08/22/19 08/22/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i know i have made mistakes. i am sorry for harm i have caused. i have listened and i have learned a lot. amy: at the first ever native american presidential forum, senator elizabeth warren apologizes for using the results of a dna test as evidence of her family's longtime claim to native american ancestry.

meanwhile, senator bernie sanders of house to -- vowed to rescind medals for u.s. soldiers who took part in the wounded knee massacre. >> massacring women and children is not an act of bravery. it is an act of depravity. amy: we will air highlights from the presidential forum in iowa and host a roundtable discussion. all that and more, coming up. wewelcome to democracy n now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the trump administration has proposed a new rule that would allow migrant children and her caregivers to be jailed by u.s. immigration agencies indefinitely. the proposed rule six to

overturn the 1997 flores agreement which puts a 20 day limit on migrant family detentions. kevin mcaleeeenan said wedednesy the new role would serve as a deterrent. >> no child should be a pond in the scheme to manipulate our immigration system, which is why the numeral illuminates the sin of to exploit children as a free ticket or is one gentleman tommy, passport for aggression to the united states. amy: it drew intense condemnation from immigrant rights groups and human rights organizations. amnesty international tweeted " this is more than cruel, it is beyond logic and humanity." on wednesday, president trump said he is looking into ending birthright citizenship for people born on u.s. soil, even of the right is enshrined in the constitution under the 14th amendment. the congressional budget office warned wednesday the federal budget deficit is growing faster than predicted and is on course to reach $1 trillion for the

first time sinince the great recession. this comes lesess than two years after trump signed a $1.5 trillion republican tax cut that overwhelmingly favors the wealthiest americans, and as the pentagon is set to receive a staggering $738 billion for the comingngiscal yearar. brazilian researchers say fires raging in the amazon have reached their highest pace on record as illegal loggggers burn vast areas of rainforest to clear land for minining and cate grazazing. brazil's national institute for space research says satellites have detected some 74,000 fires in brazil so far this year -- a more than 80% increase over the same period in 2018. there are fires raging in neighboring bolivia as well, where some 2000 square miles have burned. the fires have sent massive plumes of smoke across much of south america, turning day into night in sao paulo, 1700 miles away from the amazon basin. on wednesday, brazil's far-right

president jair bolsonaro said without evidence that non-governmental organizations are to blame. regarding the fires in the amazon, i am under the impression that it could have been set by the ngo's because they had asked for money. what was their intention to bring about problems for brazil. amy: bolsonaro has worked to deregulate and open up the amazon for agribusiness, logging and mining since he came into office in january. his attempt to blame environmentalists for the fires drew widespread ridicule and outrage. it came as indigenous people used social media to document how illegal loggers are setting fire to their territories. this is a woman named celia, a memberer of the indigenonous community, speaking in a video that went viral across b brazil this wee >> loowhat they of dontoto our servation. fofor two years we have been fighting to pservee this land,

annow w the troublakers co herend s setire to o ville. t if it were not enough, mining compa kills aiverer, our peopleouour soce o of life d now they ha come toet fi to a rervation. we wo't stay quiet tomorr we willlose theoad d we want the media to defend us. amy: meanwhile, wildfires continue to rage in alaska, where a thick blanket of smoke has darkened the skies over age. -- over anchorage. july was the hottest month ever recorded on earth, and temperatures in alaska averaged more than 58 degrees fahrenheit -- 5.5 degrees above historic averages. elsewhere, fires raging in the canary islands forced 8000 people to evacuate. in siberia, more than 2121,000 squarere miles of forest h have burned so far this month. there have even been large-scale wildfires in greenland, which recently experienced its largest single-day ice melt in h histor. washington state governor jay

inslee has dropped his bid for the democratic party's 2020 presidential nomination, saying it has become clear he is not going to become president. inslee made combating the climate crisis the centerpiece of his short-lived campaign for the white house. inslee clashed with the democratic national committee after challenging party leaders to host a debate solely focused on the climate. dnc chair tom perez has declared that the party "will not be holding entire debates on a single issue area." writing in the intercept, journalist naomi klein responded -- "having a habitable earth is not a single issue. it is the single precondition for every other issue's existence. humbling as it may be, our shared climate is the frame inside which all of our lives, causes, and struggles unfold." in san francisco, progressive activists disrupted an event wednesday honoring house speaker nancy pelosi with a lifetime achievement award. dozens rlilied osidede t

