Battle for Whiteclay rages at UNO
Emily Johnson
Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: News
About 60 people assembled in the Milo Bail Student Center Nebraska Room at noon on Tuesday to discuss an issue that has been weighing heavily on the minds of Native Americans and their advocates in Nebraska.
Taylor Keen of Creighton University, a professor of business and director of Creighton's Native American Center, presented a lecture called "The Tragedy of Whiteclay, Nebraska: Alcohol and Sovereignty" as part of UNO's Native American Heritage Month's lineup of events. The official documentary "The Battle for Whiteclay" will be shown in the student center on Nov. 17 at noon.
The lecture was preceded by a video presentation created by students from Creighton Prep high school explaining the problem of Whiteclay, Neb.
In Whiteclay, population of 14, four alcohol stores exist, profiting almost solely off the local Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which lies mostly within South Dakota. The reservation's boundaries end only 200 feet from Whiteclay, prompting Oglala Sioux tribal members to drive off-reservation and buy alcohol to drink both on- and off-reservation.
"I think anyone who watches these situations is going to have a visceral response from seeing the devastation," Keen said. "The basic facts are that 80 percent of the population of Pine Ridge are considered alcoholics."
Most reservations formed treaties prohibiting alcohol around the turn of the 20th century. The federal government set up 15-mile buffer zones around the reservations in which alcohol couldn't be sold.
In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt legally exempted Whiteclay, removing the buffer zone at its citizens' request to bring commerce to Pine Ridge. The State of Nebraska Liquor Commission currently makes the sale of alcohol at Whiteclay legal, Keen said.
Today, Whiteclay's four stores sell the equivalent of 4.5 million 12-ounce cans of beer annually, selling 12,500 cans a day, according to The Battle For Whiteclay Web site.
"One hundred years later, all that's left is the sale of alcohol," Keen said. "This is barely even considered a township. No churches, no post office, no police force, for sure. Its sole existence is to provide alcohol to citizens on Pine Ridge."
Taylor Keen of Creighton University, a professor of business and director of Creighton's Native American Center, presented a lecture called "The Tragedy of Whiteclay, Nebraska: Alcohol and Sovereignty" as part of UNO's Native American Heritage Month's lineup of events. The official documentary "The Battle for Whiteclay" will be shown in the student center on Nov. 17 at noon.
The lecture was preceded by a video presentation created by students from Creighton Prep high school explaining the problem of Whiteclay, Neb.
In Whiteclay, population of 14, four alcohol stores exist, profiting almost solely off the local Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which lies mostly within South Dakota. The reservation's boundaries end only 200 feet from Whiteclay, prompting Oglala Sioux tribal members to drive off-reservation and buy alcohol to drink both on- and off-reservation.
"I think anyone who watches these situations is going to have a visceral response from seeing the devastation," Keen said. "The basic facts are that 80 percent of the population of Pine Ridge are considered alcoholics."
Most reservations formed treaties prohibiting alcohol around the turn of the 20th century. The federal government set up 15-mile buffer zones around the reservations in which alcohol couldn't be sold.
In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt legally exempted Whiteclay, removing the buffer zone at its citizens' request to bring commerce to Pine Ridge. The State of Nebraska Liquor Commission currently makes the sale of alcohol at Whiteclay legal, Keen said.
Today, Whiteclay's four stores sell the equivalent of 4.5 million 12-ounce cans of beer annually, selling 12,500 cans a day, according to The Battle For Whiteclay Web site.
"One hundred years later, all that's left is the sale of alcohol," Keen said. "This is barely even considered a township. No churches, no post office, no police force, for sure. Its sole existence is to provide alcohol to citizens on Pine Ridge."
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Sarah Johns
posted 11/13/09 @ 12:50 PM CST
Whiteclay Nebraska evidently has no redeeming qualities. It's sole reason for existence is to sell alcohol to Native Americans. It is a sordid little burg with no post office, Police etc. (Continued…)
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