Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders campaigns on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on May 12, 2016. Photo from Bernie 2016
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brought his campaign to Indian Country on Thursday, telling residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that he will address poverty, health care and inequality if he wins the November election. According to The Sioux Falls Argus Leader, about 1,200 people packed into the Pine Ridge School for a community meeting in the morning. He spoke for about an hour and called for a "new relationship" between tribes and the federal government. “The reason we are here today is to try to understand what is going on in Pine Ridge and other reservations,” Sanders said, according to his campaign. “There are a lot of problems here. Poverty is much too high. There are not enough decent jobs in the area. The health care system is inadequate. And we need to fundamentally change the relationship between the U.S. government and the Native American community.” President John Yellow Bird Steele of the Oglala Sioux Tribe endorsed Sanders during the meeting, The Argus Leader reported. "The reason we need to vote for Bernie is to give him some more power," Steele told the crowd, the paper reported. "Bernie needs the power of our vote to work on our treaties." After leaving the reservation, Sanders held a rally in Memorial Park in Rapid City and was speaking at Sioux Falls later in the day. Get the Story:
With offer to uphold treaties, Sanders finds support on reservation (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 5/12)
Bernie Sanders to Visit Pine Ridge, Rapid City, and Sioux Falls: South Dakota Tribal Members Weigh In (Indian Country Today 5/12)
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