While the Sioux tribe in North Dakota is fighting the use of “Fighting Sioux,” the Suing Sioux of South Dakota are in federal court with a rather novel (and in my view thoroughly frivolous) lawsuit of their own. The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota is suing the largest beer makers for contributing to the corruption and abuse of members of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation by supplying alcohol through local stores. The tribe is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation.
The lawsuit in Nebraska references four beer stores in Whiteclay, a Nebraska town near the reservation’s border. The town only has about a dozen residents but reportedly sold nearly 5 million cans of beer in 2010. Either the residents have the world’s biggest beer guts or they are making huge profits by selling alcohol to the local indians. The town lies less than 250 feet from the reservation border.
However, beer sales are perfectly legal and these indian customers are adults who have a right to purchase alcoholic beverages — and the citizens of Whiteclay have a right to sell the beer so long as they have the required permits. Notably, as this picture represents, taverns have existed in Whiteclay (or Pine Ridge) for many decades. (This is from the 1940s)
Tom White, the tribe’s Omaha-based attorney, “[y]ou cannot sell 4.9 million 12-ounce cans of beer and wash your hands like Pontius Pilate, and say we’ve got nothing to do with it being smuggled.” Actually, you can. It is called retail sales. The question is not whether the lawsuit will succeed but whether it could generate sanctions. The legislature has thus far declined to impose limitations on beer sales around the reservation. Absent such measures (which could be challenged in court), there is a conspicuous absence of legal authority to support such a claim. The tribe is offering policy arguments that are quite compelling but they are inviting a court to function as a super legislature in the imposition of such liability.
It is certainly true that state law prohibits drinking outside the stores and the nearest town that allows alcohol is over 20 miles south (alcohol sales are banned on the reservation). However, the tribe would be best served by taking up the matter with tribe members rather than suggesting that stores should not be able to sell beer to indians.
None of this questions the good-faith goals of the tribe, only its means. One in four children on the reservation reportedly suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and the average life expectancy is estimated between 45 and 52 years.
The state is considering a ban or limitation on beer sales in Whiteclay — though I would question the constitutionality of such a law in designating certain areas to be “alcohol impact zones.”
The complaint is long on narrative and short on legal authority or claims. This is the sole claim:
PERSONS ACTING IN CONCERT
43. Plaintiff restates each and every previous allegation in support of this Cause of Action as if fully set forth herein.
44. As part of a common enterprise, the Defendants and each of them, have knowingly acted in concert to manufacture, distribute and sell beer through the Whiteclay retail outlets in amounts that cannot be legally sold, consumed or possessed under the laws of the State of Nebraska and the OST.
45. The Defendants and each of them, know or should know that the Retail Defendants’ conduct in the sale of the vast amount beer which is smuggled into and resold in the Reservation is in breach of their duties under the law of the State of Nebraska and the OST.
46. The Defendants and each of them give substantial assistance and encouragement to the Retail Defendants by supplying and transporting volumes of beer far in excess of an amount that could be sold in compliance with the laws of the State of Nebraska and the OST. The Defendants and each of them, also give further substantial assistance and encouragement to the Retail Defendants through advertisements, marketing materials, and other business accommodations to promote the consumption of beer in the PRIR.
47. The Defendants and each of them have the duty to make reasonable efforts to ensure their products are distributed and sold in obedience to the laws of the State of Nebraska and the OST. The Defendants and each of them have breached that duty by cooperating and engaging in a common enterprise which is focused on assisting and participating in the illegal sale of alcohol.
48. The Defendants and each of them have thereby caused the OST to suffer massive
damages in an amount yet to be determined.
The claim of working in concert reflects the common purpose of selling a legal product.
Here is the complaint: Sioux Suit
Among the defendants are Jason J. Schwarting who runs the Arrowhead Inn in Whiteclay; Stuart J. Kozal who runs the Jumping Eagle Inn and Clay M. Brehmer and Daniel J. Brehmer who run the State Line Liquor in Whiteclay.
Here are the corporate defendants:
Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc.
