Racism feud erupts in South Dakota after Rapid City hotelier bans ‘Natives’

A shooting, social media posts, ostensible racism and a feud with local government have disrupted quiet Rapid City, South Dakota, writes Sheila Flynn

Demonstrators gather outside the Andrew W. Bogue Federal building on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Rapid City, where it was announced that a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the Grand Gateway Hotel for denying services to Native Americans

The gateway to Mount Rushmore has erupted in controversy involving the mayor, the Native American community and a hotelier who banned “Natives” from a Rapid City property following a shooting – culminating in a federal lawsuit.

It all began last weekend when a teenage male was shot in one of the rooms at the Grand Gateway Hotel and transported to the hospital with serious injuries. The hotel, with 132 rooms on North Lacrosse Street in Rapid City, is owned and run by mother-and-son team Connie and Nick Uhre.

A 19-year-old, Quincy Bear Robe, has been charged with aggravated assault and commission of a felony while carrying a firearm in connection with the incident. He is being held on $1m bail.

Ms Uhre, however, responded to the shooting with posts online complaining about Native Americans in general.

“We will no long allow any Native American on property,” she wrote in posts then tweeted by Rapid City’s Mayor, Steve Allender. “Or in Cheers Sports Bar. Natives killing Natives. Rancher and Travelers will receive a very special rate of 59.00 a night.”

She added that “Rapid City has gone to Hell,” blaming local policies to reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The backlash was swift and fierce, not least from Mr Allender.

“In addition to blaming the mayor, police chief, sheriff, candidate for sheriff and the court system, a local hotel bans all Native Americans for a shooting a few days ago on hotel property,” he tweeted on 21 March with accompanying screenshots. “Neither the shooting or Grand Gateway’s response to it reflect our community values.”

He told the Rapid City Journal that he “couldn’t be silent and pretend like this is just a harmless venting out of frustration.

“This is an attack on not only the 12% of Rapid Citians who are Native American, but also the larger Native American population nationwide,” the mayor said. “So I sent the Tweet, on the road traveling today, as a bare minimum symbol of support to the Native American community.”

That community decided to investigate further at the Grand Gateway. On 21 March, Sunny Red Bear – the racial equity campaign director for indigenous nonprofit NDN Collective – attempted to book a room at the hotel with another woman.

“After initially beginning to process the rental and and providing a price quote, a hotel employee refused to rent a room to them, claiming that the hotel had a policy that it did not rent rooms to people with ‘local’ identification,” according to a lawsuit filed last week against the hotel and its owners. “This was mere pretext to discriminate against Ms Red Bear based on her race.”

That’s when events began to spiral even further. Not only did NDN and Ms Red Bear file a class action civil rights lawsuit, they also organised a march and rally attended by hundreds of people in partnership with the American Indian Movement and the Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective.

Mr Uhre complained about the backlash and the mayor in a letter to South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem, according to the Journal.

“Steve Allender has been looking for a way to smear me or my family because of our outspokenness regarding the agenda of the left,” Mr Uhre reportedly wrote, adding: “The mayor posting my mom’s Facebook post on his twitter account is beyond the pale.”

The Uhres take issue with $3.5m in MacArthur Foundation grants awarded in 2015 and 2020 which aim to address criminal justice disparity.

“We’re not just trying to reduce the jail population, we’re trying to do so in a way that is a better outcome for the offender and the community,” State’s Attorney Mark Vargo said in February 2020, according to the Journal. “So it truly is about both safety and justice, and we’ve proven that we’re moving in that direction.”

The hotel owners seem to think the policy is disrupting law and order in Rapid City, which has a population of around 75,000.

“Governor Noem, you know my stance on the MacArthur Foundation and the Safety and Justice Challenge grant which is Critical Race Theory for our Criminal Justice System,” Mr Uhre wrote, the Journal reported. “I guess I’m over the target as the saying goes. Because I’m getting it,” Uhre wrote. “This social media smear is very planned.”

He complained his business was suffering; droves of staffers reportedly quit, and no one was answering the phones on Sunday at Grand Gateway. A message from The Independent was not immediately returned and the hotel was listed online as “temporarily closed”.

His mother had also told employees in an email that she “really does not want to allow Natives on the property,” South Dakota Public Broadcasting reported.

“The problem is we do not know the nice ones from the bad Natives … so we just have to say no to them!!” she allegedly wrote.

According to the NDN lawsuit, filed on 24 March in the US District Court for the District of South Dakota Western Division, “As a direct result of Connie Uhre’s decision, announced on social media, to exclude Native Americans from her businesses, Ms Red Bear was discriminated against in violation of federal law.

“On information and belief, Nicholas Uhre has also endorsed and enforced this policy, and hotel management had communicated such a policy to its staff.”

The filing continues that Ms Red Bear “felt and feels threatened, embarrassed, humiliated, disturbed, and shocked. She feels unwelcome to return ... [and] had not done anything to warrant exclusion from the Grand Gateway Hotel. Instead, Ms. Red Bear and her companion were excluded on the basis of their race and protected status as Native Americans.”

In a statement, Ms Red Bear said: “It’s heartbreaking and painful to take blows like this on a daily basis. This isn’t an Indian problem, this is a white supremacy problem and it shows up in businesses like the Grand Gateway Hotel, and in city council, too.

“Those who abuse their power are the decision makers who keep real education out of our schools, much-needed resources from our communities, Native children from their families, and our people in prison. Despite this mistreatment, Native people remain resilient.

“But our success in standing up to systemic racism is based on the support we give one another. I urge you to stand with Native communities. Together, our voices will mean victory against the racism that keeps us divided.”