In the video, a young boy is seen standing defiantly close to Philips who is a veteran of the Vietnam War, blocking his way, staring at him with a sneer.
The video has sparked shock on the social media with many users criticising it as a sign of times that have followed 2016 elections.
As per media reports, the teenagers came to be identified shortly as students of Covington Catholic High School of Kentucky, who had come to Washington DC to participate in the annual March for Life anti-abortion rally on Friday, which was addressed by Vice President Mike Pence in person and by President Trump through a video-taped message. Some distance away, Philips and other Native Americans held their Indigenous Peoples March.
After the incident, The Washington Post quoted Philips saying he had felt threatened by the teens as they swarmed around him but continued singing - a song of unity - and thinking of his wife who died of cancer four years ago and challenges faced by indigenous communities around the world.
“I felt like the spirit was talking through me,” Phillips told the Post.
Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native Americans elected to the US House of Representatives reacted sharply on Twitter. He wrote: “This Veteran put his life on the line for our country. The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking.”
However, there were alternate accounts of the incident, which sought to blame the Native Americans for provoking the boys.
The school administration later issued an apology for the incident.