Sanders Makes Appeal For Tribal Support At Wausau Rally

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made a pitch for Native American votes at a rally Sunday in Wausau.

The latest polls show Sanders with a lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s primary.

Speaking at times in the Ojibwe language, Wisconsin tribal leader Mic Isham introduced the candidate by mentioning a recent, well-publicized incident at a Sanders rally.

“Did you all see that little tweety bird land on the podium when Bernie was speaking?” he asked.

Isham said that,to Native Americans, the incident had a religious meaning.

“In our culture, birds are considered messengers. They fly up high, and they’re the closest living things to the Great Spirit, or as many people call him, God,” Isham said. “To us, that symbolizes that Bernie was given a message or a mission from above.”

Sanders said if elected, he would change the relationship between the U.S. government and the tribes.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the first Americans that we can never repay,” Sanders said. “They have taught us that we are a part of nature, that for this planet to survive, we have got to live with nature, not destroy nature.”

Sanders spoke to an overflow crowd of 1,800 at Wausau’s Grand Theater.

Isham is the chair of Wisconsin’s Lac Courte Oreilles tribe, and the chair of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.