At visit to Meskwaki Settlement, Sanders calls U.S.-tribal relations ‘a disaster’

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT - Relations between the federal government and Native Americans have been 'a disaster from Day 1,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday, telling members of the Meskwaki tribal community he would 'be so proud to welcome you into the White House.”

'In the short term, probably, my Senate office,” Sanders added to laughter from his audience of more than 200 people at the Meskwaki Community Tribal Center.

Sanders, the first presidential candidate to hold a campaign event on the Meskwaki settlement west of Tama-Toledo, promised to work to improve relations with tribal governments.

'Without going into history that many of you know better than I,” Sanders said that on many Native American reservations the poverty rate 'is sometimes off the charts, health care and education are inadequate, unemployment is extraordinarily high.”

The federal government has to work with tribal governments to address those issues, but Sanders said that he wants tribal communities to be making decisions rather than the federal government dictating policy.

'At the end of the day, I would like to see local decisions being made by local people themselves,” he said.

Sanders, who visited Clinton, Iowa, earlier in the day, delivered an abbreviated version of his stump speech at the settlement.

Judith Bender, chairwoman of the tribal council, called it 'quite an event, quite a turnout” for Sanders, whose campaign contacted the settlement about hosting an event. The Meskwaki have an open invitation to campaigns to visit, Christina Blackcloud said, and the Hillary Clinton campaign has been in contact.

Blackcloud, a former member of the Iowa Democratic Party State Central Committee, said the Meskwaki sometime feel invisible in terms of presidential campaigns. She estimated that 95 percent of the 1,400 settlement members are Democrats or Democratic-leaning.

'Participation has definitely increased since President Barack Obama was elected,” she said, 'and more are becoming involved.”

Sanders also joined an informational picket at Penford in Cedar Rapids where members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 100G are trying to negotiate a new contract. Then he spoke at an outdoor rally at Coe College last night.

Most of the questions at the Meskwaki settlement were typical of Sanders' campaign events - minimum wage, national security, trade and the Iran nuclear agreement.

Elleh Driscoll, a senior at Meskwaki High School, asked a question Sanders often gets - about food labeling, but from the tribal community's perspective.

Driscoll explained her family and others raise Meskwaki corn, known for its hardness and red color, on small plots across the 8,000-acre settlement. They fear genetically modified crops planted by neighboring producers could cross-pollinate with the Tama Flint the Meskwaki use in tribal rituals.

'The corn is sacred to us,” Driscoll said.

At the very least, Americans have the right to know what is in the food they are eating, Sanders said.

The parade of presidential hopefuls continues Sunday when Hillary Clinton is the guest at a house party hosted by Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, and speaks to union members and retirees at a Labor Day picnic Monday at Hawkeye Downs.

Also, Martin O'Malley, will make stops in Tipton and Anamosa Sept. 6 and Monday at a Labor Day picnic in Iowa City.