SAB Miller d/b/a Miller Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Miller Coors, LLC
Pabst Brewing Company
Pivo, Inc. d/b/a High Plains Budweiser
Dietrich Distributing Co., Inc.
Arrowhead Distributing, Inc.
Coors Distributing of West Nebraska d/b/a Coors of West Nebraska
Jason Schwarting d/b/a Arrowhead Inn, Inc.
Sanford Holdings, LLC d/b/a D&S Pioneer Service
Stuart Kozal d/b/a/ Jumping Eagle Inn
Clay Brehmer and Daniel Brehmer d/b/a State Line Liquor
Source: SF Gate
Blouise reports a study….
“….it was an imperative struggle to quash a ruthless and inhuman but quite profitable institution of subjugation.”
And replace it with another one which survived another 100 years…..or more?
Where did the initial capital for the slavery industry come from?
In the meantime, they figured out how to hold the rest of us in a state equivalent to indenture, or worse. The indentured eventually was freed and could rise to equal his master. Only very few of us can today.
To support my assertion that one needs to view the law in this case from a different point of view that recognizes the disease named Manifest Destiny and the worship of the almighty dollar, then and now, that is entwined in our laws, I give you the following study on the profitability and acceptance by all our courts at the time on the perfectly legal Slave Trade.
“We have undertaken the first modern study of the risk, as well as the return, involved in owning slaves during the antebellum period. We have found that the owning of slaves outperforms other investments available during the period using distance from the efficient frontier as the ranking criterion. Bootstrap confidence intervals were formed with unchanged results: the directional distance associated with investment in slaves dominated the other antebellum investments. One can conclude that the owning of slaves was a very profitable enterprise, and that the economic climate was not likely to change so dramatically that this would no longer be the case. Indeed, the rates of return close to the end of the period are the most impressive of the study, with the variation in returns steadily decreasing at the same time. Slavery was a strong institution that was getting even more profitable with less risk in the late 1850s. The Civil War was not a gratuitous exercise to end an already moribund institution; it was an imperative struggle to quash a ruthless and inhuman but quite profitable institution of subjugation.”
http://econweb.tamu.edu/gan/camp11/slavery_ddf.pdf
”Wasi’chu does not describe a race; it describes a state of mind. … then and now.
Terrorism is the rough equivalent now of war and war crime. So possibly the selling of beer can be seen as an attempt to subvert a sovereign nation, a terrorist act, and the suit names the various people who give material support; supply the material.
I believe the DA could do this if he felt so inclined. Get an informer, and tape some conversations.
id707,
In my youth I spent several months immersed in the Lakota culture (it was a music thing) and many of their beliefs impacted my thinking about life in general. It was all for the better.
Manifest Destiny is an ongoing blight upon America continually pushed by our worship of and reverence for the almighty dollar. It is fully entwined within our laws and throughout our culture.
“Can You Top This?” was one of my Dad’s favorite programs and I listened to it but often didn’t understand it … if you know what I mean. (I’m 66)
How I envy you the lakota experience. Just to fill in with a spooky experience of mine, i watched a TV program showing young (and old) Indian dancers just like a gang of folks at any disco, just fun and joy. And then I noticed (I swear) that the young ones were not touching the floor! The downward thrust from a high-raised knee never touched the floor before the other foot was on the way up. I’m no great believer in supernatural powers, but that made me wonder. I saw it again in a reprise (routine here) and it was the same. And they all just smiled.
After reading your links i had an irrational hope that their civiliztion would survive ours.
I’m 75 and was just old enough then to enjoy: Can you…..
Blouise,
Don’t want to play “Can you top this” with you (old enough to have heard it?), I prefer to thank you for the link, and say that there was a reference to another post on the same site.
It’s a humdinger of how “whites” exploit indians (by plagiarizing) and selling to white suckers. Some are natural born charlatans.
How It All Began For a Would Be Shaman
http://nativeamericantherealdeal.tribe.net/thread/e784576b-fc79-4d8c-8214-d7344749a82c
“Wasi’chu law, Wasi’chu analysis” (Oro Lee)
Exactly!