interctitinent sanan fnciscoco hotel while inside, four others interrupted the ceremony calling on pelosi to support the impeachment of president trump. demonstrators also protested pelosi's june approval of billions of dollars in funding for a republican border security package. the acvivists re e eveuallyy removed t the pice.e. norrests we made. sudan's miliry rulerhave sworn in new govnment as part of agreeme to brin civilianule to t country after popular rising eed e 30-yeareign of authoritian president omar -bashir earlier this year. sudan's sovereign council is composed of six x civilians, two of t them women, as well as five members of sudan's powerful military. economist ababdalla hamdokok tok ththe oath of ofoffice as prime ministster. he was the favored choice of many pro-democracy activists whose protests toppled al-bashir in april. under a power-sharing agreement between protesters and the military, the sovereign council will govern sudan for three years ahead of general elections scheduled for mid-2022.

in hong kong, riot police squared off wednesday evening against demonstrators at a suburban train station, the site of an attack one month ago by masked men on protesters returning home from a pro-democracy march. protesters say the assailants in the july 21 attack have ties to organized crime, and they say authorities colluded with the attackers by failing to prosecute them. meanwhile, chinese officials have acknowledged for the first ine that a british employee has been jailed. 28-year-old simon chung went missing earlier this month, after sending his partner an eerie message reading, "pray for me," as he rode a train bound for hong kong. his case has renewed fears over a now-suspended bill that would allow hong kong residents to be extradited to mainland china. in mexico, the zapatista national liberation army announced this week that it is extending its leadership of autonomous indigenous zones to 11 more areas in the southern

state of chiapas. someme of the new w autonomous commmmunities willll be establid on l land that thehe zapatistask duriring an uprisising in 1994 followining the signining of the north amamerican free trade agreement. a statatement signeded by zapata subcommamander moises s called n "expononential growth ththat als us to breaeak the blockakade ag" in the samame statement,t, the zapatistas refeferred to mexican president anandres manuel l lopz obrador asas "the new ovoversee" andd said dozens of indigenous activists have been killed since amlo took office december 1. on monday, and will call the expansion welcome and said it would benefit indigenous people. the mexican president has been widely criticized by indigenous communities for his support of a massive infrastructure project that would extend a 950-mile rail network right though the heartland of mayan indigenous land in southern mexico. president trump attacked danish prime minister mette fredericksen wednesday, one day after announcing he'd canceled a

planned state visit to denmark over the country's refusal to discuss selling greenland to the united states. this is trump speaking to reporters outside the white house wednesday.y. pres. trump: denmark, i look forward to going but i thought the prime minister's statement was an was absurd -- it absurd idea what was nasty. i thought it was in inappropriate statement. amy: danish politicians across the political spectrum have expressed disbelief over trump's bid to purchase greenland, an autonomous danish territory, as well as trump'p's suddenen cancellation of the state visit. following trump's latest remarks, a state department spokesperson said trump had merely postpononed the trip, and said secretary of state mike pompeo called d the danish f fon minister to express u. s support for r its nato ally. on wednesday, president trump referred to himself as the chosen one as he discussed ongoing negotiations for a trade

deal with china. this was after he reach we did a conspiracy theorist who compared trump to the king of israel and said jews "love him like the second coming of god." meanwhile, president trump doubled down wednesday on his claim that jewish people who vote for democrats are either ignorant or disloyal. trump's initial remarks came one day earlier as he attacacked congress members rashida tlaib and ilhan omar, who were recently barred from entering israel and palestine at trump's urging. this is trump, speaking to reporters outside the white house. pres. trump: in my opinion, you vote for a democrat, you're being very disloyal to jewish people and you are being very disloyal to israel. people would say anything other than that. amy: trump's remarks drew condemnation from democrats and a large number of jewish organizations. rabbi alissa wise of jewish voice for peace said in a statement that trurump had repeated an anti-semitic trope about jewish people "holding dual-loyalty," adding -- "his fake concern for jews

doesn't fool us, as his actions have proven he is not concerned about jewish safety, but in using jews to win political points with his white nationalist base. in fact, by his continued encouragement of white supremacy and his daily racist attacks on immigrants and people of color, trump is making the american jewish community less safe by the day." a southern california school district is under fire after administrators failed to inform parents about repeated incidents of hate speech by members of a high school water polo team captured on video. the incidents occurred at pacifica high school in orange county. in one video, 10 students are seen singing a nazi song while performing a sieg heil salute during an awards ceremony. in another video, a student is seen wrapped in a confederate battle flag.g. in a third video, two students are seen goose-stepping while waving a german flag.

