“(Sanders) is the very first presidential candidate to step foot on our sacred land.

"Nearly 3,000 people lined the sidewalks around the Twin Arrows Casino in Flagstaff on Thursday to hear what Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had to say. With a capacity of only 900 people in the main ballroom, many Bernie supporters only made it as far as the casino lobby where they listened to the senator from Vermont’s speech over speakers.

The “A Future to Believe In” rally hit many of the same talking points Sanders has been hammering home throughout his campaign. Sanders talked about vote suppression and how the U.S has the lowest voter turnout of any county on earth, the “rigged economy” with the top 1/10th of 1% having as much wealth as the bottom 90%, and his plans to create tuition free public colleges and universities, a universal healthcare system, and raise the minimum wage to $15 a hour. But what made this rally different from others Sanders has hosted was the focus on Native American issues."




"“I thought he was pretty well versed on the issues. He brought up the fact that we need to honor the treaty rights, he brought up the fact that we need to have members from our own tribe from all over the nation be a part of executive decisions which is not what’s happening now.” Larry said. His sister, Cecilia, added that she was pleased the candidate brought up one issue in particular,

““I especially liked that he brought up indigenous women and violence against indigenous women. Right now that’s a really big issue because there are a lot of indigenous women missing, murdered, raped, sexually assaulted, and a lot of it goes along with the pipeline, the fracking, those (work) camps are committing violence against indigenous women on indigenous land. And we cannot do anything about it because of federal jurisdiction. So I really appreciated that he brought up that tribes need to have sovereign rights in order to be able to persecute those criminals on Indian land.”

Cecilia finished by saying that this is the most she has heard a candidate discuss issues regarding tribal communities,"

http://www.lakepowelllife.com/flagstaff-rally-for-bernie-sanders-draws-thousands-spotlights-native-american-issues/