Feds Say Casino Boss Discriminated Towards Native AmericansGrand Gateway Hotel Was The Site Of Racist Hate: Lawsuit |
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The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the owners and operators of the Grand Gateway Hotel, and the Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino, a sports bar that operates within the hotel, located in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants discriminated against Native American customers in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and other places of entertainment.
The suit is brought against the corporate owner, Retsel Corporation, and two of the company’s directors, Connie Uhre and her son, Nicholas Uhre.
“Policies prohibiting Native Americans from accessing public establishments are both racially discriminatory and unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Restricting access to a hotel based on a person’s race is prohibited by federal law,” said U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell for the District of South Dakota. “At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we are called to ensure that individuals are treated equally at public accommodations in South Dakota. We are committed to protecting that fundamental right for Native Americans.”
The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, alleges that, since at least March 20, the Retsel Corporation, Connie Uhre and Nicholas Uhre discriminated against Native American customers through policies and practices that denied Native Americans the full and equal enjoyment of access to the services, accommodations and privileges at the Grand Gateway Hotel and the Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino.
The complaint alleges that on March 20, Connie Uhre told other Rapid City hotel owners and managers that she did “not want to allow Natives on property…The problem is we do not know the nice ones from the bad natives…so we just have to say no to them!”
That same day, she allegedly posted a statement in a comment thread from her Facebook account announcing that “we will no longer allow any Native American [sic]” in the casino-hotel.
The government said that on at least two occasions on March 21 and March 22, respectively, the defendants turned away Native Americans who sought to book a room.
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