South Dakota hotel owner found liable for discrimination against Native Americans

owner of a South Dakota hotel that said native Americans Friday was banned from the establishment after being found liable for discrimination against Native Americans.

A federal jury indicts the owner of the Grand Gateway Hotel rapid city Thousands of dollars in damages will be paid to various plaintiffs who were refused service at the hotel. The jury awarded $1 to NDN Collective, the Indigenous advocacy group that filed the lawsuit.

The group brought a class-action civil rights lawsuit in 2022 against RateCell Corporation, the company that owns the hotel. The case was delayed when the company filed for bankruptcy in September 2024. Company chief Connie Uhre died this September.

“It was never about the money. We sued for a dollar,” said Wisipan Garriott, president of the NDN Collective and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. “It was about putting that discrimination on the record and using it as an opportunity to really be able to highlight racism.”

Uhre posted on social media in March 2022 that she would ban Native Americans from the property following the fatal shooting of two teenagers at the hotel, who police identified as Native American. he wrote in one Facebook Post that she “cannot allow a Native American to enter our business including Cheers” at the hotel’s bar and casino.

When Native American members of the NDN Collective tried to book a room at the hotel following her social media post, they were turned away. The incident led to protests in Rapid City and condemnation from the mayor as well as the state’s tribes.

In Friday’s decision, the jury also ruled in Ritsell’s counter-suit against NDN Collective that the group had committed a nuisance in its protest against the hotel and awarded the company $812.

Following a consent decree with the US Justice Department in November 2023, Uhre was forced to publicly apologize and was banned from managing the establishment for four years.

The Associated Press contacted defense attorneys for comment.

Rapid City, a gateway Mount RushmoreHas seen racial tension for a long time. According to census data, at least 8% of the city’s population identifies as American Indian or Alaska Native.