’ reaction. If I were on stage when I am showing my culture to public, I would feel weirded out that somebody went right up to my face and then just did nothing. It sounds kinda pointless to go up to somebody and just stand there. If I were lets say, dancing (because I actually do that), I would keep dancing, but try and push him/her off of my personal space at the same time. (Although, I would mentally be shoving my butt in his face). I would want to do any physical violence, but I also would have to think about causing a scene or maybe getting in trouble for violence. I would also feel hurt, because I am trying to show the beauty of my culture to the public and some people are just pointing out the stupid things about it. This might make me self-conscious, because me myself am actually very easy to influence and maybe I would be embarrassed because I always think highly of my culture. I would also feel angry, for different reasons. One, because somebody is invading my personal space and that is creepy. Two, because it is disrespectful to walk up to somebody while he/she is performing. Three, because you aren’t allowed to be on stage unless you are performing or being a host/MC. This has actually happened before to me at school (probably mentioned a few times,) which hurt and humiliated me very much, just last year. I think trying to cover up the situation with false statements isn’t very helpful, because if you did that in front of a lot of people, there would be witnesses all over. If you did that in front of people who are in your school, they might pretend to support you, but then they will make you take the blame.Just like the girl named Kaya, I wouldn’t feel safe in that area where people were being racist. Overall, I think the boy, (Nick Sandmann) is the wrong one here. )By the way, I am a Catholic, so I know his statement trying to defend himself is kind of off..

  7. yang1 says:

    Alright, racism. This topic is something that keeps on lingering in my mind, whether it’s from so many of the different perspectives I’ve heard it from or many of the stories that I’ve have been told to me (and well obviously a LOT of other people), there really is a lot of things that we can talk about for incidents such as these… This is definitely a sign and showing of racism. The boy had said things that I definitely would affect the Indigenous in a way that they would be offended, but nothing can change my mind to say that this is alright. Maybe he thought it was a joke, and maybe his friends just had such a great impression on him that they started laughing. Well, they can see things on their side while me and a lot of other people see the dark side to this situation. Here are some of my thoughts.

    Well, the point of disrespect that the population that was shown in the video had no reason or power to say disrespectful things to the elderly. They had shown signs of mockery and disrespect when they made fun of the song and personally to me, it was really disturbing to see our community in this generation to do things such as this to the people that we are supposed to look up too. I mean upon the many stories i’ve heard of the first nations we should be thankful for all the things that they have done for the future generations and it is painful to see that racism that was shown from many years ago still exists.(the story about the europeans arriving in their land)

    Seeing as though i haven’t said one compliment about the opposing side this is definitely a very one sided topic. Do I agree with any of them for mocking…. absolutely not, do I have any suggestions for this never to happen again, yes. So you know what i’m going to talking about right? 😉 My suggestion is to just straight up don’t do it, don’t make fun of these people and respect the songs that these people sing because we may not know the meaning behind it. (Example: for memorials or celebratory reasons). Another way we can stop this, is to share it with other people and on why it isn’t right to do things like this. Being a bystander isn’t good remind them/ let them know to knock that behavior off, and if you do get shoved for it well just no that you aren’t doing the wrong thing. Finally, well there really isn’t a finally I just want to make my thing longer….. (Jk)

    Alright, back on the serious side. We have got to ask ourselves about why? In my opinion these kids just want to be noticed or they want to have some sort of attention. Now there’s this word called “clout” a word that is famous in the social media industry. (It basically means fame/ popularity) Usually what comes out of gaining “clout” is to have more power when you talk about certain topics. (Making people believe in what you say.) Now it may be different from their perspective and others perspectives but I feel like it’s the most reasonable thing to say. Oh yeah and those kids better get like a two day suspension or something! (just kidding).

    My final thoughts, is that whatever you see that seems wrong to you or terrible acts (such as racism) right in front of your face….. Spread awareness to them. Tell them to stop, maybe even get physically involved in it……. This world has many problems, and this is one that we need to fix, as it has been happening for such a long time.

    Alright see you guys.

