Amelia Schafer
ICT + Rapid City Journal
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Two civil rights lawsuits against the Grand Gateway Hotel are delayed after hotel owners filed for bankruptcy less than two days before one trial was set to begin.
A trial for the Indigenous nonprofit NDN Collective’s lawsuit against the Retsel Corporation, which owns the Grand Gateway Hotel and Cheers Lounge, was set to begin in Rapid City at 9 a.m. on Sept. 9. Instead, organizers were met Sunday with a notice that the corporation had filed for bankruptcy.
According to documents filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Chad Uhre, director of the Retsel Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 7.
“The bankruptcy law and bankruptcy filing is purely a stall tactic here,” said Nick Tilsen, Oglala Lakota and the founder and CEO of NDN Collective during a Sept. 9 press conference. “They aren’t going bankrupt yet.”
Any bankruptcy filing forces the delay of pending lawsuits. Filing an “automatic stay” begins preventing debt creditors from continuing to pursue money judgments, even in civil lawsuits.
The business is able to continue operating throughout this time.
The situation stems from a 2022 banishment of Native American people from the Grand Gateway Hotel and Cheers Lounge in Rapid City following a fatal shooting on the premises on March 19, 2022. Both parties were Native American.
“I really do not want to allow Natives on property,” then-owner Connie Uhrie wrote in an email to local hotel owners on March 20, according to the Justice Department’s lawsuit. “ … The problem is we do not know the nice ones from the bad natives.”
The original lawsuit came from the United States Department of Justice. Since then, two additional lawsuits were filed, one by NDN Collective and the other by an Ojibwe family from Wisconsin.
“We want to be clear, to be very clear, that we’re not going anywhere,” Tilsen said. “This trial may be delayed but the lawsuit is still going on.”
Robert Meadors, the attorney representing the Retsel Corporation’s bankruptcy filing, declined to comment.
NDN vs. Grand Gateway
In March 2022, five members of the NDN Collective attempted to book hotel rooms at the Grand Gateway and were allegedly told that there were no rooms available, despite travel websites listing openings.
When the individuals identified themselves as members of NDN Collective, they were told to leave, according to court documents.
Sunny Red Bear, NDN Collective associate director of organizing and one of the individuals who was denied a room, spoke during the NDN Collective press conference Monday.
“This trial is about more than just one family or one business, it’s about the systemic discrimination that has impacted Native people in every corner of Rapid City throughout generations,” said Red Bear, Mnicouju/Oglala/Hunkpapa Lakota.
On March 22, 2022, NDN Collective announced it was filing a lawsuit against the Retsel Corporation and would be holding a march and rally on March 23. The rally was attended by hundreds of community members and involved serving the organization with an “eviction notice” for occupying unceded Oceti Sakowin territory.
During the rally, former Grand Gateway owner Connie Uhre was charged with assaulting several protestors and would later be found guilty on two counts of simple assault on Oct. 13, 2023.
“This is a byproduct of racism,” Red Bear said. “Systemic racism extends far beyond businesses and in every institution and we’re seeing this in our community. We’ve seen this racism in Rapid City Area Schools where Native Americans face disproportionate expulsions, criminalizations and discriminatory practices. … We also see this within the Rapid City Police Department where Native Americans are disproportionately harmed and killed without accountability.”
NDN Collective attorneys will ask the bankruptcy judge to lift the stay preventing the trial from occurring, Tilsen said during the Monday press conference.
“We don’t see the Uhre Family, the owners of the Retsel Corporation, wanting to step up to the plate of accountability, wanting to recognize that this community needs healing and accountability to move forward,” Tilsen said.
Ojibwe family denied rooms
While the Department of Justice lawsuit against the Retsel Corporation was playing out, Native American individuals were allegedly still barred from booking rooms.
In August 2023, an Ojibwe family was reportedly turned away from the Grand Gateway Hotel after already booking a room online through the third-party booking website Travelocity.
According to court documents, Jessica White, who is non-Native, entered the lobby alone and began the check-in process. Once her husband, Ryan White, an Ojibwe man, entered the lobby, the family was denied their three previously reserved rooms, according to court documents.
Jessica White then contacted Travelocity, the third-party booking website the family had used, which confirmed the three rooms were available.
In November 2023, the family filed their own lawsuit against the Grand Gateway Hotel, marking the organization’s third discrimination lawsuit in less than two years.
Justice Department lawsuit concludes
The same month the White family filed their lawsuit, federal officials announced they had reached a consent decree with the hotel.
As part of the consent decree, the Retsel Corporation was required to publish a public apology.
“We extend our sincere apology to all for the statements made by Connie Uhre on March 19-20, 2022, regarding Native Americans,” said the Retsel Corporation in the mandatory apology letter. “Ms. Uhre’s comments were not consistent with the values or policies of our company or of our businesses, the Grand Gateway Hotel and Cheers Sports Lounge.”
As part of the settlement, Connie Uhre was removed from her position as director, owner and president of the Retsel Corporation and replaced by her son Chad.
The company was also required to hire a compliance officer, train employees and implement anti-discrimination policies while working with South Dakota-based Native organizations.
Following the bankruptcy filing, the two remaining discrimination lawsuits will be stalled until further notice. A judge could determine that the trial can continue in the meantime, which Tilsen said his attorneys will request.
Once bankruptcy proceedings have concluded, the trials will be able to resume.
“This is a stall tactic,” said Valeriah Big Eagle, Ihanktowan Dakota and the NDN Collective Director of Strategic Partnerships. “But we will continue in prayer that what is going to happen is what’s meant to be.”
This story is co-published by the Rapid City Journal and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the South Dakota area.
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