Page 44 - April 2016

feelin’ the bern with jane sanders:
a First Lady For miLLions speaks on the issues oMar victor
InTeRVIew BY
ray reeves
PHOTOs BY
when I sat down with Jane Sanders March 12th, our conversation gravitated toward policy rather than personal considerations. Mrs. sanders was in the area to speak about pro- tecting Oak Flat from international mining interests and visiting the already polluted — by decades of mining operations — navajo Reservation.
If you could, in what ways would you help the country as First Lady?
I think I would focus as I always have on children and families. And try to improve the quality of life, and lessen the stress in whatever ways possible. Mostly supporting Bernie in whatever he’s trying to do. And then, go out to these communities that don’t really have much of a voice in this country, and help their voices resonate with the rest of the country, so their voices can be heard. I just had a fantastic time today meeting with the navajo nation, and the Hopi Tribe. we learned so much, and I think people need to know more.
And you’re going to Oak Flat tomorrow, because there’s a situation with a mining company that’s trying to grab lands. Could you elaborate and talk a little bit about that please?
sure. well in the Department of Defense Authorization Bill a couple of years ago ...
... That McCain drafted? ....
... John McCain, Jeff Flake. Actually I think that it was the 13th time that they — “they” mean- ing any Congress people, had been trying to get it through. And this time they did it at the end of the night. This often happens with legislation. They just put it in, and the Department of Defense Authorization Bill and it just had to be approved.
There was a provision in there, to give some of the Oak Flat land in Tonto National Forest to a foreign mining company. And it is just unconscionable. I mean we are taking the land from the native Americans. we are taking the resources from them. It is going to be the larg- est copper mine in north America. And all of the assets are going out of the country. I don’t understand where the economic benefit is for America, and the Apache tribe. It doesn’t make any sense.
... Yes, with water, with Flint, with fracking, with things that are destroying our ecology on a mass scale. Yet, in the US there are 4 or 5 companies that control about 95% American media ... These are the same companies with the same agendas in multiple nations. They don’t talk about fracking very much, they don’t talk about ecological destruction, poisoning of waterways ... They talk about sensationalism ... Yet there are a lot of cases of lead, arsenic and other by-products that are going into our water from mining, chemical, and production. They’re making people very sick ...
we’re having problems with water throughout the country. Virginia, Mississippi, here in Ari- zona. And it’s funny that no one was really paying attention to it, until recently. we need to deal with that. we need to recognize that corporations shouldn’t have the ability to damage the water supply with fracking, with uranium mining.
One of the things that’s nice to hear is that Congressman Raul Griljalva has introduced legislation to deal with that at Grand Canyon. To ban it from uranium mining forever! He also introduced the “save Oak Flats” legislation, in the House — which would negate the sale of the copper mining rights. And so yesterday, or this week, the Oak Flat area was put on the Historic Preservation List. so that should roll it back.
what I think what we should do is attack each one of these water systems. what’s the cause, what’s the fix, and how quickly can we do it? A lot of other countries regulate aquifers, and we
44 • APRIL 2016 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
don’t do that. I don’t quite understand that.
And Bernie has a plan to invest a trillion dollars in infrastructure. It will create 13 million
jobs. It’s necessary, and if this isn’t evidence, I don’t know what is ...
On the note of the one-sidedness of the American media, your husband hasn’t gotten much press considering the massive crowds he has drawn. They’re promoting Trump/Hillary all day long ... They just won’t talk about him at all, because they don’t want to address the issues he’s talking about, and have him poke holes in the general script at hand. Is there something that can be said
about a Media Fairness Doctrine?
They have that. I mean for instance, Donald Trump was on Saturday Night Live, and they have to give time to anybody who asks, for the same amount of time for entertainment. what is happening is that news has become entertainment. And now, we have all Trump on the news stations, and there is no fairness doctrine there.
I think that after this election, the news media is going to have to be reflective, and have to say, “How did we cover this campaign? was it fair? was it helpful for our Democracy?” And I think that the answer to all three is: No! I think they have given rise to Donald Trump. And If I were a Republican running, I would be furious — because they are waiting for him to say something outrageous, over and over and over again.
And there’ve been some studies done that said Bernie had 10 minutes of time, compared to hundreds, and hundreds of minutes with Donald Trump. so we’re not going to worry about that. One of the things that have been very good for us is online. The fact that so many young people are online. The fact they are vocal about what they think. They share a lot of good sto- ries, so we’ve been very lucky with that.
If it was 20 years ago, I don’t know if he would have been able to resonate as much as he has because they wouldn’t have heard him.
... We get sucked into entertaining distractions all of the time, instead of the actual psychological, the economic, and the physiological toll of people living in this country ...
well I grew up with the Vietnam war, and it was the pictures on television that told people what was happening. And I think at that time people took it very seriously; what they covered what they showed — Unvarnished truth.
But now, it seems we’re going to one place. Like we’ll be in Ferguson or Baltimore, and be covering all of these things. Or in syria, and now we’re not there. It’s out of people’s minds; it’s all one thing, all of the time. no matter how many choices you have.
I think that’s why young people are finding their news, from their own liking. They say, “I want to know about syria even if Cnn is no longer concerned about it.”
On the note of young people, your husband’s campaign is doing wildly popular with younger adults. Has he always been good with kids?
He has, he has. As mayor he used to speak at all of the elementary, middle and high schools. As senator he went around the entire state, and talked to people. And he’s taught at Harvard, and Hamilton. we both just realized the perspective that young people have a sense of curios- ity, a sense of what’s fair, and what’s right. They are both optimistic, and idealistic. we all need to have a little bit more of that, and move forward.
He has introduced legislation to legalize Marijuana, taking it off of the Controlled Substances list.