Bernie Sanders visits Native American settlement in Iowa

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT, Ia. – Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made a rare stop at this central-Iowa Native American settlement on Friday, and won an enthusiastic response to his liberal populism.

Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont seeking the Democratic nomination, hit his regular talking points on addressing income inequality, enacting universal health care, making public higher education free for students and reforming campaign finance.

But he also addressed Native American concerns directly, invoking tribal respect for the land in his call for action on climate change and answering questions on the federal-tribal relations.

“Native American people, perhaps more than any other people in our country, have always known the relationship and the importance of treating nature with respect,” Sanders said, to rising applause from a crowd roughly evenly divided between white and Native American attendees.

He went on, “Native Americans forever have understood that we gain sustenance, we gain life from nature. You destroy nature, you destroy life and that is what we’re doing globally right now and that has got to change.”

In response to a question on the relationship between the government and Native American tribes, Sanders called for federal action to address economic, education and health care issues on reservations and other tribal lands – but with local autonomy.

“The federal government, the U.S government’s relationship to Native Americans has been a disaster from day one,” he said, adding, “Everything else being equal, we want decisions being made by the peoples themselves, not dictated by the government. There has to be a relationship, but at the end of the day I would like to see local decisions being made by local people themselves.

Lavern Jefferson, a member of the Meskwaki tribal council, noted that Sanders’ campaign reached out to the tribe about holding an event at the settlement, not the other way around.

“He wanted to come out here and talk to us. He wasn’t asked,” Jefferson said.

Sanders’ visit marks the first appearance by a presidential candidate at the settlement since former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson campaigned here ahead of the 2008 caucuses, Jefferson said. Prior to that, a candidate hadn’t visited since Walter Mondale in the early 1980s.

After Sanders spoke, Jefferson said he appreciated the candidates’ blunt talk about income inequality and corporate power – and his answer on tribal relations with government.

“Being able to make their own decisions and govern themselves is what’s really important to all the tribes across the U.S.,” he said.

Priscilla Wanatee, a settlement resident who teaches the Meskwaki language to high school students, said Sanders’ willingness to visit could win him votes.

“The people will be more apt to maybe vote for him if he’s willing to come out and meet the people,” she said

The settlement, situated just west of Toledo and Tama in eastern Iowa, is home to about 900 members of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. The tribe owns about 8,000 acres of land in the area and operates the nearby Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel.

SETTING: A gymnasium at a Meskwaki Nation community center near Tama.

CROWD: More than 250, including many young people and several members of the Meskwaki High School Warriors football team, who sat in the front row wearing their jerseys before a game later on Friday evening.

REACTION: Sanders won cheers and applause frequently throughout his 35-minute speech and in response to several of his answers in a Q-and-A session.

WHAT’S NEXT: After the Meskwaki Nation event, Sanders walked in a labor picket with employees of Penford Products in Cedar Rapids and then held an outdoor “town meeting” on the campus of Coe College that drew hundreds despite the 90-degree heat. On Saturday, he’s scheduled to attend an AFSCME labor union meeting in Altoona. For details on all the candidates’ appearances in Iowa, visit DesMoinesRegister.com/candidatetracker.