“Closing the beer stores in Whiteclay ain’t going to solve that problem.”
Sheriff Robbins echoed a common sentiment heard from both Nebraskans
and Native Americans: If the stores lose their licenses and close down, people in search of beer will just drive farther to get it, endangering themselves and others on the roads.
“We get people who say we wouldn’t have any more alcohol syndrome babies in the world if we just closed the liquor stores in Whiteclay,” he said.
“It makes you forget.”
Now many residents of Nebraska and South Dakota are pushing for the liquor stores of Whiteclay to be shut, disgusted
by the easy access to alcohol the stores provide to a people who have fought addiction for generations.
“It promotes so much misery, that little town,” said Andrea Two Bulls, 56, a Native American
on Pine Ridge, who added that she hoped the state would revoke the licenses.
“If they had any kind of heart, they wouldn’t sell alcohol so close to the reservation.”
Others argue that the problem of alcohol abuse on the reservation goes well beyond the stores in Whiteclay.