school district officials reportedly learned about the videos last march, but failed to inform parents and teachers and have refused to say if anyone was disciplined over the hate speech. on tuesday, officials with the garden grove unified school district said they have reopened an invnvestigatition. elsewhwhere in s southern california, police say they thwarted a mass shooting by a disgruntled cook at the long beach marriott hotel, who allegedly threatened to come into work to shoot everyone he saw. long beach police chief f robert luna says officers found an arsenanal of deadly weweapons wn they arrested 37-year-old rodolfo montoya at his home on tuesday. >> suspect montoya had clear plans, intent, and the means to carry out an act of violence that may havave resulted in ms casualty incident. a search of the suspect's residence e in the city of huntington beach led to the seizure of multiple high-powered hundreds of rounds of

imitation, as well as tactical gear including an assault rifle and high-capacity magazines -- which are even legal to possess -- illegal to possess and the state of california. amy: the police were tipped off by a coworker who the potential shooter spoke to. there have been at least 30 arrests of people alleged to be planning massacres since the mass shootings in el paso, texas, and dayton, ohio, eararlr this month.. paparkland student activisists o survived the 2018 mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida have unveiled an ambitious plan to tackle gun violence. the march for our lives "peace plan" would create a national gun lessons sing and registry system, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and create a national buy-back program for firearms. it would also see federal officials declare a national emergency around gun violence, name a national director of gun violence prevention, and would

register eligible voters and mail voter registration cards to all americans when they turn 18. "the washington post" reports that at least eight bureau of prisons officials knew that multimillionaire serial sex abuser jeffrey epstein was not to be left alone in his cell in a manhattan federal jail, but the order was ignored during the 24 hours leading up to his death august 10. "the post" cites unnamed officials who say that supervisors and managers, and not just low-level prison guards, were aware of the directive. new york city's medical examiner determined last week that jeffrey epstein's cause of death was suicide by hanging, but epstein's lawyers have challenged that finding and are planning their own investigation. and in huntsville, texas, prison officials injected 48-year-old death row prisoner larry swearingen with a lethal dose of the drug pentobarbital wednesday evening, killing a man who proclaimed his innocence to his dying breath. swearingen was convicted of the 1998 murder of 19-year-old community college student melissa trotter, but at least five defense experts testified

swearingen could not have been the killer because he was in jail on unrelated traffic violations at the time of the murder. they also testified that someone else's dna was found under the victim's fingernails. but on wednesday, swearingen was put to death after the supreme court denied a stay of execution. in a statement sent to "the washington post" wednesday, swearingen wrote -- "today the state of texas murdered an innocent man." swearingen added -- "i feel certain that my death can be a catalyst to change the insane legal system of texas which could allow this to happen." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 10 presidential candidates, including senators bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, traveled to sioux city, iowa, this week for the first-ever native american presidential

forum. the forum was held just weeks after congresswoman deb haaland, one of the first two native american women in congress, publicly endorsed senator warren for president, calling her a "great partner for indian country." warren came under fire last year after she released the results of a dna test as evidence of her family's longtime claim to have native american ancestry. on 1 -- on monday, senator warren apologized for her actions. >> before i go any further, i want to say this, like anyone who is being honest with themseselves, i know that i have made must takes. i am sorry for harm i have caused. i have listened and i have learned a lot. and i am grateful for the many conversations that we had had together. it is a great honor to be able to partner with indian country. and that is what i have tried to do as a senator.

