US teens in MAGA hats taunt Native American marchers

A video showing a crowd of US teenage students, wearing red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, surrounding and harassing a Native American elder, has stirred controversy.

The incident was captured on video Friday when the students from Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky, who were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally, encountered the Native Americans at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Native Americans were taking part in Indigenous Peoples March which aimed to “bring awareness to the injustices affecting Indigenous men, women, children and two spirits.”

The footage that went viral on Saturday shows a young student having a self-assured smirk, stand inches away from a native elder who is beating a drum and chanting.

There are other kids who can be seen laughing, jumping around and making fun of the chants.

"I did not feel safe in that circle," said Kaya Taitano, a student at the University of the District of Columbia who shot the video. The teens were chanting things like "Build the wall" and "Trump 2020," she told CNN.

"This one kid just refused to move and he just got in” the face of Nathan Phillips, an elder with the Omaha tribe.

"They just surrounded him and they were mocking him and mocking the chant. We really didn't know what was going to happen there."

The crowd kept growing as Phillips and the boy stood face to face, but Phillips continued to chant and play his drum.

Another video shows Phillips wiping away tears while reacting to the harassment.

“This is Indigenous land you know, we’re not supposed to have walls here. We never did for millenniums — before anybody else came here we never had walls,” he says in the clip.

“I wish I could see that energy in that young mass of young men down there. To put that energy into making this country really, really great — helping those that are hungry.”

One Twitter user described it as “one of the most horrific displays of ignorance, racism & disrespect.”

The high school and Diocese of Covington issued a joint statement, condemning the actions of the students "towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general."

"The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion," the statement said.

Democratic US Congresswoman Deb Haaland, a member of New Mexico's Laguna Pueblo tribe, said on Twitter the students showed "blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance."

This comes amid an ongoing government shutdown over funding for a wall President Donald Trump wants to build along the country’s southern borders.

The shutdown occurred after Trump and Congress failed to agree on an appropriation bill that would include $5.7 billion for funding the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border.

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