Hotel still 'hostile and unwelcoming' to Native Americans despite DOJ order: lawsuit

Matthew Chapman
November 23, 2023 

Hotel website gallery photo

A South Dakota hotel at the heart of a Justice Department case that forced the owner to resign for discriminating against Native Americans is accused of going back to its old tricks in a new lawsuit, reported The Daily Beast.

"The Department of Justice reached an agreement with South Dakota’s Grand Gateway Hotel earlier this month which stipulated that owner Connie Uhre would have nothing to do with the direction or overview of the company or its subsidiary businesses after she made public comments discriminating against Indigenous Americans," reported Brooke Leigh Howard, noting that Uhre had previously proclaimed they would "no longer allow any Native American on property." "Now, a year after the Justice Department launched an investigation stemming from complaints alleging racism, the hotel is under fire again for anti-Indigenous practices — this time, allegedly at the hands of the owner’s son, Nick Uhre."

According to the new lawsuit, filed by newly married couple Ryan and Jessica White against the Grand Gateway Hotel and the Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino, an employee refused to honor their reservation number from Travelocity, even after they pointed out vacancies on the hotel website, demanded that a Travelocity representative with an accent "speak English!" and ordered them out of the lobby while calling security for backup. Ryan is Indigenous American.

“As a result of the Grand Gateway’s discrimination, the White family felt and feels threatened, embarrassed, humiliated, disturbed, and shocked,” said the suit. “The discrimination experienced by the White family was part of a pattern of discrimination by the Grand Gateway ... The Grand Gateway created a hostile, discriminatory, and unwelcoming environment for Native Americans.”

Nick Uhre has denied that his mother has any racist beliefs. However, tribal leaders have served a notice of trespass to the former hotel owner, saying that the hotel's location violates a treaty signed with the Sioux in 1868.

“We’re tired of this bullsh-t,” saidKevin Killer, President of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe as the incident escalated last year, adding, “I get profiled almost every single day; I know that. You just have to take a stand at a certain point.”