and that is what i promise i will do asas president of the united states of america. [applause] the federal government's history with our tribal nations has been one of broken promises. we need to make change. we need to honor our trust and treaty obligations to the native tribe. [applause] and we're not going to do that with one little statute over here and a couple of changes in regulation over there. it is going to take big structural change. that is how i see this. think of it this way, full funding for housing, for health care, for education, for infrastructure. those are not optional. we need to change the rules and

make it happen. amy: during the native american presidential forum, 99-year-old u.s. army nurse corps veteran marcella lebeau of the cheyenne river sioux tribe posed a question to senator bernie sanders. >> i do have a question, and this relates to the massacre a t wowounded knee. to me, there is a pervasive sadness that exists on our reservation because of unresolved grief. 20 medals of honor were given to the seven calvary soldiers at the massacre at wounded knee when they killed approximately 250 women and children in the leader who was ill witith pneumonia. all of these things have a bearing on what -- the feelings on ourplessness

reservation. the older's come the children, everyone. so my question is, will you support the removal of the stain ? that is my question. is absolutely. [laughter] honor are given rarely and they are given to people who do very, very important things. i want to thank you for your work will stop i know you received recognition of elite from the french government and elsewhere for the work you done in world war ii in saving lives. that is the type of a person who receives medals of honor. they are very rare and given to people who show great, great bravery. issacring women and children

not an act of great bravery. --is an act of to privately depravity. and inw, this afternoon a few minutes i have here, we're not going to resolve all of the issues of the last 500 years, but i think it is important, not differently, by the way, then how we deal with the abomination of slavery. but the time is long overdue for us to be having that discussion of what happened when the first settlers came here and the terrible and horrible things that were done to the native american people. not only at wounded knee, but in so many other places. i think that is a discussion the american people actually want to have. and at the end of that the necessityt be of us doing everything that we can to repair the damage -- the psychological damage, the he

really a show ins, and also address the real needs of american people today who in many cases are living in poverty. so there's a lot of work k to be done. but to it knowledge -- and it will not be easy, a lot of pain, but to acknowledge what the settlers did when they came here and what has happened over the last many, many years is something that this country is going to have to address. and as president, i look to four to addrdressing it with yo. amy: other candidates at the forum included mark charles, a tribal citizen of the navajo nation, who is running for president as an independent. >> missing and murdered indigegenous women i is a massie problem in our country. in our communities. probably most everyone in our room has a relative or friend or neighbor who is missing or has

been murdered or has been properly and was not followed up on. a lot of candidates are going to propose we need new laws to protect these vulnerable community. i would say we don't need new laws, we need a new basis for our law. when you have a constitution that never mentions women, you cannot act surprised when women murdered, and go missing and law enforcement and society doesn't care. we don't need a new law, we need a new basis for our laws. we need to deal with the foundations of the country. amy: independent presidentiaial candidate mark charles of the navajo nation. when we come back, he will join

as part of our roundtable discussion on the 2020 presidential race and the native american vote. this is democracy now! back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

go music from the first of the native american presidential forum in sioux city, iowa. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our coverage of the americanr native presidential forum. on monday and tuesday, 10 candidates travel to sioux city, to take part, another in video. we're joined by mark charles, native american activist of the navajo natioion, running for president as an independent. he is joining us from washington, d.c.. in des moines, iowa, christine nobiss is joining us director of the

, seeding sovereignty's shift project. and lincoln, nebraska, mark of indianditor country today and moderator of the to do presidential forum. this form came into being. it is an absolute first and it wasn't just a democratic presidential forum, mark trahant , it was inviting people -- it was invited president trump, is that right, as well as w william weld? tell us more about it. >> the idea was to bring the issues that affect indian country to make them front and center rather than the candidates. the first., this not 12 years ago, there was a presidential forum and i

moderated that as well. that one never got the major candidates involved. governor bill richardson and dennis kucinich and my gravelle or the old ones that agreed to participate. barack obama and hillary clinton both passed on it. but this raised a level unheard of, the ability to talk about is essential. one thing that would be great to see come out of this down the road is what of this country started with the primary season in indian country instead of in iowa? these issues that are so fundamental to the country and what this country's story is all about started with the native american perspective? amy: christine nobiss, you are one of the organizers of the two days. talked about how you did it. it was called the frank lamere native presidential forum. can you explain who frank lamere

was? yes, first of all, i have to give credit to four directions for spearheading this event. and for allowing seedining sovereignty to be allowed to o e part of such an histstorical event. it was an absolutute honor to te part in this as s an organizer. also because frank lamere was a dear friend and a mentor to me. i am close with his s son. frank was a reallyly special person. he w was an activist his whole life. movement.art in the a one of his biggest achievements was when he was ablele to shut down l liquor sales in white cl, nebrasaska, which is this tiny little town with a very minimal population that was selling millions of cans ofeer and

