Federal lawsuit filed against Rapid City hotel for allegedly denying services to Native Americans
RAPID CITY — A quiet Ninth Street and a table with the banner “Systemic racism is still the problem” awaited hundreds of people marching against racism Wednesday afternoon.
Cries for the end of racism, for businesses to join the march and the end of racial profiling carried through a blocked off Main Street as people made their way from Memorial Park to the Andrew Bogue Federal Building in Rapid City.
It was there that Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective President and CEO, announced the federal civil rights class action lawsuit against the Retsel Corporation, parent company of the Grand Gateway Hotel, has been filed for denying services to Native Americans.
“We’re going to hold them accountable,” he said.
The march and lawsuit comes four days after a shooting early Saturday morning at the Grand Gateway Hotel on North Lacrosse Street that left a man with serious injuries. Connie Uhre, who was listed as president of the Retsel Corporation located at the same address as the hotel as late as November 2021 in an annual report to the Secretary of State’s office, posted comments on Facebook saying she would “not allow a Native American to enter our business including Cheers (sports bar)” because she can’t tell “who is a bad Native or a good Native.”
The comments have since been deleted.
Tilsen said NDN Collective sent Sunny Red Bear, racial equity campaign director for the collective, to the hotel to book a room and she was denied. They then sent director of operations Alberta Eagle to book rooms on behalf of the organization. He said Eagle was denied and removed from the lobby.
“The act of doing that, in the act of both violating Sunny Red Bear’s rights and the rights of NDN Collective, they violated the law,” Tilsen said.
Previously: Rapid City hotel threatens to ban Native Americans following shooting
Red Bear said before the press conference that the federal lawsuit has been building up for a while. She said the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was passed because people were being discriminated against. Now in 2022, it’s Native Americans being denied a hotel room.
“This is a civil rights violation,” she said. “We won’t allow that to happen in the community or anywhere else for that matter.”
She said NDN Collective plans on going to court to argue the merits of the case. Until then, they plan to support the community and address systemic issues Native Americans face today.
“This is just one of them, and it’s been very explicit and outward facing, but we have a lot of root causes of these systemic issues and the racism that exists in our community,” Red Bear said.
Tilsen said NDN Collective will be represented by former United States Attorney Brendan Johnson.
Johnson said the complaint was filed as a class action on behalf of the Native American community who have been discriminated against.
“We, to be clear, don’t file the complaint to send a message,” he said. “We file a complaint because we want justice. For those who would take us lightly, remind you in the last year we sued Indian Health Services in the federal government and said there is a treaty right to health care that Native American signatories of the Fort Laramie Treaty, and we have won.”
Johnson said this will be a long process, but there will be justice.
Oglala Sioux Tribe President Kevin Killer, who marched from the Band Shell to the courthouse with the group, said he and the tribe’s council are committed to protecting people’s rights and making sure that people are heard.
Chairman Peter Lengkeek of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe said perhaps it’s time for Native Americans to take their money elsewhere.
“Maybe if this is going to continue, we go somewhere else,” he said. “Maybe things will change and that’s something we’re praying for, that’s what we’re hoping for.”
He said it’s actions like that taken by the Grand Gateway Hotel that creates an environment conducive to violence.
Red Bear said situations like Uhre’s comments are symptoms of root causes of systemic racism that exists within policies and practices within the community.
“Our community was built on genocide, on stolen land inequities to begin with, and in order for us to really move forward, we have to acknowledge those inequities,” she said. “That history is very heavy, but we have to do that in order to heal and move forward.”
Red Bear said as a Native person, they can’t let their guard down. She said it’s difficult as a mother to balance encouragement to her kids and tell them Indigenous people are resilient and powerful while also holding accountability within the community and challenging systemic racism that continues to exist.
She said it’s time for people, government agencies, schools, business owners and the community to look inward and challenge themselves, policies and practices that could actively discriminate against Native Americans and other people of color.
Red Bear said this solution involves the entire community, not just Indigenous people. She said it’s time to hold a seat at the table on different boards and in conversations and for people to listen to learn, not just to respond.
“I think we can move forward in a really powerful and good way if we’re just trying to create a better community for everybody,” she said.
City, county, tribal and business entities condemned Uhre’s comments in a joint statement released Tuesday afternoon calling on the family to publicly address and denounce their statements and to make amends to the community, especially the Native American people.
In a statement on Facebook, Cheers Lounge, which is located at the Grand Gateway Hotel, said the family is looking into what they can do to help the victim of the shooting.
"We're sorry if some members of our community reacted without thinking and said some things that don't reflect the values of Cheers, The Hotel, or our customers," the statement reads. "We're committed to being a welcoming, inclusive place for everyone."
The statement states that the MacArthur Foundation and its grants, which the county accepted in 2015 to help reduce incarceration and aims to reduce jail population and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, is "destroying us."
"I believe that my mother cries so loudly when gunshots ring through the hotel and vandals destroy guest property because she feels that everything she has sacrificed her life for is being destroyed," the statement reads.
Northcott Hospitality President Julie Roettger, which runs the Perkins Restaurant and Bakery attached to the hotel, released an official statement Wednesday stating the company has served as a staple in Rapid City for more than 40 years.
"Above all else, our top priority is providing all of our guests with a warm, welcoming and safe environment to enjoy a home-style meal and spend quality time together," she said. "Statements made by the Grand Gateway Hotel do not represent our beliefs or business practices. It is against Perkins core values to discriminate against any guest or employee — equality, inclusion and respect of one another remain integral to our culture."
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Grand Gateway hotel in Rapid City sued for banning Native Americans