  8. reilly2 says:

    I kind of think it is bad to disrespect the indigenous elder or anyone so it was kind of a bad thing that this teenager did. The boy was standing in front of the elder with a smile on his face it did not look like he was trying to be nice but to be silly. The boy’s friend started laughing and singing random words so it is very insulting. If I was the elder in that position I would keep on singing the song and say to that kid after the song what was he doing. But one thing that stood out it was almost all the boys were wearing trump shirts and hats so the kids might be thinking that trump is funny so I will wear this. Well The kids made a bad decision because trump is not a good person because he wants to build a wall against the mexicans so it is never good to wear trump merchandise. That indigenous elder must of felt embarrassed and mad but if he was mad he would have hit that kid but he did not because that might have stained his reputation. Also the kid went to a catholic school so it is very disrespectful to their religion. Also the elder said this was on their land and the kids were shouting build a wall and it is not the kids land so they can’t build a wall. If I was that kid I should have known better because I am almost a adult. It was very rude to do those things and make fun of people’s cultures. The kid who stared at the elder said he did nothing wrong but i do not think that is true. I really think this kid should be suspended for racism because it is just wrong. I think this kid should have thought before he did because what he did was immature for a guy that age. These kids were probably messing around and not thinking. The kid was probably scared because he might of thought this guy might get angry at me and attack me. Maybe if the elder insulted the kid then everything would be different. First that man would be criticized by many people and maybe have got into trouble. Secondly no one would look at the kid because people think what the adult did was way more bad. Third everyone would say the elder was bad but probably one person would figure out that the kid was being racist. So in my opinion I think that what this kid did was very bad and racist.

  9. dennis7 says:

    First, those kids are not in the right, they`re just mean! Also the kid in front is so mean and why does he smile so bad? Of course I think the kid is dumb and I am so sorry to the person! I think that it shows that kids these days are just, I don’t know being themselves, being jerks and this shows almost everything that has been happening. Also I wonder what Trump would think about this maybe happy? Whatever it is it’s probably not angry because they were all supporting him in a fantastic way! (Not) what I don’t get is who to blame because there’s the government because of their schools and the kid in the school or Trump because they were supporting him. Please someone reply and say which one it is but I think it’s both. Anyways what he did was more disrespectful then racism I think? Because I justI think that it’s a different thing because it is duh, teacher. but to be honest I think they’re just messing around and just I don’t know, doing whatever not caring at all! What I loved about it is everybody’s reactions like this kids is being bad stuff you should be here and you’re not old enough! Because for me that shows that people actually respect them in a proper way. But my biggest question is why are the kids wearing Trump caps? Like come on it’s not the middle of springtime to wear Trump hats you got to wear them in the summer!!! (Nah I joking!) Oh and like I said those kids in the back just singing along it’s really weird and it creeps me out a lot and I think you know what it means that they are very mean people! But another big reason why this is happening is because it’s America oh yeah I said America alright! The land of the free Nah more like the land of the free kids that are mean! Am I the only one that think that idiotic smile are just stupid well nevermind I guess I was right. (nah I didn’t do any research) And one more thing, Donald Trump watch the news?

  10. bernice4 says:

    If you want to know what I think about that very stupid kid here it is: he is a dumb *beep * son of a *beep *. He is the rudest person I know. Even I wouldn’t do that to anybody (including Johnny). My opinion on this is that the student should be punished severely. If he is not punished then he should be expelled from the school. I also think that the teachers of the student should have stopped him at one point.What he was doing was extremely rude and also racist at the same time. Not only was he mocking the man, but he was also mocking the man’s culture. If I were the man I would have slammed the drum his face. I am sure that many people that watched the video would feel the same way because his behaviour was downright unexceptable. Even though I feel a deep hatred for that boy I think that the man was right not to be aggressive. The school that the boy belongs to should fine the boy for his rude behaviour. When I watched the video I could feel anger bubbling up at the sight of the boy showing no respect for the man’s culture. I also felt pity for the man because he had to endure the mocking of the rude boy. I also felt proud of the man because he was able to react calmly and did not act aggressively (although I would have been tempted to punch his nose off his ugly face). I felt so mad when I saw his lie about what had happened at the standoff. It was a total lie when he said that the man was the one that had started the “staring contest” between them. Right then and there I would have broke his neck (or tried to at least). I now have a few questions: what is your opinion on this situation? What are feelings about this? Do you believe that the boy was telling the truth about this standoff or do you think that he was lying? Why? If I were present at the situation I would have tried to stop it and I would have punished the student severely. What would you have done if you were in charge of the situation? Would you have kept it going or stopped it immediately?

  11. milica6 says:

    Hi my name is Milica and today I will be telling you about something that just recently happened in Kentucky. Here we go!!!!!!!!!