hard liquor to people living in the pine ridge reservation for a very long time. he nevever gave up. he was the chahair of the native american democratic caucus. hisas t teless in community. he helped organize the first ever marchch to honor lost children, which recognizes the many native american children that are lost to the child welfare act. withlped found were worked four direcections inin sioux ci. he was very well known i in siox city. before he passed away, one of his biggest projects was working onon getting indian health services in sisioux city itself becacause there is no indian health services in the state off iowa. it is very badly needed in sioux city with such a high population of indigenous people. amy: i want to turn to shannon mohican indians

who asked senator warren about what she will do to confront the crisis facing native women and girls. my question is about criminal justice and policing. you spoke earlier of it. i don't want to belabor over it but some of ththe statistitics according to the united states department o of justice are that an american n indian women are 0 times more likely to be murdered than the national average and also four in five american indian women will experience violence in her lifetime. and homicide is the third leading cause of death for american indian girls between the ages of 10 and 24. as the president of the united states, how would you enjoy not only your self by your administration and your authority to address the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis in aid in country? >> thank you for the question. this comes on a day that is two years to the day i believe t tht

savannah was taken. congress,irst got to the violence against women act was up for reauthorization. i was one of the strong supporters of expanding it to include indigenous women and specific provisions and specific resources for that. as you know, though, that bill has been allowed to lapse. this is something we have to be pushing back on and make sure it has adedequate and expanded protection over where we got it the last time. muchther part that i very hear you talking abobout is the ininvincibility ofof the proble. strucker and over, i am by women who go missing and it does not make a headline for a week, for a month. women who are murdered, native women, and it never makes a

headline will step a problem that is not seen is a problem that is not fixed. so i think of this in two ways. one is the importance of the federal government getting serious about collecting data and making those data publicly available. people need to know this problem. amy: that is senator elizabeth warren at the first ever major presidential candidate for them held in sioux city. we are still speaking to christine nobiss, director of the seeding sovereignty's shift project. christine, you went to the university of iowa. you are born in canada. if you can talk about canada's response to missing and murdered women and the whole issue and the recent report that just came out versus the united states and

what you want to see here? mmiw is something that started in canada quite a few years ago. a lot of people actually use the miwg.. there was a task force put in place many years ago wherere the rcmp started to investigate the high levels of women n occurring across the country. we have a highway in british columbia called ththe highwawayf tetears where appararently over0 women have gone missing. however, grassroots activists will tell you that number is much higher. right now as we speak, there are around 1000 people said to be missing. but again, grassroots people will say that number is much higher.. higher.be as high

it can be as high as 4000 to 5000. that number is always skewed becae e they're people whwho mit not identify as native american or be knowown as native amamerin and d the circles theyey are inh they a are not w within their communities. there are a lot of people not identified. and then t there are people that are missing. they are never found. in the united states as of 2016, women in 5000 -- 571716 the missing persons database in the united states.s. of course, that number is said to be much higher as well. we have the highest rates of rape and sexual assault in the united statess, as well as in canada. in the united states, ththe departmement of justice e tells 56% of native american womomen d alaska native women wiwill experience rape or sexual assault in their lifetime. agagain, i have toto revert baco what people say on our reservations and in ourr indidigenous communities that tt number has been said, inin some

cases, to be as s high as 80% or 90%. the issue has nothing to do with the border. a border that hasas been placed upon n native nations is what i cacall bororder imperialism.. and this issue is the same in canada as it is in the united states as it is in mexico. indigenousus people are still considered, in my opinion, by certain segmentsts of society, t quite as human as others and are somemething that can bebe s seen obobject and they aree targeted, i would say, certain populations of this country with a white supremacist mentality. amy: and what does the violence against women act have to do it or how does the violence against women act address this crisis of the native american community

