Peace Be With You!

We're grateful to welcome Richard Silversmith as a new Do Justice columnist! 

Perhaps you have heard about the disturbance and engagement between Omaha Native American elder Nathan Phillips and Covington High School student Nick Sandmann on the major news outlets and social media, January 19, 2019.  

It showed a tense scene in the shadow of Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Mr. Phillips, the Native American activist, was stared down by a Kentucky Catholic school student, Nick Sandmann, as he beat a ceremonial hand drum.

It showed a tense scene in the shadow of Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

Here’s how events transpired, as best I can understand from reading various news sources: Mr. Phillips was in Washington, D.C., Friday for the Indigenous People's March. Nick Sandmann was attending a March for Life with other students, when a few men began spewing slurs at the pro-life rally group.

Elder Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the crowd of students, singing a prayer song, in what he said was an attempt to calm what Phillips perceived to be a growing conflict between the students and the group of five men, later identified as Black Hebrew Israelites, who had been provoking the students.

Elder Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the crowd of students, singing a prayer song.

While I was at the Standing Rock protest in 2016 for Stand with Standing Rock, a gathering of clergy and their faith communities, I had the honor of shaking Mr. Phillips’ hand. I remember a meek, humble, and gentle elder. 

In my experience, I have met several Indigenous elders who are down-to-earth and have renounced worldly pursuits to devote themselves fully to Native American singing. They have the lifestyles of community spiritual leaders.

In my own Navajo culture, some are called to preserve harmony and provide wisdom.

I don’t want to venerate Mr. Phillips or take sides. However, this peace-making is encouraged in Indigenous cultures like my own. In my own Navajo culture, some are called to preserve harmony and provide wisdom, especially in places of conflict and historical trauma. (When I talk about historical trauma, I’m referring to the multigenerational emotional and psychological stressors experienced by members of an oppressed and victimized communities. If you’ve experienced the Blanket Exercise, you know a bit about the historical and current trauma that communities like mine deal with.) .

From my perspective, when American Christians hear other music that comes from cultures outside their own  Euro-Western worldview, they often become anxious about what they don’t understand. Thus, many Americans perceive traditional drumming and singing as esoteric tribal music.

When Mr. Phillips approached the Covington High School students, they saw a distinguished long-haired Native American coming toward them beating a covered animal skin drum, singing an unrecognized Indigenous chant that could startle any uninitiated young American rallier. 

My understanding is that Mr. Phillips was peacefully drumming and chanting a prayer for unity.

When in fact, my understanding is that Mr. Phillips was peacefully drumming and chanting a prayer for unity. So, how do we as Christian ambassadors of reconciliation muddle through the many lenses of the media (including social media) on Indigenous issues?

One way to comprehend any misunderstanding between cultures is to have a meaningful personal interaction, dialogues, and conversations with the other party to gain a clearer lens and perceptive.

If we listen well, it’s ironic that the Covington High School students and the Indigenous People's March were both protesting life and death issues: the students were marching for pre-born lives and the marchers with Nathan Phillips, for Indigenous lives, including missing and murdered Indigenous women.

It’s ironic that the Covington High School students and the Indigenous People's March were both protesting life and death issues.

Perhaps we are also missing the big picture of what happened on the steps of Lincoln Memorial that Saturday. We didn’t see any physical fights. Thanks in part to Nathan Phillips’ leadership, we saw nonviolent confrontation.  

Our world is full of vehemence, and our daily lives can be tarnished by conflict and turmoil. But in Hebrews 12:14, it’s written, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the LORD.”

May we learn to seek peace as well!

I believe the senior drummer was advocating for peace and performing a Native American drum prayer, much like a song for peace that readers might recognize such as “Peace Be with You”. May we learn to seek peace as well!