    So a few days ago there was a indigenous peoples march in Kentucky. There were a ton of high school students including this young boy named Nick Sandman. While this very nice aboriginal elderly man was singing a chant from his national background Nick Sandman decided that it would be funny to just stand and laugh right in front of this man. This is not a laughing manner because if you laugh you are making fun of this man’s culture. That is not funny because this is somebody’s culture. If you see something like this , it is called disrespect. When people do this to other people that other person is not going to feel good after that. This sucks because this march was supposed to be something that was to inspire and a happy time for people to enjoy themselves at this event, but instead all of those people/students and especially Nick mocking and laughing at this poor elderly man. This is something that I call extra high level of disrespect.{ In my opinion}

    My thoughts and feelings: I honestly think that this was very rude, disrespectful and very immature of them as older children. They should be good role models for younger children. They should know that they should not do that and that it was disrespectful and that they will really hurt the man’s feeling, and probably everybody else’s from that culture. I didn’t think that what they did was very smart of them. It really got on my nerve. I almost felt like punching the screen when I saw this.

    Thanks for reading this and I hope that you have a great rest of your day!!!!!

    yours truly, Milica Pavlovic:):):):):):):

  12. matthew88 says:

    I think that the students that were there weren’t as disrespectful as they could of been because they were not showing harmful aggression but they still were disrespectful. If you look at the video at the first few frames they seem to be clapping along with the drummers but then in a few seconds they started to attempt to sing with the man. Then you can slightly hear stuff like
    “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” which doesn’t sound like something that should be shouted at a indigenous person. If I was the boy I probably would of not have enough courage to stand in front of the man for a good three minutes. The courage that teen must have had was very legendary. Maybe it’s not courage maybe it’s just dumbness i don’t know? I’m also not sure if that kids dancing at the end was disrespectful. Also some people in the class sadi that if they were the drummer they would just starting using the boy as a drum. If he did do that the indigenous man would probably get all the shame and everyone would be talking more about him. I just wonder what the teachers were doing at the time. Shouldn’t they be blamed because they failed to take action with their students? I also wonder why and how did they get all those Donald trump did the school supply them or something? I also think that the people recording the kid and the elder was also invading the elders personal space. When I first saw the picture of the incident i thought he was trying to have a staring contest. I also wonder why it’s only a only boy’s school that sounds kind of sexist. I wonder why the kid only stared at one person and not the other people? So many questions they never end! I think that teens these days aren’t really like that good of role-models for the younger kids. Remember I don’t speak for every teen. I think that the teens should pay more attention in class to avoid doing that next time.

  13. jason78 says:

    First, lets talk about the goofy smile boy. The issue I have with this goofy smile boy is that he should of never stood in front of the Aboriginal men. And my other issue is that the goofy smile boy and his jerky friends were being very racist to the Aboriginal people and their parade. And the other issue is that the goofy smile boy and his friends were mocking the Aboriginal people and making fun of their traditional song which is very racist. And the Aboriginals were innocent to this boy and the Aboriginal people never did anything bad to the goofy smile boy. When I was watching the video i felt a deep sadness and furious in my heart because of that jerky/goofy smile boy. And the other incident is that the boy should of got a really bad punishment or be suspended or Ispell. My other question is that who started all of this madness in Washington D.C. Another question is that what started all of this and what did the Aboriginal do to them for them to deserve this. And where did this all happen and where was the goofy smile boy marching to and where was this goofy smile boy’s teacher at. Another question is that when did this all happen. And what date did this happen. Why did the boy stand in front of the Aboriginal and stop them from marching. Last but not least how did this all started or happen how did the goofy smile boy stand their for. Where was the rest of the adult, teacher, and staff. And my thoughts the Phillips saying was that the Philippines was correct about their saying. But the president Donald Trump will choose if he wants to build it or not. Well that’s my thoughts and idea about this story. And I think that the crazy, jerky. goofy smile boy should be yelled at. But accept that thank you for listening to my thoughts and idea. Bye!