and a greater american community? it t is very important. it took 25 years to get where it is right now. in 2013, an amendment was made to it to ensure more rights and safeties for indigenous w wen come native american communities, for immigrant communities, and for lgbtq cocommunitieies becausese we fae hihigher reses of viololence. the violence against women act is an absolute necessity for all women in this country, but l lie i i said, it iimimportant that t are targeted. and what is disturbing to me, what is upsetting toto me, is right nonow it is still l waitio be reinstated like it is evevery year, still waiting on a bududg, and still sitting on t the tabl. that is not ok.. the violence againstst women act

should alwlways be in n place. there should never be any nailbiting of whether or not there's going to be funding for these programs again the next yearar. aprilquietly this past rollback the defefinition of wht domestic violence is. it took us a verery long t timeo momove away from the judiciall definitition of domestic violene towards the much more comprehensive view of what domestic violelence means. talking about emotional abuse and verbal abuse and so much more. it was a very long comprehensive list of what that is, and it took years t to get the.e. as of april, it was rolled back to just one sentence. the violence against women act provides funding for indigenous communities so they can continue to educate and work with people, with victims of all sorts of

crimes -- sexual assault, rape, to messickck violence -- and its a much-needed act that is used to help keep our people safe. amy: i want to turn to mark charles. mark charles is the first novel hello president -- not hope presidential candidate in the united states. participated with the majority -- many of the democratic presidential candidates. on what platform are you running? talk about the significance of this native american forum for you. it is greatat to be wiwith you. before i go any further, i'm here in washington, d.c., and i want to knowledge that i'm on of the nations who lived here long before t the distririct of columbia, the stae

of maryland, or the state of virginia were created. it is important to remember these lands wewere not discover. amy: you are the only presidential candidate to acknowledge the land where you were isioux city. ifif you canan talk abouout than iowa. >> wherever i travel, i worked very hard to researcrch and find out what natative nation,n, what tribes living on these lands before they were colonized. i do my bestst to honor them whererer i go. julian castro did a very good job ofof technology the people f ththe land in his presentation. -- acknowledging the people of the land in his presentation. one of the things that the heart of my campaign, and as a nationn we reaeally h have a struggle wh what is called common memory. writinge was talking and a letter about the truth and reconciliation commission up in canada, he iss from thehe natiof their, and a leader among the people, anand he said where comn

memoryry is lacking, were people do not share in t the same path, there can be no real community. he said you have to start by creating common memory. i think that quote is genius. problem withour race. as a country,, the united states of america does not have a common memory. we have a white majority that remembers a mythological history of discovery, expansion, opportunity, and exceptionalism. we h have community ofof color d women and other marginalized -- family separating our b borders, anand there's no common memorory. people are actining likee this crisis at the e border right now is the first time we have seen this. but the united states of america has been very effective at separating children from their families throughout its entire existence,e, whether it is throh the slave trade or the boarding schools or the massacres. what president trump doing is

not unique or new. this is what our natation does. this is our hihistory. and the fact we don't have t ths cocommon memory -- and so many cacandidates and many americanss wowould like to believe that the united states of america struggles with issues like racism and sexism and white supremacacy in spite of our foundation. in other words, there is thihis belief we have thehese great foundations and we're just not living up to them. is,the truth of the matter if you read our declaration of independence, which h 30 lines after the statement all men are created equal come a calls savages,rciless indian when we have a constitution that begins with "we the people" and never mentions women, specific leagu. the 13thth the moment that most people think believes to abolish slavery of it codifies it undedr the criminal jurisdiction

system. will we have the s systemic foundadational i issues of raci, permissive, we a have to knowledge the united states of america is racist, sexist, and was a premimises, nt in spite of our foundations, but because of thehem. these are e the dialogues we ned to have. these are the conversations we need to have. said at the fororm, we e don't need a new particular law protecting this vulnerable community or that vulnerable demographic, we did a new basis center law, whihich i is the of m my platform, one of thehe y quesestions i'm asking is s lets build a nation where for the very first time we the people trtruly means all the people. and to get there, i'm proposing the united statates of a america needs a nationonal dialogue on race, gendnder, and class. the conversation i would put on par with the truth and reconciliation commissionsns tht happen in south africa and rwanda and in canada. i would calall hours truth andnd

