Federal lawsuit alleges racial discrimination at Grand Gateway Hotel after biracial Wisconsin family turned away
The Grand Gateway hotel in Rapid City is being accused of being a place where hate is the way.
A federal lawsuit has been filed alleging the hotel (seen above in a South Dakota Standard photo) that was caught up in racial controversy in 2022 discriminated against a biracial couple in August 2023.
It claims the Grand Gateway Hotel refused to rent rooms to a Wisconsin family when a staffer realized the husband was Native American, even though the family had reserved three rooms online.
The lawsuit (Case 5:23-cv-05072-CBK Document 1 Filed 10/25/23, findable here) was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota Western Division by Sioux Falls lawyer Brendan Johnson, a former U.S. attorney and the son of Tim Johnson, who served 28 years in Congress.
According to the documents filed Wednesday, Jessica and Ryan White of Lac du Flambeau, Wisc., tried to check into the Grand Gateway at 1721 N. Lacrosse St. on Aug. 13.
The hotel and its owners — the Uhre family — has been caught up in racially tinged controversy and legal troubles since March 2022.
This summer, Jessica and Ryan White were traveling with Ryan’s three children (who are Jessica’s step-children), Ryan White’s mother, and Ryan White’s aunt. They arrived at the Rapid City hotel at about 10 p.m. Aug. 13.
As Ryan White parked their vehicle. Jessica, who is white, began the process of checking into the hotel. An employee at the desk, who identified himself as the manager, was interacting with her when Ryan, who is Native American, entered the lobby.
“The Grand Gateway employee stopped processing the White family’s reservation and abruptly told the Whites that they did not have any rooms reserved at the hotel,” the lawsuit states. “Jessica White attempted to provide the Grand Gateway employee with their confirmation number from Travelocity. The Grand Gateway employee refused to take the confirmation number, look in the hotel’s system for the reservation, or take steps to honor the White family’s reservation.”
The Whites then confirmed through Travelocity that they had three rooms reserved at the Grand Gateway, and a Travelocity employee called the hotel. But once again, the hotel manager declined to rent the rooms.
“While the Grand Gateway employee was on the phone with the Travelocity representative, the White family heard the Grand Gateway employee tell the Travelocity representative — who spoke with an accent — that she needed to ‘speak English!’ While not directed at the White family, that comment reinforced the unmistakably racial nature of the incident,” the lawsuit states.
The Whites then went online to see if the Grand Gateway Hotel listed available rooms, and found some. The manager still declined to rent them a room, and then called security, and told them to bring backup to deal with the couple, the two older women and the three children.
When a call was made to “dispatch” — which may have meant law enforcement — Ryan White left the hotel while Jessica continued to try to obtain rooms. All this had an impact on the family, according to the lawsuit.
“Those statements made the White family feel threatened, intimidated, and concerned for their safety and the safety of their children,” it states.
The Whites found other accommodations through Travelocity. They reported what they interpreted as discrimination to the Rapid City Community Relations Commission. They said prior to being excluded from the hotel, they did not engage in behavior that would warrant such treatment.
“The behavior of the Grand Gateway employee toward Ryan White — who is Native American — combined with the hotel employee’s racially-charged comment to the Travelocity representative, the absence of any plausible basis to exclude the White family from the hotel, and the Grand Gateway’s history of discrimination against Native Americans all support the conclusion that the Grand Gateway refused to rent rooms to the White family because of Ryan White’s race,” the lawsuit states. “As a result of the Grand Gateway’s discrimination, the White family felt and feels threatened, embarrassed, humiliated, disturbed, and shocked. They felt and feel unwelcome at the Grand Gateway.”
The lawsuit claims Grand Gateway “created a hostile, discriminatory, and unwelcoming environment for Native Americans,” and denied the White family “the use and enjoyment of the benefits, privileges, terms and conditions that it extends to all other guests and invitees.”
It states that this is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and Ryan and Jessica White are entitled to compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
The lawsuit lists the Retsel Corporation, a South Dakota corporation owned and controlled by the Uhre family, as the defendant. It does business as the Grand Gateway Hotel. It states that the Grand Gateway has a history of racial discrimination, pointing to a series of events in 2022.
It asks the court for compensatory and punitive damages as well as paying costs, expenses and attorneys’ fees.
