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. The four beer merchants paid federal and state excise taxes (included in liquor's sale price) of $413,932 that year. In 2017 the four liquor stores lost their licenses, and the town has ceased to be the main supplier of alcohol to the reservation.
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.McKee, Jim. "Is Whiteclay in Nebraska or part of the Pine Ridge Reservation?", Lincoln Journal Star, January 29, 2006, accessed February 29, 2012
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. Even if such action were achieved, it could always be subject to reversal by another president.
Separately, in a 1999 protest against beer sales at Whiteclay, nine Oglala Sioux led by Tom Poor Bear were arrested. They challenged their arrests by Nebraska officials, on the grounds that, according to the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and subsequent federal law, the White Clay Extension is still under the jurisdiction of the Pine Ridge reservation, where alcohol sales are prohibited. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Court ruled in the defendants' favor. In February 2000, the Sheridan County, Nebraska court ruled that the defendants could be charged under local law, as Whiteclay and the border territory were part of the state of Nebraska.Hendee, David. "Indians Lose Border Ruling", Omaha World-Herald, February 12, 2000, p. 13 A final ruling on the jurisdictional issue could only be made in federal court, for Congress has the authority to establish reservation boundaries.
Economy
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. The outlets provide no place on site for customers to consume beer, and it is not supposed to be drunk on the streets, but inebriated customers were often sprawled around Whiteclay. John Yellow Bird King, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, says that tribal members bring alcohol illegally back from Whiteclay and "90 percent of criminal cases in the court system" at the reservation are alcohol-related. Beer was sold almost exclusively to people from the reservation, as the nearest big city (and other customers) is two hours to the north. According to Mary Frances Berry, the 10-year chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Whiteclay can be said to exist only to sell beer to the Oglala Lakota.Berry, Mary Frances. And Justice for All: The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America, p. 299, Knopf (2009)
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".Woodward, Stephanie. "Gold Mines in Hell", 100Reporters, February 2012 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.
Activism against beer sales Prior to 2017, the status of Whiteclay's beer stores was a constant political issue in the region, prompting waves of activism to end the alcohol sales. There were problems of public drunkenness in Whiteclay, and violence was associated with alcohol there and on the reservation. A 2000 report stated that tribal police estimated issuing more than 1,000 DUIs annually on the two-mile stretch of road between White Clay and Pine Ridge.South Dakota Advisory Commission, "Introduction", Native Americans in South Dakota: An Erosion of Confidence in the Justice System, US Commission on Civil Rights, 2000, accessed February 27, 2012 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 2010, the liquor stores paid federal and state excise taxes (included in liquor's sale price) of $413,932, according to the state liquor commission, mostly from sales to residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Some activists have supported the legalization of alcohol sales on the reservation so that the tribe can keep the revenues. These would support building a treatment center and founding more programs, and the tribe could directly regulate and control the sales, as other tribes have done. (See discussion below).
A pair of unsolved murders of Lakota men in early 1999 led to protest rallies led by various activist groups, including members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Nebraskans for Peace, demanding that Nebraska revoke the liquor licenses of Whiteclay's stores and increase law enforcement in the area. The nearest Nebraska-based law enforcement is the county sheriff's office, based in the county seat of Rushville to the south. The Sioux tribal law enforcement in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, has no jurisdiction in Whiteclay, and the number of tribal police has been reduced by nearly two thirds over the past several years. In the fall of 1999, Native American activists Russell Means and Frank LaMere proposed getting a license to sell beer in Whiteclay, in order to retain some monies to benefit the tribe and build a treatment center on the reservation, but abandoned the project due to disagreement by others of their group.Hendee, David; Hammel, Paul. "Whiteclay Beer Proposal Divides Indian Leaders", Omaha World-Herald, October 6, 1999, accessed March 6, 2012
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."Bruning, Gov. Heineman Sign Deputization Agreement with Oglala Sioux", Press release, Nebraska governor's office, 2005-08-30. Retrieved 2011-02-27. 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.Paul Hammel, "S.D. tribe to help enforce beer laws in Whiteclay", Omaha World-Herald, 2 June 2005, accessed 17 February 2012 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.
But, by May 2007, the tribe had spent no money for this purpose. Fire Thunder was impeached several months before the end of her term in 2006. The political conflict within the tribe appeared to have resulted in its choosing not to implement the agreement; by May 2007, it had hired no new police nor organized to take advantage of the grant. It stood to lose the earmarked money by October 2007.Associated Press, "Two years after 'historic' agreement, no tribe patrols in Whiteclay", Rapid City Journal, 14 May 2007, accessed 13 June 2011
Tribal activists of the Strong Heart Society have conducted annual blockades since 1999, trying to intercept alcohol and drugs being brought into the reservation.Randall Howell, "Pine Ridge Indian Reservation dry, alcohol comes in anyway", Native American Times, 5 July 2010, accessed 27 February 2012 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.Carson Walker (Associated Press), "Beer blockade seeks to dry up reservation", 28 June 2006 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.Carson Walker, "Pine Ridge blockade planned to nab bootleggers", Rapid City Journal,] 13 May 2007, retrieved 26 February 2012.
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. At the same time, it appeared that by the fall of 2007, the OST would lose $200,000 in federal grants that would have enabled it to hire more police and have them deputized by Nebraska to help police Whiteclay and protect their people. Tribal officials did not talk to reporters when questioned about the lack of action. Mark Vasina of Nebraskans for Peace, who had collaborated with the tribe in protests, said that there was internal tribal conflict over the proposed deputization program. He thought the agreement represented a commitment by Nebraska officials to take action but it "shuns the state's responsibility" for the effects of the beer sales. Vasina's documentary about the issues and activism was released in 2008 as The Battle for Whiteclay.
In 2010, the Nebraska legislature passed a law to provide money for increased law enforcement and economic development in Whiteclay; in December 2010, it awarded a $10,000 grant to Sheridan County, to cover the increased costs for its sheriff's office to patrol Whiteclay, 22 miles north of the county seat. There was the potential for funds to be increased in following years.Paul Hammel, "Grant to boost Whiteclay patrols", Omaha World-Herald, 22 December 2010