“Wasichu
The first people who lived on the northern plains of what today is the United States called themselves “Lakota,” meaning “the people,” a word which provides the semantic basis for Dakota. The first European people to meet the Lakota called them “Sioux,” a contraction of Nadowessioux, a now-archaic French-Canadian word meaning “snake” or enemy.
The Lakota also used the metaphor to describe the newcomers. It was Wasi’chu, which means “takes the fat,” or “greedy person.” Within the modern Indian movement, Wasi’chu has come to mean those corporations and individuals, with their governmental accomplices, which continue to covet Indian lives, land, and resources for private profit.
Wasi’chu does not describe a race; it describes a state of mind.
Wasi’chu is also a human condition based on inhumanity, racism, and exploitation. It is a sickness, a seemingly incurable and contagious disease which begot the ever advancing society of the West. If we do not control it, this disease will surely be the basis for what may be the last of the continuing wars against all people that believe in a better way!
…excerpt from Wasi’chu, The Continuing Indian Wars,
Bruce Johansen and Robert Maestas ”
http://nativeamericantherealdeal.tribe.net/thread/966a01d6-adb4-47f8-b423-262f47166db0
It doesn’t hurt to step back and look at the law from a different point of view.
man oh man oh man……Don’t ya’ll just sound racist…..
The next place to buy beer is 20 miles away. That is a 40 mile round trip beer run. That is three gallons of gas, more or less. If by horse it is a lot of hay, more or less. Some folks believe that native americans have less tolerance for alcohol, more or less. A few arrows from a bow, in the side of the truck from Anheueser Busch which drives that 20 mile stretch across the reservation might give the driver some reservations, more rather than less. If these folks have some fight in them perhaps there will me less beer traffic and more thought to the health of the Sioux.
Of course this is just a dog thinkin, more or less.
Now if they just had oil on their reservations……then might there be more interest. As for alcohol impact zones, how about the nearest domestic violence case?
the constitutionality of such a law in designating certain areas to be “alcohol impact zones.”
——————————–
Aren’t there “alcohol impact zones” already: the reservation, various cities, counties and states?
Clearly alcoholism is a problem on the reservation and the lawsuit is one way to bring attention to the tribe’s desire to do something about it. Since the US and various state governments, as well as the makers of the spirits, have had a hand in creating the problem for centuries maybe there should be a creative solution that involves those who created the problem. A big bucket of money would help.
If I were a mediator, I’d try to get the makers and distributors of the beverages to voluntarily make substantial contributions to an alcohol rehab. facility on the reservation and to curtail their sales near it. I’d also try to get the tribe to initiate an education program so that young people wouldn’t be tempted to take that first drink. A good jobs program and a nutrition program including availability of nutritious foods would also be a great help.
Of course, the “justice” system will probably just dismiss the suit. : (
You’ve heard of Deep Throat…..well this is Deep Pockets….
Dredd,
That was funny. More please.
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ExtramuralResearch/Documents/disparityEhlers.pdf There both genetic and environmental risks for alcoholism at work here.
Bron – except the great white monster from the Europe took everything they ever needed for they sustenance from them and returned nothing of comparable value.
You might just as well break both of a surgeons hands and then say he should repair his damage without any help from you.
Frankly:
there are many tribes who have profited greatly from their status.
But you are right about the unemployment and hopelessness of the reservation system. They should depend on themselves and not the great father in the east to provide them the necessaries of life.
In the 1800’s there were laws against supplying firewater to Native Americans, its pretty sad that they have decided to buy into this notion, even if it is motivated simply by money.
The problem isn’t alcohol, the problem is unemployment, isolation and hopelessness rooted in the reservation system. Cure those and you cured a huge majority of the former. But that would take a serious reevaluation of our relationship with the Native people and theirs with us as well as changes in attitudes that may never happen. Its much easier for both sides to generate anger and yell past each other.
Wasi’chu law, Wasi’chu analysis
alcoholism was rampant in Soviet Russia as well. I wonder if that might be the problem?
Dont the reservations provide for everything for the inhabitants.
Sioux the bastids … sounds like a name of a rock band, and “PERSONS ACTING IN CONCERT” sounds like the opening band.
Could they get the store on terrorism charges? Those are pretty popular.