conciliation because implies there was one previously. itit is not accurate. wewe need to h have this dialog, we need to create this common memory. we need to acknowledgege our pat and ask the question, do we want to move forward? do w we really want to bee a nan where "we the people" means all of the people? if we do, we're foundational level changes we need to make. amy: mark charles, mark trahant, and christine nobiss. we will be back with our discussion in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: music from the second of the native american presidential forum held in sioux city, iowa. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue to cover the frank lamere native american presidential forum, the first native american form for major presidential candidates held in

sioux city, iowa, monday and tuesday. lewisturn to stephen questioning democratic presidential candididate julian castro, the former secretary of housing and urban development. >> the sovereignty of indian tribes has increasingly come under attack. most notably, the not indian adoption industry has continued to attack the constitutionality of the indian child welfare act and spread misinformation about by perpetuating negative and racist stereotypypes of indian families and tribal communititi. as president, what would you propose as the potential solulution to not only protect , but to broadly preserved and strengthened trouble sovereignty. >> i know there's a very shameful history behind whyhy it was necessary the first place. that we never want to go back

to. in fact, she you pointnted out n your question, we only want to strengthen iqa. number one, i would make sure supportks know that i the indian child welfare act as president and go out there and campaign on how important it is to preserve it and why it was necessary in the first place and as you say, even today, the stereotypes, these cararicature, the disregard for native peoples is still too prevalent in many quarters. let me also say that one of the things i believe is that in our textbooks come in every single classroom in america, we need to be teaching about native history and doing it from a perspective that is truthful and accurate, and does justice to the contributions of native peoples in this land.

amy: that is democratic presidential candidate julian castro. t, you're the editor of indian country today and moderator of forum.day fro describe the format. it is one we have not seen before. >> you are right. thank you for your conference of view of this whole thing. most of the media, the stories have been about one candidate and they were gone. this broad look at the conversation. the format was really unique because it allowed tribal leaders to be the primary -- askiking questioions. it produced a whole different own. folks added context of their questions. they added real policy so it was not so much about personality and it became, i think him a better conversation for that. amy: describe each candidate came out and there was a group of native american leaders,

different for each of the candidates? is that right? questioning them. people travel from all over the country to question these candidates. >> that's right. there was a panel and also a group representing youth voices. each panel began with marcella lebeau asking about the wounded knee stain act. stain actin the further. >> that is congressional legislation to remove the medals of honor related to the seventh calvary at wounded knee. i think it was a powerful moment because she talked about how it personally affected her life with what she called the sorrow she lives with every day. mark charles also pointed out that that doesn't even go far enough because there are some 450 medals of honor that were

given to u.s. military during the so-called indian wars. amy: i want to turn to senator kamala harris. she did not attend the frank lamere native american presidential forum in person but she spoke via video stream. >> there's unequivocal support and respect that i have for the sovereignty of native tribes and that this is a lifelong commitmentnt. i was raraised and grew up alwas knowing about and f feeling very strorongly about what we neeeedo do to speak truth about the generations s of violence and oppression that have occurred against our native americans at the hands of the american government, the united states government. and there is work we need to do and continue to do that is about not only restoring tribal land, but also acknowledging the historical traumuma that hasas

resulted from those manany years of violence and, frankly, crimes that were committed. these were crimes that ranged inm murder and r rape to t thet profound proportions. amy: mark charles, you're right now in competition with senator harris and others as you, too, are running as an independent for president of the united states. your response and d what you fel neneeds to be done about thihis historical trauma? >> thank you. in all honesty, i'm not in competition againinst kamala harris. right now the democrats are in a primary to choose one nominee from the dememocratic party. i am notot running against eachf them right now, i'm running against the party, if you may. this is a challenge where we have where youou will have a l t of leaders who will talk about and some ofnt to do

the injustice against the past, but when you have a system that is based on the dehumanization of indigenous people, when you have a declaration of independence that calls the savages -- there's been a lot of speak of senator harris for her actions against the indigenous communities in california when she was the attorney general there. government that i has s in its foundation the dehumanization of your community, at some point you're goining to have to make a a stap do you a line with that oror do you oppopose it? wes is most clearar in the onoe have the s sreme court as recently as 2005 referencing that doctrine of discovery and determines that the embers of sovereignty that long ago could bebe rekindled by the united ina nation and that opinion was written by ruth bader ginsburg -- the challenges when you have

