Presidential candidates tackle tough issues at historic Native forum

Wednesday, August 21, 2019  

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – On a day of promises and acknowledgements of past wrongs, presidential candidates speaking at a historic political forum Tuesday offered differing solutions to the many problems facing Indian Country.

Some of the boldest promises came from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, one of 10 total Democratic candidates who participated in the first ever Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum held this week in Sioux City at the Orpheum Theatre.

“There are some of these moments in our history that are particular painful because there’s not even a hint of justice, and the case of Leonard Peltier is one of them,” de Blasio said via Skype to the nearly 200 people gathered for Tuesday’s forum. “And I will do anything I can to support you in seeking that clemency.”

De Blasio was responding to a passionate plea for justice from Julian Bear Runner, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, who decried his own arrest at Standing Rock for criminal trespass while taking part in demonstrations there and asked de Blasio for help in freeing Peltier.

The mayor’s promise to free Peltier, who is serving two life terms in prison in connection with a fatal American Indian Movement clash with federal authorities on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home to Bear Runner's tribal community, in 1975, was one of many calls for justice for the wrongs committed against Native people by presidential candidates.

Two Native advocacy organizations, Four Directions and the Native Organizers Alliance, hosted the forum, which was the first of the 2020 presidential cycle to focus on Indian issues and the first of its kind in more than a decade. The forum was named for the late Winnebago activist Frank LaMere, who died in June after a brief bout with cancer. LaMere was a nationally recognized Democratic Party and Native civil rights activist.

The forum featured 10 Democratic candidates for president: de Blasio of New York City; Elizabeth Warren, the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts; Amy Klobuchar, the U.S. Senator from Minnesota; Bernie Sanders, the U.S. Senator from Vermont; best-selling author Marianne Williamson; Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana; Julián Castro, a former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; John Delaney, a former U.S. Congressman from Maryland; Kamala Harris, the U.S. Senator from California; and Joe Sestak, a former U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania

Independent candidate Mark Charles, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, also attended the forum.

On Tuesday, Sanders promised to support rescinding the 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers who killed women and children at the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.

“Medals of Honor are given rarely, and they’re given to people who’ve done very, very important things,” he said. "Massacring women and children is not an act of great bravery. It is an act of depravity.”

Nearly every candidate who spoke Tuesday supported rescinding the Medals of Honor granted as a result of Wounded Knee. Only one candidate, former Maryland Congressman John Delaney, said he would need to research each medal awarded at Wounded Knee to decide whether to rescind all or just some of the medals.

Initially describing the massacre as a “battle,” Delaney said he didn’t support a blanket apology for Wounded Knee and needed to study the event more to decide whether to rescind any of the medals.

But Delaney also expressed support for combating the disproportionate rate of indigenous women who disappear or are murdered each year.

“There’s a long shadow that continues across time based on certain actions,” he said. “It’s incredibly important to have some sort of reconciliation … to start getting out of the shadow.”

Asked whether he would support fully funding Indian health needs, Delaney said his plan to establish a universal health care system for all Americans would benefit Indian Country as well. But Victoria Kitcheyan, Winnebago tribal council member and chairwoman of the National Indian Health Board, said universal health care would not fix the broken Indian Health Service. In response, Delaney promised to fully fund Indian health needs if elected.

Sanders said, if elected, he would reform Native health care.

“We will reform fundamentally the Indian Health Service so that it will take care of your needs and the needs of all Native American people,” he said.

He said fully funding the agency wouldn’t cost the country even as much as “one new weapon system for the Pentagon.”

He said, as president, he would prevent corporations from damaging lands that belong to Native people and would give tribes a seat at the head of the table, especially on issues of environmental policy.

“The Native American people did not kill thousands and thousands of buffalo because they understood that the buffalo gave them life,” he said.

Now Speaking: Former U.S. Representative Joe Sestak, Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum 2019 #NativeVote20 #NativeForum #NativeVote #WeVoteWeCount https://t.co/f48wlXavqu pic.twitter.com/IO9cXKdUTd

— NCAI (@NCAI1944) August 20, 2019

Sestak, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, said he would address the jurisdictional obstacles that prevent tribal courts from prosecuting non-Native men who commit crimes on tribal lands.

“If I walk onto Pine Ridge, commit a crime, the chances are that because of jurisdictional conflict, I won’t be prosecuted for it. Why?” he said. “It’s wrong, and it should be changed.”

Orville Cayou, an Omaha Tribe councilmember, asked Sestak whether he would protect the Indian Child Welfare Act, legislation that gives tribes the right to decide on placement of children of tribal members. Last October, a federal judge in Texas struck down the law, saying it unlawfully “elevates a child’s race over their best interest.” An appeals court reversed the contested decision earlier this month, ensuring Native children can stay connected to their communities.

Sestak, who didn’t seem to understand the question or perhaps the role of ICWA, said he would establish more courts to decide on placement of Native children. He said he would also seek to appoint more female judges, who he said would be better able to demonstrate compassion when it came to deciding on placement of Native children.

And asked how he would improve Census data-gathering efforts to more accurately count Native populations, Sestak said the Census already has safeguards in place to ensure accurate counting.

Charles, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and the only Native presidential candidate in the 2020 race, said it is important for political leadership to acknowledge the historical foundations of federal Indian policy, including the Doctrine of Discovery, a legal precedent expressed by European monarchs that has served as the legal basis for the seizure of Native lands for several centuries.

“It’s good to remember that this land was not discovered, and second it’s humbling to understand there’s a history that predates our history books,” Charles said.