  14. johnny4 says:

    I feel that the kid from that catholic school is not so smart to stand in front of the elder and when that was a public event with people that are recording everything that is going to happen at that event. And this is the reason that we go to school, to learn not do dumb things like what that kid did and we should all listen in school when the teachers are talking about important things like that. When I watched this issue I felt that everyone in the video seemed to be ok until you listen closely,then you can sorta heard whispers and snickers from the people in the crowd ( and now you gonna be like “but they might be just laughing at something else”, well you can have your own opinions but right now this is mine and I believe that those people are laughing at the elders and the people that are singing the song).And also you can call me Mad eye Moody after he go released from the imperius curse that Crouch had him in ( I won’t be offended ).I feel that the people that are just standing there ( AKA nick’s posse of herks that are just like him ) are being bystanders for not doing anything about what is happening.Also I feel that Nick’s a jerk that does not listen in class and is very disrespectful to his elders.I feel that he and his “friends” do not make very good decisions and do not think before they act or talk after all they do support Trump and a lot of them are wearing things that say “make America Great again” and “Trump”( did you know that there is a wikipedia article on make America Great again https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_America_Great_Again and did you know that the phrase was first used by Ronald Regen in 1980 also here’s some info on trump https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump ) after all they are supporting someone that is racist and many have mental health issues ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rELHUMNt4HM ). I think that those students were disrespectful,racist and foolish because of their remarks and actions.I feel that the students should have been aware of their conduct and what they were doing as after all they are older than us and I am pretty confident that we would not have acted that way if those people were us.Also like Ms.Panesar I wonder where those students teachers are.In the video there was this person who I believe was the teacher and was lecturing the kids/teens and if that person was the teacher I feel that they should have done more to prevent those students from doing what they did and if that was not the teacher where was the teacher and why was the teacher not there were he or she probably should have been to stop that foolish kid : Nick from doing what he was , standing in front of the elder and preventing him from moving forward. If I was the elder then I would probably stop using my drum and start using Nick’s head as the drum as I’m pretty sure that his head would work just fine as there is nothing in between those ear of Nick’s.I wish that this incident has taught Nick a lesson.

  15. tiya1 says:

    My feelings on this topic.
    I feel that Nick Sandmann the boy who behaved rudely and very disrespectfully in front of the Aboriginal old man was very empty minded of was being so racist in front of the indigenous crowd. I also feel that it was very mean for Nicks friends to be supporting him while he was discriminating that old man. Some other things that I feel about this topic are that the things that the children were saying in the crowd were very racist. Here are some examples. “Make America great again.”” Also, build a wall!” Which I think is very mean racist, discriminating, rude. One more thing I have to say is that the indigenous people were just minding their business so why did they have to mock them.
    This is what I think happened on that day.
    I think when Nick Sandmann and the crowd started to march and say very racist things and when they saw the aboriginal people do their chant they started being racist. For example, when Nick just stood in front of the old aboriginal man mockingly but, hopefully, the man was very calm, patient and he didn’t stop. In the article, Nick said that he was just smiling at him because he did not want to provoke or make him angry. One girl even in the crow said that she did not feel safe in this circle. I think that the children in the march were being racist and we’re not just messing around. The reason that I feel that way is because He was staring mockingly at the old man and they were saying racist comments like I told you before. The old man was very annoyed I think but did not show it to the kid because that would tell the young kid that it was working off what the young kid was doing. In conclusion, I think that the kid was being very racist discriminating to the aboriginal people who were just minding their own business and doing their chant. One question I have is that did Nick apologize to the indigenous crowd after going on the internet? I hope you liked my writing and thank you for reading! 🙂

  16. hanaa1 says:

    After reading the first article I felt like what Nick Sandmann did was pure disrespect towards the Indigenous man, but then I read the second article and I heard the statement that Nick Sandmann gave and then it was a different scenario. He said that he meant no harm and was only smiling to show the man that he was not intimidated by what was happening. He also said the “jeers” coming from his schoolmates were not racist comments but schools chants to drown out the hateful comments of the protesters. However, there were many spectators saying that they definitely heard the school kids chanting things like, Make America Great Again or Trump 2020.
    In his statement, he also said he had all the right to stand in front of Nathan Phillips. Nathan Phillips, on the other hand, said that he felt threatened by the young teenager and felt like he was blocking his way although Nathan didn’t seem like he was trying to move. It would have been a different scenario if Nathan had tried to step forward and Nick had forcefully stopped him or pushed him back. Nick Sandmann also said that he tried to calm the situation but in hindsight would have preferred if they had rather just left and not started any of this. There are definitely two sides to the story and people can interpret it either way. I still think that the children from the high school were being rude and disrespectful towards them by getting up in Nathan Phillips face and wearing clothing with disrespectful slogans on them. It’s really possible to tell whos right or wrong because either parties could be lying. Both of them clearly took it as an offence. No matter what Nick Sandmann said about wanting to defuse the situation, I think it was extremely disrespectful of him to do that. People may interpret it the other way but that’s my views.
    – H A N A A K A N J E E

