Grand Gateway bankruptcy postpones discrimination lawsuit

RAPID CITY – Just as NDN Collective was set to begin their discrimination lawsuit against Grand Gateway Hotel owner Retsel Corporation on Monday, Retsel filed for bankruptcy which puts the lawsuit on hold.  Retsel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday. According to the filing, a quorum of shareholders and board of directors of the corporation discussed the issue at a meeting on September 6, 2024, and a majority of them voted in favor of the bankruptcy filing.

NDN Collective CEO and President Nick Tilsen said his organization had been notified on Sunday, and called the eleventh hour move, a “delay tactic.” At a press conference on Monday afternoon alongside NDN Collective Associate Director of Organizing Sunny Red Bear and Director of Strategic Partnerships Dr. Valeriah Big Eagle, Tilsen explained the Chapter 11 filing is an administrative bankruptcy which allows Retsel to reorganize their debt. He said the bankruptcy delays the lawsuit, but it doesn’t get rid of it. “It allows the business to conduct business but for our case to go forward this has to be completed because the bankruptcy filing stays the other matters. A judge could say that the reorganization has nothing to do with the lawsuit. Our attorney will ask the judge in the filing to lift the stay. That judge will make a determination. We believe that the reorganization filing will happen quickly.” He did say the judges schedule could impact things as well.

NDN Collective filed the federal civil rights lawsuit in 2022 after Grand Gateway refused service to Native Americans because of their race, including members of the NDN Collective team. “What led to this litigation was that the owners of the Grand Gateway and Retsel Corporation made comments that they could not tell the difference between bad Indians and good Indians, so they were going to refuse service to both. And that’s actually what they did. They refused service to members of the community,” which he said is a violation of federal law. But before the trial can continue, Tilsen said that the bankruptcy laws will have to play out. “At the same time, I wanted to make sure that the community understands that this is a good thing, because there should be zero tolerance in our community. It should not be allowed here. It needs to be understood that there is a cost to racism. It’s not a small thing to go through bankruptcy.”

Efforts to delay and even dismiss justice have been used regularly to disenfranchise the Native American population. “This is much bigger than the Uhre family and the Grand Gateway trial as a whole,” said Sunny Red Bear, racial equity director for NDN Collective. “This is about more than just one business or one family. It’s about systemic discrimination that has impacted Native people in every corner of Rapid City for generations. The Uhre family and the Grand Gateway are symbols of a much larger and deeply ingrained racism that continues to thrive at our institutions. We have seen this racism in the Rapid City Area Schools where Native students face disproportionate expulsions, criminalization and discriminatory practices that were outlined by the Office of Civil Rights investigation and report.”

Red Bear referenced the school-to-prison pipeline (SPP) study, which confirmed that a disproportionate number of students who experience strict disciplinary policies in school end up in jail or prison.  “We also see this within the police department, where Native Americans are disproportionately targeted, harmed and killed without accountability. So, racism is embedded in every part of life for Indigenous people from business, school, law enforcement and beyond. “I want to connect the dots here. When we talk about the Rapid City vs Racism campaign, we are talking about the same patterns and practices of exclusion, violence and oppression that Native people face daily.”

A 2023 article by Walter Stern of the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Education argues that the school-to-prison pipeline (SPP) began during the school desegregation era of the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, these issues have only deepened, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which says the SPP found that failures to meet educational needs increases disengagement and dropouts. Many under-resourced schools become pipeline gateways by placing increased reliance on police rather than teachers and administrators to maintain discipline. The ACLU said that the reliance on school resource officers (SRO) is inadequate because they often have little to no training working with youth.

Tilsen said the act of refusing service violated some of the provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  “The struggle we are engaged in today mirrors the battle of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Back then they were dismantling segregation. Here we are fighting against systemic racism in Rapid City. In 2024. Like the civil rights movements, this fight is about confronting deeply rooted systems of inequality, and the Grand Gateway trial is just one part of a larger battle for justice and equality. The Uhre family may have sparked the issue, but we are here to address the broader system that has allowed such blatant racism to go unchecked for so long. Now is the time for every institution in Rapid City to be held accountable. I want to remind our city of that. Accountability does not go unchecked. Right now, business, schools and law enforcement are perpetuating racism, and they need to face up to the role they play in maintaining that inequality. The Grand Gateway trial is a crucial step, but it is just the beginning to fight for justice.”

Tilsen said that racism is dangerous for all people and asked the community to unite, and it’s racism that will be on trial when it proceeds, whether that is at the end of this year or the spring of 2025. “In the meantime, every business owner should recognize and think about how they treat Native Americans here. Native Americans and our allies are done turning the other cheek. We are done with that era.”

Red Bear said that the community must unite and acknowledge not only the report from the Office of Civil Rights and that its findings were not just opinions but facts. “As a community, we need to stand by the facts and there needs to be accountability. We need to create a plan together to start addressing the root causes of the discrimination. And the way to do that is through accountability and being open and having open dialogue to start creating plans together and that means community involvement.”  Red Bear asked that people read the OCR report.

Rapid City Area Schools also entered into an agreement with the OCR to take actions to ensure nondiscrimination for Native American students. These too can be found in the report. Big Eagle said the community needs to be involved in finding solutions. “The schools have an opportunity, with the report from the OCR which lays out how to address the issues identified in the report. They have their Indian ed parent advisory committee and are in the process of hiring someone right now. The kids need to have a safe place to learn and to be themselves and not be isolated. There’s a lot of opportunity and I want the community to know that we are here and open to this.

NDN Collective leaders reached out to engage the entire community, inviting non-Native residents to visit their headquarters on Knollwood Drive.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

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