PELLA — Frank LaMere, Indian activist, and Mark Vasina, director, producer and editor, will be at Central College to discuss the documentary The Battle for Whiteclay. The event will be in van Emmerik Studio in Maytag Student Center Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The state of Nebraska’s refusal to halt alcohol sales to the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from its border town of Whiteclay gets an in-depth look in the new documentary about a century-old problem. Four off-sale beer stores in this 14-person village sell over 11,000 cans of beer a day to an Indian clientele with virtually no legal place to drink it. Struggling with crippling poverty and epidemic alcohol abuse that afflicts four out of five families, the Oglala Sioux Tribe has for decades banned the sale and possession of alcohol on their reservation.
The Battle for Whiteclay follows Indian activists LaMere, Duane Martin Sr. and Russell Means trough the streets of Whiteclay to the halls of Nebraska’s state capitol in their efforts to end alcohol sales in the place many have dubbed “skid row on the prairie.” This is an inside look at an important contemporary conflict pitting American Indian rights against state and local governments in the United States.
The event is sponsored by intercultural life, the anthropology department and Central’s counseling center as well as the Iowa Department of Human Rights Division of Native American Affairs.