Grand Gateway Hotel management had no comment, an employee told me on Oct. 25.
The family that owns the Grand Gateway Hotel and Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino has been embroiled in public controversies and legal battles over alleged racist comments and discrimination for more than a year. The New York Times reported on the hotel’s troubled history on March 26, 2022, and quoted The South Dakota Standard.
After a fatal shooting at the hotel in March 2022, Connie Uhre poured gasoline on an already tense situation. Quincy Bear Robe was arrested for shooting and killing Myron “Blaine” Pourier Jr. on March 19, 2022. On Oct. 23, 2023, Bear Rohe entered a guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter.
The day after the shooting, Connie Uhre’s son Nicholas Uhre sent an email to other area hotel owners and managers.
Connie Uhre responded to it with an inflammatory email.
“I really do not want to allow Natives on property. Every time we have problems I call the police with it, the first thing they ask is what nationality is he or she and 98% of the time I have to say native and we call at least once a week. they kill each other walk around with guns . . . The problem is we do not know the nice ones from the bad natives . . . so we just have to say no to them!!”
In a Facebook post, Uhre also said vandalism at the hotel was not investigated and she criticized the Rapid City Police Department and the mayor’s office for their work with a nonprofit organization, which she labeled “Dark Money.”
She said the hotel “will no longer allow any Native American on property.”
Uhre also offered a “very special rate” of $59 per night to “Rancher and Travelers.”
On March 21-22, 2022, the Grand Gateway reportedly refused to allow Native Americans to check in as guests. Some employees resigned over the pattern of racist behavior.
There was an outcry after these words and alleged actions took place. Steve Allender, who was then Rapid City’s mayor, and Kevin Thom, who was the Pennington County sheriff, condemned Uhre’s statements and denied they were influenced by any outside group.
Native American leaders, including Kevin Killer, who was president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, also assailed Uhre’s words and the hotel’s apparently racist policies.
On Oct. 19, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Retsel Corporation and Connie Uhre, the president of the corporation, and her son Nicholas Uhre, who is listed as the hotel manager and a corporate vice president. It stated that they have violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It asks the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota Western Division to order the hotel and sports bar to stop discriminating against people based on their race, and orders the defendants and their employees, agents and successors to take “affirmative steps” to remedy their past conduct.
“Policies prohibiting Native Americans from accessing public establishments are both racially discriminatory and unlawful,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously protect the rights of all people to go about their daily lives free from discrimination at hotels, restaurants, and other public accommodations around the country.”
The legal trouble also got personal for Connie Uhre.
Immediately after her email and social media post were made public, NDN Collective, a Rapid City-based Indigenous rights organization, organized a protest march on March 23, 2022, and set up pickets outside the hotel for several weeks. On May 27, 2022, Uhre was arrested and charged with three counts of simple assault after she sprayed Pledge cleaning solution on three picketers.
On Oct. 13, 2023, Uhre, 76, was found guilty on two of the counts by a Pennington County jury. Uhre, who claimed earlier this year she could not get a fair trial in Rapid City, faces up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine for each count.
“It is imperative that we, as Americans, are able to exercise our First Amendment right to assemble peaceably and without fear of bodily harm,” Senior Deputy State’s Attorney Rachel Lindsey said in a statement. “Tonight’s verdict sends a clear message that those who try to disrupt that process will be held accountable.”
A class-action lawsuit with several plaintiffs, including NDN Collective, was filed against the hotel by former U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson in March 2022.
“We need to be clear,” he said at a March 23, 2022, press conference. “We don’t file this complaint to send a message. We file this complaint because we want justice.”
On Wednesday, Johnson said that lawsuit is “still pending.”
Johnson has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Wisconsin family who said they were turned away from the Grand Gateway on Aug. 13. It links the alleged actions this summer to the racially explosive situation of March 2022.
At least one other lawsuit was filed during this ongoing controversy, and it is likely the most bizarre one.
On June 6, 2022, Connie Uhre’s son Judson Uhre filed a lawsuit in Pennington County against his mother, brothers Nicholas and Chad Uhre and the Retsel Corporation, citing breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder oppression and tortuous interference in the operation of the business.
But he later told me that while he condemned her racist comments, he was dropping the matter.
That was far from the end of the Grand Gateway’s troubles, however.
Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets.
