Wahsayah Whitebird | |
---|---|
City Councilor of Ashland, WI | |
In office April 17, 2019 – April 17, 2021 | |
Preceded by | David J. Mettille |
Succeeded by | Charles Ortman |
Constituency | District 6 |
Personal details | |
Born | Hayward, Wisconsin, U.S. | February 1, 1992
Nationality | American Chippewa |
Political party | Communist |
Wahsayah Whitebird (born 1992) is a member of the Communist Party of the United States who served from 2019 to 2021 on the City Council of Ashland, Wisconsin, United States. Whitebird is a Bad River Band Chippewa and while in office was one of only two Communist Party members serving as an elected official in the United States.
Whitebird is a member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a tribe whose reservation is located about 10 miles east of Ashland on the coast of Lake Superior. [1] Whitebird worked at a deli in Ashland prior to his election and was a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers. [2]
Whitebird won his first election on April 2, 2019, beating incumbent David J. Mettille 52-42. [3] His campaign platform was described as "radical" by the Ashland Daily Press, running on issues like making housing more affordable, reducing drug abuse, and building homeless shelters. [4] [5] The election was nonpartisan, and Whitebird's affiliation with the Communist Party was not publicly known until after he won. Whitebird has been a member of the Communist Party since 2011. [5] His election made him the only known Communist Party member elected to public office in the United States at the time. [1] He did not run for re-election in 2021. [6]
Whitebird's policy positions are generally aligned with those of democratic socialists, though his overall political views and philosophy are more aligned with traditional Communism. [1] Since being elected, Whitebird has announced support for policies like raising the minimum wage and implementing a Green New Deal. [5] Whitebird expressed disdain toward school resource officers in September 2020, saying that removing them from schools was a step towards ending the " school to prison pipeline." [7]