Again, the story of 3.5 million cans of beer sold yearly at Whiteclay, NE must be told. Why this is so fascinating is that Abe-Lincoln-tall Frank LaMere, who passed away Father’s Day last year, would not take no for an answer. Looking back, I think of the meeting in September 2003, when Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns went to Pine Ridge to talk to tribal leaders. While the Oglala Sioux wanted the four liquor stores to close, Johanns’ reply was “These are lawful businesses. They have a right to exist.”
Crutch, then, for Sheridan County residents, i.e. “These are lawful business.” For the next 15-plus years, before the governors, before the liquor commission, before the Sheridan County Commissioners, before Oglala Sioux tribal members—who pointed out, among other things, that one out of every four newborns was born with fetal alcohol syndrome—beer sales continued apace.
Didn’t first Johanns and then Gov. Heinemann know Whiteclay’s nickname, “Skid Row on the Plains”? As usual, white man doesn’t listen to the Indians; he breaks treaties left and right. I’m also reminded of when Gen. Sherman, in 1867, tried to kill all them all…so the white settlers could take their land. With Whitely, we also had genocide—the liquid kind.
Finally, it goes back to one man, Frank LaMere, to get the ball rolling, to keep the pressure on. From 1999, when he fought to close four beer Whitely beer stores until success in 2017, he never quit. Hence, a current project: “The Story of Frank LaMere, Promise Keeper.”