Whiteclay, Nebraska

Whiteclay (; "whiteish or yellowish clay") is a census-designated place in Sheridan County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 10 at the 2010 census.

A significant part of Whiteclay's economy was based on alcohol sales to residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, located north across the border in South Dakota, where alcohol consumption and possession is prohibited. According to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, beer sales at Whiteclay's four liquor stores totalled 4.9 million cans in 2010 (~13,000 cans per day) for gross sales of $3 million.

History

The border town of Whiteclay has always been tied to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to the north within the state boundaries of South Dakota. The majority of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) live at Pine Ridge reservation. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate), also known as the Brulé Sioux, have an independent and federally recognized reservation to the northeast within the boundaries of South Dakota.

In 1882, after the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation were already established, by executive order the United States government added a strip of land in Nebraska known as the White Clay Extension (named after White Clay Creek) to the reservation. The area was created to serve as a buffer zone to help prevent the sale of alcohol to residents of the reservation. The language of the order said that the buffer zone would be used until it was no longer considered necessary.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order that removed 49 of the of the White Clay Extension from the reservation. There was no consultation with the Oglala Sioux Tribe as to whether they believed this was useful. Traders immediately established a post near the reservation border and started selling alcohol, and most of their customers came from the nearby reservation. The trading post developed as the unincorporated community of Pine Ridge, commonly known as Whiteclay. It reached its peak population of 104 in 1940, but its population has declined for decades since.

Some Oglala Sioux have appealed to the federal government for another executive order to withdraw the buffer from public domain. They contend that because Roosevelt never demonstrated that the need for the buffer did not exist, the executive order was invalid. A final ruling on the jurisdictional issue could only be made in federal court, as Congress has the authority to establish reservation boundaries.

Economy

thumb|left|Tavern in Whiteclay, November 1940

Soon after the territory entered the public domain, a trading post was set up to sell alcohol to the Lakota, and merchants have continued to do so since. In 2010, its four beer stores sold an estimated 4.9 million 12-ounce cans of beer, an average of over 13,000 cans per day, for gross sales of 3 million dollars.

Victor Clarke, the owner of Arrowhead Foods, a grocery store in Whiteclay that does not sell alcohol, said he "did more than a million dollars in business last year, with an entirely Native American clientele." As the reservation has no banks and few stores, its residents spend most of their money in Nebraska border towns, for regular needs as well as alcohol. The beer stores in Whiteclay cash welfare and tax refund checks for the Oglala Lakota, taking a 3 percent commission. Victor Clarke, a grocery store owner in the hamlet, noted that numerous places within an hour's drive could supply beer if Whiteclay were shut down, saying "The state of Nebraska doesn't want Whiteclay to go away because it allows problems to be isolated in this one little place. You hear people in the towns around here saying, 'We don't want these guys in our town.'"

In 2005, the state of Nebraska and President Cecilia Fire Thunder of the Pine Ridge reservation signed an agreement to allow Oglala tribal officers to enforce Nebraska laws in Whiteclay by deputizing them as Nebraska agents. The OST Tribal Council had approved the agreement in June 2005 in a meeting with Nebraska officials, the State Attorney General Jon Bruning and Congressman Tom Osborne. With lobbying by Nebraska's delegation, Congress earmarked $200,000 over two years to pay for the increased cost of additional tribal police personnel and other costs of OST patrols to be associated with Whiteclay.

Tribal activists of the Strong Heart Society have conducted annual blockades since 1999, trying to intercept alcohol and drugs being brought into the reservation. For instance, in June 2006 tribal activists had protested the beer sales by blockading the road to confiscate beer bought in Whiteclay. The blockade was to be held within the reservation boundaries. The activists had lifted the blockade after agreeing to work with Chief of OST Police James Twiss on ways to limit bootlegging. According to Twiss, the roadblock was illegal; however, the police department lacked the money and manpower to do more to interdict bootlegging from Whiteclay to the reservation.

In May 2007, activists discussed another blockade after some bootleggers were successfully prosecuted by the US Attorney for South Dakota. Two women were sentenced in the case.

Protests continued. In 2013, protesters including then-president of the Oglala tribe, Bryan Brewer, and activist Debra White Plume stopped beer trucks from entering the town.

Alternatives

A 2007 survey found that 63% of federally recognized tribes in the lower 48 states have legalized liquor sales on their reservations, enabling them to keep the considerable sales taxes and associated revenue generated, regulate the trade, and directly police and treat their own people in relation to this commodity. Those allowing alcohol sales include all the other reservations in South Dakota, such as the Sicangu Oyate or Brulé Sioux at the Rosebud Indian Reservation to the east.

The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is among those that have legalized alcohol sales. As another example, in 2006, the Omaha Nation in northeastern Nebraska started requiring payment of tribal license fees and sales taxes by liquor stores located in towns within its reservation boundaries in order to benefit in the alcohol revenues. James N Hughes III suggests that the Oglala Sioux Tribe at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation could "regulate, police and profit from the sale of what has been, for 200 years, an irresistible liquid commodity." Rather than supporting white traders, the tribe could keep its money within the reservation and directly control and police the alcohol trade.

In 2010 the beer sales at Whiteclay generated $413,932 in federal and state taxes, according to the state liquor commission. As reported by Timothy Williams, Milton Bians, a tribal police captain, also supports ending prohibition.

Victor Clarke, the manager of a grocery store in Whiteclay, supports the idea of the tribe's ending its prohibition against alcohol sales. He thinks it would be the "biggest economic boon they could do." The tribe is represented in the suit by Tom White, the tribe's Omaha-based attorney. As White said, "In a town of 11 people selling 4.9 million 12-ounce servings of beer, there is no way that alcohol could be legally consumed. It's just impossible."

On February 22, 2012, an amended complaint seeking injunctive relief in the OST's lawsuit was filed in response to public comments made to the Nebraska Radio Network on February 10, 2012, by the Nebraska State Attorney General Jon Bruning, the highest law enforcement officer in the state. According to the amended complaint, it is "not reasonable to expect that in the future the State of Nebraska will enforce its laws regulating the sale of alcohol at Whiteclay."

Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1161) prohibits the sale and distribution of alcohol on reservations unless allowed by the tribal government. Charles Abourezk, a Rapid City lawyer, said the Whiteclay lawsuit challenges the defendants' "intent to distribute on a dry reservation, contrary to federal and tribal law." The judge acknowledged that beer sales contributed to problems on the reservation. The stores were allowed to continue selling beer until the existing licenses expired at midnight April 30, 2017. The store owners appealed the decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court, but their appeal was denied. Since then, the town has cleaned up, with fewer vagrants; however, bootlegging continues on the reservation and many now travel to other Nebraska towns like Rushville.

As of the census of 2000, there were 14 people, seven households, and three families residing in the CDP. The population density was 15.8 people per square mile (6.1/km). There were 9 housing units at an average density of 10.1/sq mi (3.9/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 64.29% Native American and 35.71% White.

There were seven households, out of which 14.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.9% were married couples living together, and 57.1% were non-families. 57.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 3.33.

In the CDP, 21.4% of the population was under the age of 18, 7.1% was from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 35.7% from 45 to 64, and 7.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 75.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $61,250, and the median income for a family was $76,250. Males had a median income of $25,625 versus $53,750 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $21,394. None of the population or the families were below the poverty line.

References

External links

Stephanie Woodard, "Liquor and Ethnic Cleansing: Whiteclay, Nebraska", Huffington Post