Native Americans had their 2020 Democratic campaign forum. Here, in pictures, is how it went.

[turbinetree]

The candidates addressed issues of critical importance to Native communities, including ballot access and sovereign land rights
Danielle McLean
Aug 21, 2019, 5:41 pm Updated: Aug 21, 2019, 6:35 pm

SIOUX CITY, IOWA — No one knew quite what to expect when Native American activists organized their first-ever presidential forum this week.

How many candidates would attend? How read in would they be about the issues of greatest concern to indigenous people? How many would present fleshed-out programs pertaining to Native American concerns?

One day after the forum in Sioux City, Iowa, tribal members have their answer. They say the two-day political event went better than they expected.

“Having 11 presidential candidates participate the best they could reflects the understanding that the Native vote has an impact on national elections,” said Brandon Stevens, vice chairman of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin.

https://thinkprogress.org/native-americans-had-their-2020-democratic-campaign-forum-here-in-pictures-is-how-it-went-35af3c759a58/

[PDittie]

1. Warren was good. Castro was very good.

But the best candidate at this forum was the independent, Mark Charles. (He's Navajo.)

I thought Bernie was not as good as the three mentioned. He arrived almost twenty minutes late and the forum adjourned on time so he only got forty minutes, while everyone else got an hour or more. He spoke from a lectern initially, using his notes obviously, but much of his standard stump speech was only slightly amended to the audience. For the first time in my experience, he looked a little tired.

All of the above were well-received and seem to have their respective strong supporters among the First Peoples, i.e. prominent endorsers, etc. Look at the Twitter hashtag #NativeForum if you want to read/see more (recommended).