  17. jemimah1 says:

    To be fair, I am really upset. it is obvious that they knew what they were doing and that just makes it even worse. I mean, first of all, I think, you know what? I KNOW that the kids had known what they had been doing. I mean, who goes and starts chanting something they don’t even know? And don’t even get me started with the fact that they said that they were doing school chants since that is just plain dumb. I mean, why would you start to do school chants when people so-called “mocked you”. That makes even less sense. Y0ou don’t just start to cheer your school chant when people are mocking you during a march with people that actually came to the advent to enjoy it. It is just disrespectful and rude. I mean wouldn’t you feel upset if you go to a march for your type of people only to have random kids come over and start to make fun of your culture? It would definitely upset me a lot. and don’t even start with Nick Sandmann. I mean if someone is coming towards you what do you do? You get out of there way. But nooooo. Instead of doing the sensible and smarter decision, what does he do? He goes and stands in front of the dude basically confronting him. I mean, everyone around him was making way for the man and now here comes a teenager that goes up to him and just stares. And that isn’t even the worst of it. The worst part is the fact that the teen was way to close for comfort. And the worst part of it all is the fact that the man could t even do anything. If he tried to go past him someone would probably think that he didn’t think that the teen was worth his time. And if he even tried to do anything to him ( like hit him with the drumstick or at the very least pat him) they would suspect that almost every aboriginal would do that and that would make us take a huge step backwards. So now the man is trapped just drumming there until the teen was gone. And the fact that the teen tried to justify himself made it even worse. He thought that he would be able to convince and/or fool everyone to think that it wasn’t his fault and that he and his school was the victim. I really just take that as an insult that the teen (that is probably 16 to 18) thought that he could tug at our heartstrings a tiny bit and all would be forgiven. But guess what? We don’t forgive easily. Especially when you do something like this. We won’t forget this for a long time. Meaning about a month if we are lucky.

  18. amra1 says:

    Hello! My name is Amra! Today I’ll be talking about my thoughts on how that teen was standing in front of that Indigenous elder and see if he was being foolish or being racist.
    My thoughts on this is that teen was actually being foolish and disrespectful to that elder. I also didn’t like the way he smiled and how he was looking around at that elder like that elder was some kind of joke, and that’s not ok, at all! Speaking of his smile, I can see that he was wanting to laugh but he didn’t because he didn’t want to get in trouble. He was also standing really close to that elder, it really looked like he was blocking his way like the wall that Donald Trump is building now. I mean that is really rude because it is showing that they don’t respect other people like aboriginals and it shows that they are trying to block their path of freedom, but really I just think that they were messing around, only the others behind that teen. But, that teen wasn’t really messing around, I think disrespectful and racist to the elder and the other indigenous people. As I said before, I saw that he was trying to laugh but he couldn’t. So, my questions are, why did they have the courage to stand in front of them and just laugh and be disrespectful to them? Were there any adults around or near them? If there were, than they should have came in and say “stop, this is not how you guys are supposed to be treating to other people”. Also, another thing that I want to say is, if I were there, I would have took that drum and just smash his head with it and I would have use that thing that is hitting on the drum, I would have used it to hit his bum and his back and punch his face! So, as you can probably tell that I am feeling really angry about this. I want to explain to you guys that the aboriginals chose to be and to stay in Canada instead of being in the USA.,(I am not trying to be rude). But, it is not only the USA people that are being disrespectful and racist, there can be Canadians that are disrespectful and being racist, which they shouldn’t be because the aboriginals were the first people who came to Canada, so they should be respectful to them for what they have given us like nature, clothes, great food and water, great houses, and also great stories, so I think that the aboriginal elder and the other aboriginal people were trying to show them how they are great people so they can be force to be recon with and they are not someone who you can over look . I just feel really bad for those aboriginals and those aboriginals also feel bad and sad because there are people that are making fun of their culture, stories, songs, and their traditions. So, those people who behind that teen and teen should stop doing that and apologize to that elder and the other aboriginals because this is not okay.
    -Thank you!

