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the streets. Tribal leaders and activists blame the Whiteclay businesses for chronic alcohol abuse and bootlegging on Pine Ridge.
• Protest organizer Autumn Two Bulls, of Oglala, S.D., said that when she was a child, her mother would often leave her with abusive caretakers while she went out drinking in Whiteclay. She said she spent the first two months of 2000 watching her mother, who was 38 years old, die of cirrhosis. Her brother died in an alcohol-related car crash on the reservation at age 29.
• "It is the most painful, devastating thing I've ever experienced," Two Bulls said through tears. "The children are the ones who are suffering, generation after generation. Whiteclay needs to be held accountable for once. They've made millions -- millions -- off our people."
• Another tribe member, Olowan Martinez, said she battled a drinking problem for years, and Whiteclay was the easiest place to buy beer because it's two miles south of Pine Ridge, the reservation's main village.
• "We're Lakotas," Martinez said. "We're survivors. ... We'll keep our hearts and spirits warm with our songs and our prayers."
• The Oglala Sioux Tribe's Department of Public Safety didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Monday. The Nebraska State Patrol is not planning to add more troopers than usual to the area, but officers will be on hand if requested by local authorities, said spokeswoman Deb Collins.
• In August, five protesters in Whiteclay were arrested after locking arms and blocking the road in protest of the alcohol sales. The protesters were arrested about seven hours after they sat down on Highway 87.
• In February, the tribal government filed a federal lawsuit against the beer stores, their distributors and global beer makers. The lawsuit, which sought $500 million in damages, was eventually dismissed when a judge ruled that the case was a state issue. The tribe had argued the companies sold alcohol to Pine Ridge residents, knowing they would consume and resell it illegally on the reservation.
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