Indigenous Peoples March

The Indigenous Peoples March was a demonstration and march on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2019. The event included speeches, prayers, songs, and dance. Its goal was to draw attention to global injustices against indigenous peoples.^[1] After prayers outside the Building of Interior Affairs, the marchers proceeded along Constitution Avenue to Henry Bacon Park, north of the Lincoln Memorial.^[2] During the day-long event, featured guests, such as Ruth Buffalo, Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, spoke to crowds gathered on the stairs in front of the Lincoln Memorial and the plaza on the edge of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Organizers expected a crowd of about 10,000 people.^[3] Simultaneous "solidarity marches" were scheduled in a dozen other locations, such as Gallup, New Mexico, and Bemidji, Minnesota, in the United States and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Canada.^[4][5]

In late afternoon, when the last group of the March participants were still on the Plaza beside the Reflecting Pool, an incident occurred involving a small group of March participants including Omaha tribe member Nathan Phillips, five Black Hebrew Israelites men, and dozens of Covington Catholic High School teenage students on a school trip arriving at their meeting place after attending the pro-life March for Life rally. In the wake of the widespread sharing of more detailed video clips, media analyses of the videos, and statements, public opinion became polarized, with some claiming the students were completely absolved of all wrongdoing and others saying they were disrespectful of a Native American elder on a day that should have been a celebration of the first Indigenous Peoples' March.^[6]