  19. tamara4 says:

    wow was the first thing that came to my mind when i saw this. how could someone be so racist and so mean to do this to a innocent man that did nothing wrong. this is such a selfish act. well this is not all there is way more to tell about this act. keep on reading if you want to know what this boy did.
    As you may be able to tell he was not there to be with the first nations to have fun. no, do not get me wrong he was there to make fun of the first nations. And he was right in front of the man. With a calm manner the man kept on going. And if i was the man i would at the vary least i would tell him to get out of the way. this is still not all. if you go to the one where they do the interview with Mike Sandman he blames it on the man that was playing the drum. is that really a good or mature thing to do? you tell me. and to make the whole thing worse he said that if the man did not want him there than he should have told him to go. this boy did not just offend this couture but he also brought his friends with him. that were almost all the time yelling things like “make America great again” and also things like “hi ho la chuw daa” witch are not words but they are words to the first nations. in multiple parts of the clip people were clapping. do you think that they were doing it to join the beat or did they do it to get them off beat? right now so many things are going through my mind like where is the teachers and people that know how to solve this? and much more. if you saw that one of the boys were laughing at the man what would you do? would you stop them or would you join them?. again to make every thing worse they were (now that i think about this they were) mocking this man and every one that was with him.
    that is all for now did you agree or disagree with what i said? did you think that this is ok?

  20. daniel166 says:

    (the real one)Boi I bet that kid’s mental. like why would anyone do this horrible thing to an elderly? what the hell is wrong with him? if he insults the elderly, let’s insult him! like this: STUPID GUY LOLOLOL STUPID GUY HE’S A IDIOT LOLOLOLOL I don’t think he’s listening -_- why would he do it this is so disrespectful and mean. like why does that even exist? why are people so mean these days? I think this is offensive because no one deserves to be treated like that. why would he do it? would he like it if he was performing? No! if he doesn’t like it then why would he do it to other people? if someone did that to me in a performance I will smash that guitar on his head except I have to pay it lol. this so rude! standing up to that elderly and freaking grinning! At that elderly, I think the elderly are mad like very mad because no one would do this to somebody. I think he should be punished for that but he is right? let me check… yup, he got punished for doing it ! at least that’s the good thing first off, why would he do it? maybe to insult him or he is a daredevil (dared by his friends) boi I bet his friends are chipmunks and chipmunks are dumb and they are too. like this is just unfair he ruining it can make the whole school ruining it. but the school didn’t because there was a 0.0001% chance lol. beep beep beep beeeeeeeep beep shutting down… *turns on computer* loading… 99.99999999999% done. hi, I’m back my brother just shut down my laptop lol let’s keep going. Wait but if he stands up to that elderly, why didn’t the other people notice it or why did the cameraman didn’t say anything? is he on his side? what do you think? I think he’s dumb too why doesn’t he report it immediately? standing up to him is rude and these days they still do it (I’m not sure if its gonna end…) I think the elderly should use a taser and stun him then use him like a drum but I think he’s gonna get arrested. But at least say “hey that is very rude come here!” so that is why I don’t like these people. I mean like they cant do whatever they want! I think we should stand up to him and say “stop! what are you doing this very rude!” but I think he is going to insult me… I will be very like hmmm ferocious and aggressive. I think I know why people do this! They just wanna insult him and be like very like cool and you know (not boasting) Can we just have a world of peace? But I don’t think that ever gonna happen because there’s like a trillion people but to be precise it’s 7,714,576,923 people I literally googled that to see how many people there are. I think there is a 0.00000000000000000000000000000001% the world is going to be kinda peaceful.

  21. vincent31 says:

    I do not think that it was right that he just stood in front of him because if it was me I would kinda be creeped out by a random person who would just stand in front of me. I mean like I would not know what that person would do to me.Also if was the elder I would would kinda be freaked out,but if I were to stop the song to talk to him I would feel like I rurined the song.I think that that student who was standing infront of the man was trying to be funny.Even though that was not a good thing to do because sometimes when you do that you do not reilze what you are doing.Well that is what happens to me I don’t know if it is with other people though. That student could just be doing that on porpous because maybe he wants to grabs everybodys attention. Another reson could be because he wanted a video to go viral on the internet.That is what I think acctually happened.I acctually think that they did not know that they were being very disrespectful.The reson for that is because that has happened to me quit a few times.I would not know my actions were very wong.Then I would get into alot of trouble.Good thing I tried my best to think ”is what I am doing wrong?” So now I would not get in troble as much as when I was not aware of my actions.So I think that student was trying to be funny,but he does not know that what he is doing is very disrespectful.Though that is in my opinion I also have a reson why maybe they knew that what they did was wrong,but contuinued.It might be because they would like people to record it and want people to post it online.It is so that he wants the video to go viral so people would know him. So the answer could be both,but I think that they were unaware of their conduct.