Charles demonstrated a deep understanding of Native history and cultural practices, paying respect to one of the elders attending the forum, Marcella LeBeau, in his opening remarks.

“I want to respect you. I want to honor you and I want to answer your question,” he said.

LeBeau asked Charles whether he would support rescinding the 20 Medals of Honor given as a result of Wounded Knee.

“I’m a WWII veteran, and I know honorable soldiers,” she said. “They murdered women and children and Bigfoot who was ill with pneumonia, lying there with no weapon, under a flag of truce.”

Charles said emphatically that he would support the Remove the Stain Act, legislation now before Congress that would rescind the Wounded Knee medals. [H.R.3467]

“If you research the medals, three of them were given because they went in and directly fired into the ravine and flushed the Lakota people out of the ravine,” he said. “We need to rescind these medals. They have no place in a nation that claims to value freedom and equality and diversity and pluralism.”

He said, if elected president, he would seek to amend the U.S. Constitution, which he says fails to recognize the value of women by never mentioning women and only using male pronouns.

"We don't need new laws, we need a new basis for our laws,” Navajo citizen Mark Charles @wirelesshogan says of the need to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum. #MMIW #NativeForum #NativeVote2020 #NativeVote

— indianz.com (@indianz) August 20, 2019

Asked if he supports preservation of Native languages, Charles talked about a Navajo language immersion school that his son attends. He said an aunt who is a boarding school survivor expressed joy at learning her grandnephew was being taught the same language that she was nearly forced to forget.

“She just began to weep at that, and it was a deeply moving moment,” he said. “I am absolutely convinced in the value of immersion education.”

Speaking to the forum via Skype Tuesday, Harris acknowledged the Wounded Knee Massacre and said she would support the Remove the Stain Act.

On several issues that panelists questioned her about, Harris expressed willingness to consult with tribes on policies and projects affecting Indian Country, including environmental policy.

“I will look to you for leadership, and you will be front and center in terms of what we need to do to preserve our natural resources,” she said. “It will be my policy that there will be tribal consultation with cabinet officials.”

Sen. Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris says she opposed tribal land applications because state of #California was her "client" when she was attorney general. Claims it was not her personal decision to oppose. Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum. #NativeForum #NativeVote2020

— indianz.com (@indianz) August 20, 2019

As California’s former attorney general, Harris opposed several land-into-trust applications submitted by tribes in her state. Asked about her actions Tuesday, she said she was simply enforcing the decisions of former Gov. Jerry Brown.

“My history and my positions are very clear, and that is there has to be a restoration of tribal lands,” she said.

And she expressed support for the Indian Child Welfare Act, which she described as a civil rights issue.

“ICWA doesn’t matter if we don’t enforce it,” she said.

Castro also supported rescinding the 20 Wounded Knee medals. However, asked if he would support creating a cabinet-level position dealing with Native issues, he said if elected he would simply seek to establish a diverse cabinet.

“I believe that an effective administration needs to look like America,” he said.

He lamented the housing shortage facing Indian Country and shared a story about visiting the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and meeting a family that lived in a small home with 17 people in it.

“For so many indigenous communities, the housing stock is old,” he said. “It’s dilapidated. It’s falling apart.”

He said he would propose a $2.5 billion investment in Indian housing block grants to create new homes for Native people.

And asked whether he would protect the rights of indigenous immigrants to America, Castro said he would seek to reform immigration policy in America if elected.

“I would put all undocumented immigrants, who have not committed a serious crime, on a pathway to citizenship,” he said.

OJ Semans, Co-Executive Director of Four Directions responds to @BilldeBlasio and his call to Remove the Stain. pic.twitter.com/WWp9OK5A9S

— Four Directions Native Vote (@4directionsvote) August 19, 2019

For his part, de Blasio said he would take a strong stance against Native sports mascots, which he described as “morally wrong,” “divisive,” and “racist.”

“You will love your team just as much when it has a non-racist name,” he said.

He said he supports rescinding the Wounded Knee medals and, if elected, would establish a universal health care system in America, which he said would benefit Native people as well.

And he said he would reject permits for fracking operations.

“Fracking is a tremendous danger to our water, to our environment in general,” he said. “I’m someone who’s opposed to fracking across the board.”

In his closing remarks, de Blasio congratulated the organizers of the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum.

“This gathering is very, very important because it says to people, ‘There’s power. There’s power to be built,’” he said.

Kevin Abourezk of Indianz.Com and Leo Yankton, co-host of our "Indian Times" podcast, were live at the historic event. Here are their Facebook replays and recaps of the 2020 presidential candidates, in order of appearance on August 20, 2019.

You can also listen to the entire presentations from the seven 2020 presidential candidates on the Indianz.Com SoundCloud.

You can watch the presentations of all seven 2020 presidential candidates who appeared at the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum on Tuesday here. Videos will be added as they become available.

Day 2: Tune into the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum (August 20, 2019)
Presidential candidates focus on Native issues at historic forum (August 20, 2019)
RECAP: Afternoon session of Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum (August 19, 2019)
RECAP: Morning session of Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum (August 19, 2019)
Record number of presidential candidates lined up for historic Native issues forum (August 19, 2019)
Tune into the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum (August 19, 2019)
Elizabeth Warren vows sweeping improvements in Indian policy as president (August 16, 2019)
Mark Trahant: Taking the Red Road to the White House (August 15, 2019)
More 2020 presidential candidates line up for historic Native issues forum (August 6, 2019)
Aaron Payment: Candidates must understand and respect tribal sovereignty (July 31, 2019)
Tribal leaders grill 2020 Democratic presidential candidates on Indian issues (July 30, 2019)
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