NDN Collective wins discrimination lawsuit against South Dakota hotel

RAPID CITY, S.D. – A South Dakota jury sided with the Native American nonprofit organization NDN Collective on Friday in a discrimination lawsuit against the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City.

The decision marked the second time the hotel had been found to have discriminated against Native Americans, a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

On Nov. 11, 2023, the U.S. Justice Department and Grand Gateway’s parent company Retsel Corp. entered into a consent decree acknowledging that the corporation had violated the Civil Rights Act. The consent decree outlined steps for the corporation to take as a penalty. The United States findings in 2022 marked the first time the hotel was held accountable for discriminating against Native Americans.

Aside from the latest discrimination verdict, the jury delivered a split decision in Grand Gateway’s countersuit against NDN Collective. The jury found that NDN Collective had caused an illegal nuisance during the various protests against Grand Gateway but did not find NDN Collective guilty of defamation. NDN Collective was ordered to pay the hotel $812 in damages.

For discriminating against Native Americans, the Retsel Corp. was ordered to pay $1 to NDN Collective, as requested by the organization. However, it was ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to the five affected plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.

“This case was never about money for NDN Collective,” Valeriah Big Eagle, citizen of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and director of He Sapa Initiatives at NDN Collective said in a statement. “No amount of money will fix racism or make NDN Collective, and the people we stand for, whole.”

Following the murder of Blaine Pourier Jr., Oglala Lakota, at the Grand Gateway Hotel on March 19, 2022, then hotel owner Connie Uhre posted on social media that Native Americans would no longer be allowed to stay at the hotel because she could not tell “who is a bad Native or a good Native.”

“This case began with a life lost,” Sunny Red Bear, a plaintiff, told ICT. “Blaine Pourier Jr.’s name deserves to be spoken with care and respect, not as a justification for discrimination but as a reminder of how grief and violence have too often been used to dehumanize Native people instead of honoring our humanity.”

Red Bear was denied a room at the Grand Gateway Hotel on March 21, 2022.

On March 21 and 22 that same year, several NDN Collective employees attempted to book rooms at the hotel but were denied service. In the months following, NDN Collective organized several protests against Grand Gateway and Retsel Corp.

During one protest, Uhre sprayed disinfectant on Red Bear, Oglala, Mniconju and Hunkpapa Lakota. Uhre was convicted in a separate, earlier trial, for assaulting Red Bear. Uhre died in September 2025.

“This verdict recognizes that history (of violence against Natives) and clearly names the harm at its core, discrimination and racism, while affirming accountability in a way that asks our community to learn, remember and do better,” Red Bear said.

The hotel allegedly again denied residency in 2023 to an Ojibwe family, which has since filed a lawsuit against the Retsel Corp.

(Amelia Schafer is a multimedia journalist for ICT based in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is of Wampanoag and Montauk-Brothertown Indian Nation descent. Follow her on Twitter @ameliaschafers or reach her by email at amelia@ictnews.org)

The post NDN Collective wins discrimination lawsuit against South Dakota hotel first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source