  22. cecilia5 says:

    IMPORTANT: I jut wanted to say that before you read what I typed up is almost completely my opinion and the parts that aren’t are stated in the article or what Ms. Panesar said above. Wail I was watching the video that was part of the article that my teacher put as a link I am being 100% honest here started to get mad and in a was hurt if that makes sense. I was hurt like, emotionally not physically, you know when you feel bad for someone (it’s called sympathy) it was that. Even though I myself am not an Aboriginal I still feel insulted, it is like um it is one of those things that you can not describe if you know what I mean. I also heard people saying thing like, I’m so confused, this is so sweet, what are you doing, what is happening, what is going on, boo, you can’t move him, and even I hate that guy. Come on!! Like how would like it if you were peacefully praying and someone just comes along and says something really disrespectful to you? What about if someone did that smile right in front of you? At the beginning of every one of our assemblies someone (usually me) says these exact words. We acknowledge and thank the Coast Salish Nations of Musqueam, Tsleil-Watuth and Squamish on whose traditional territories we teach learn and live. This is in no way racist because it clearly says the word thank, the way the thing I just said relates to this is that what they were doing was like basically mocking them for having a certain background in culture.
    So that was my opinion and see you next time!

    By:Cece

    Tuesday January 29th 2019

  23. peiyi1 says:

    My thoughts and feelings about this article. First of all do you have any sense of respect? That’s rude MAN, now I feel bad for Nathan Philips (the elder of the aboriginal). Well I feel bad and actually sort of surprised .I felt bad because they clearly weren’t respecting him and the fact that he probably wasn’t used to it because he was a elder when he was at his own village he was a very respected person. And the fact of that he wasn’t young anymore. I don’t know why i feel more sad and depressed for older seniors i don’t know why, or does that just belong to everyone? Back to what i was saying, I also felt surprised. Well cause he just stood there peace and calmly, when I was watching the video in class for a second I though that he was going to use that stick thing and bang it right on that kid’s head. But surprisingly he remained calm. If it was me i would have started to bang that stick on the kids head instead of the drum. Who gave you the right to just go straight up to this random old guy and laugh at his song? But also when did this all happen? Did it happen just a few days ago or a long time ago? Where was his teacher at that time or did the teacher hide some where to not get embarrassed? What happened to him later on? Did he get expelled or did they call his mother, dad? It was like that kid just went crazy.But then he said there was nothing wrong like he was just admiring his song. I think he was just messing around with the old man and playing around with his friends.

  24. jeron1 says:

    Why in the first place did the teenager mock the elder? Maybe for fun or he just doesn’t care. There has to be a good reason for him to do it. Teenagers need to learn to respect people. Mocking an elder is even worse than mocking a regular person. If I was that elder I would have been whacking him and I would think of a good reason to do it, so I would NOT be in jail or something . How can that elderly keep his temper and be calm? How can he keep it from nuking the world???🤷‍♂️. When they said,’build a wall build a wall!”, I think that they don’t really like them aboriginals here. The wall means, I think, no one wants more aboriginals coming. When Phillips said, ” we are not supposed to have walls here”, it made me think about equality more than ever. Everybody is equal and should be respected and there are no higher walls than each other. Wait it’s not just that person who was standing there, it was all of the teens too. Because to sing their aboriginal song you don’t sing random syllables, it’s also disrespectful. We should all learn to respect different cultures. cultures from all over the world originating from ancestors. If i was there I would try to stop them mocking the elder. Or maybe just be quiet and enjoy the show. The consequence for mocking is probably a fine. We should all learn from this.

  25. mark28 says:

    The fact that this “Nick Sandmann” guy was wearing a Make america great again t-shirt and a hat that said that just made matters worse. To be honest I really do feel bad for Mr. Phillips because he had to face such a jerkish kid. If police did not exist or laws then he would probably RKO’D that kid this instant. In the article it did not say how old Mr. Phillips was but if I was to guess than it would probably be 70 or 75. If the kid knew what he was doing then he would have probably stopped, ran to the nearest dump, jumped in and said. “THIS IS WHERE I BELONG! I AM GOING TO BE SENT TO PRISON FOR TREATING THIS OLD GUY LIKE THIS! SHOOT ME! If I was Mr.Phillips then I would probably call the FBI and tell them to bring a army of swats to attack that guy and probably kill him. But Mr.Phillips just calmly stands their and keeps drumming his drum doesn’t even move. Probably Mr. Phillips was sooo mad inside and furious. Mr.Phillips is definitely really wise and can hold his temper. I Heard that First nations can do that really well. After this incident he started saying something completely of topic which was: “I was just being nice and Did not mean any harm to you. At one point of the thing I smiled just because I think it was cool.” WOW!!! For the record he smiled the whole time and even my 4 year old sister could tell that he was lying. Nick Sandmann definitely should have stopped before he could because now this incident was taken to the newspaper, online and TV. Most American kids are very stupid because once I went to this golfing coarse and is said: “17+ only and then my dad told me that most Americans are stupid (I’m not stupid). You know that I hate trump right? Also I hate everyone who supports him. All those teens were probably just paid to wear those dorky hats. I still hate them because they went on the deal to wear those hats and did not just say no. Some kids were yelling: “Make america great again” and they should know that America would be much greater if they were not their and if that ugly president was not their to make bad things worse. Well that was my comment on that dorky Nick Sandmann kid who disrespected old wise Mr. Phillips.

  26. arnav1 says:

    This is full on messed up heres why. like that is raciest because the indigenous man was just chillen playing some music and you see a ugly kid and his ugly friends just pop up and start being offensive and saying maga/make America great again which was a figure of speech made from the idiot himself Donald trump. i don’t get it why this kid acted this way. either to act cool or his just a stupid *******. if i was the indigenous person i would chill for a bit and wait for him to go but if he still doesn’t go i will tell him nicely to go if he still doesn’t go i will rip is head which will make his friends scared and he would never want to mess with me again.i felt sad the guy was just playing music and they kid had to stand in front of him. the man didn’t even react he just kept doing his thing. i would congratulate the guy other people would probably react back and start a fight but instead he dealed with it like a real man. other people would also start crying. i’m pretty sure if the kid was in the situation he would probably react back in a aggressive way . the thing the kid did was disrespectful. why didn’t the teachers do anything about it? especially the kid didn’t look as young. he looked like his teenage years he should be more mature. Even though the man didn’t react he should’ve the man didn’t do anything to disturb that teenager but instead the teenager thought he was cool so he just stayed in front of the ingenious man playing music. i didn’t people where that mean these days seems like someone people never learn their lessons. the kid should’ve been expelled even though i said it was rude 100 times already ill say it again the teenager should get suspended probably even expelled. if i was the principal and somebody reported this issue to me i would tell the kid to come to me talk about his behaviour and call his parents and my favourite part expell him. i 100 percent unsure you his a trump supporter what has trump influenced the people these days anyways lets get back to the topic. i think he was trying to be cool for his crush who watching him

  27. harry17 says:

    I think that that punk kid was very rude to the elder by just standing there in front of the elder and having such a stupid grin on his face. The teen was lucky actually because the elder did not fight back or call the police and no one was aiding him for some reason. I think the elder deserves more than he should because he was able to not do anything about the kid and just ignored him. The elder wasn’t hurting the kid of course probably because that would damage his reputation as an elder and if he fought he’s already an elder so he won’t be that flexible and can’t move that much. A pissing thing is that when the reporters asked thee kid questions he just said something random and started to go of topic a lot. I also don’t like the kid for just standing on the rude kids side and mocking the elder or mocking his performance and they were wearing MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN SHIRTS!!!!!!!!!! The first thing most or some people hate the most is Trump and the second thing I hate the most is that kid that was supporting Trump and it would’ve been much better if they didn’t wear make America great again shirts. I supposed the adults there were also not tolerating those kids but just couldn’t stop them because there were too much of them and the kids probably won’t let someone boss them around. I was really surprised that the elder could just keep on performing because if it was Bernice, Jason, Lim, Mark or someone else then that kid wouldn’t live to see another day (literally). I feel bad for that elder and that he got mocked but as long as he can by a bazooka then i think that he’ll be fine but then i’m worried about the adults and the payment for damage.I wonder how the kids would feel when they are getting mocked and also by the way…………. WHERE ARE THE TEEEAAACHHHEERRRRRRRRRRRS. The teachers and the principle should have been there unless it was on a weekend or when there was no school but if it was a field trip then the teachers are also getting blamed for it and I still don’t think that America has turned greater yet and in fact i think it has turned worse and that is why you shouldn’t vote for Trump LIFE LESSON. The end( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ °).

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