a dehumanizizing doctrine of didiscovery ththat props up your land titles, it makes white supremacy a bipartisan valueue. and we have very few candidates who are willing to address the foundational problem. they may want to change this policy or address that law, but there is very little energy to actually address t the foundatis , and thatat is what i am trying to do with my campaign, to bring the discussion down to the foundations. if you have a house built on that foundation, you're going to get cracks. you can scream about what color to paint the walls, but into you go into the basement and address your broken foundation, you're never going to fix the house. amy: i want to turn to -- >> this campaign is about the greenhouse. amy: i want to turn to senator sanders talking about the fight to protect sacred land and connecting it to the fight against the climate crisis. also -- and i know

how important it is to protect the sacred lands of the native american people -- [cheers] theres proud to have been not physically, but in every other way, standing with the native american people at standing rock. [cheers] and i do that because it is imperative that we respect the sovereignty and the land that is sacred to the native american people. that, forition to your children and your grandchildren and mine as well, we must do everything we can to address the existential crisis facing this planet t in terms of climate changege. amy: that was bernie sanders.

the standing rock sioux tribe asked a federal court in washington, d.c., just last friday to halt operations of the dakota access pipeline until a full envirironmental assessments completed. the army corps of engineers issued an easement in 2017 allowing for the construction of dapl despite widespread protest that garnered international support. it violatedr found the law and remain at issue back to the army corps, which the sioux tribe said conducted a sham process in order to go ahead with the construction and now the dakota access pipeline, run by energy transfer partnere, is asking to double its output through the dakota access pipeline, which it succeeded in building. mark charles, if you can talk about your stand on dapl and --- as well as -- well, start there. what this c case centers around is consent. and was a a communicication --

proper communication between the gogovernment and the tribe. this goes down to a foundational level issue. when you have a precedent of treating or native nations as domestic dependence, when your natitive nations are not sovoven over theheir only and but they e still federal trust l lands held in trust by the government for the tribe, you're never going to have true sovereignty. you're never going to have a government to government relationship. and so this is where we need to talk about the foundations of the country. we need to remove this influence of the doctrine of discovery so we can have real government to government dialogue. the constitution says the treaties of this land are the supreme law of this land. and we have hundreds of treaties with native nations and yet these native nations were considered to be domestic dependence. i tell people tribal sovereignty in some ways is a sham. we are sovereign over our land like your teenage child is sovereign over their bedroom. the you can put a sign on

door and lock it if you want, but it is ultimately in your parents house. we need to change the basis of the dialogue. we need to change the relationship in order to have a true government to government dialogue and relationship. and then we can talk about consent. then we can talk about what does it mean for this other government and these other entities to come into these lands, which are under the jurisdiction of the tribes and are considered sacred to them, and not, therefore, the exportation of profit but sustainability and for life. then we can have a r real dialoe about what does it meann to work together to try and figure out how do we -- can we use the resources,s, can we tranansfer e resoururces over these lands wee what do need to do about that. at first we have to change the foundation of the relationship also amy:: i want to go to deb haaland in new mexico who introduced senator elizabeth warren at the native american presidential forum.

she is one of the first to native american women in congress. >> some media folks have asked me whether the president's criticism of her regarding her ancestral b background will hamr her ability to convey a clearr campaign message. i say that every time they ask about elizabeth's family insnstd of the issues of vital importance to indian country, they feed the presidents racism. elizabeth knows she will be attacked, but she is here to be an unwitting partner in our aruggle because that is what leader does. amy: head of the native american forum, senator warner unveiled her honoring empowering tribal nations and indigenous peoples plan which includes expanding affordable housing and health care and indigenous committees, spanning broadband access, rights, andg voting a pledge to revoke the keystone xl and dakota access pipeline permits. christine nobiss, we're going to

and with you. if you can talk about the significance of senator warren's presence, her apology, and her plan? >> i am impresessed w with waw's policy. it came after castro's policy. i was really hoping that castro would not cite more these candidatates to get on thehe ban this capacity. i'm not necessarily y impressed with her apology. i very happypy she apolologized. hohowever, what was missing was the reaeason she needed too apologizize for. it is not ok at this level to just say sorry. there needs to be an understananding that shshd someththing that took away from other indigenous peoples conontinuehat s she does

to speak on this topic because it will bring up many issues that haven't been spoken about such as tokenization. to leave it there

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