The story of a Rapid City, S.D., hotel embroiled in racial tension took a bizarre twist this week, followed by another one on Saturday.
The Grand Gateway Hotel became the center of drama in March when the owner issued a racist tweet following a murder at the hotel. That led to ongoing protests at the hotel, and criticism from local officials.
On Monday, June 6, Judson Uhre filed a lawsuit in Pennington County against his mother Connie, who issued the racist tweet, as well as his brothers Nick and Chad Uhre. He also sued the Retsel Corporation, a family company, citing breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder oppression and tortious interference in the operation of the hotel.
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On March 21, Connie Uhre, who is listed as the president of the corporation, issued this tweet.
“Do the killing that took place at the Grand Gateway Hotel on March 19 2022 at 4 am plus all the vandalism we have had since the Mayor and Police Department are working with the nonprofit organization (Dark Money) . We will no longer allow any Native American on property. Or in Cheers Sports Bar,” she wrote. “Natives killing Natives. Rancher and Travelers will receive a very special rate of 59.00 dollars a night. Book direct. Rapid City has gone to hell since the city has been accepting all the Free Money with strings attached, Look up Dark Money! McAuthor Foundation and many others.”
Fourteen hours later, Judson posted a short reply: “Mom shut up.”
Almost three months later, he went farther, filing a civil lawsuit against the hotel, his mother and two of his brothers.
“Connie Uhre had a duty of care to ensure that she conducts herself in a manner not prejudicial to the business of the corporation, however, she went ahead and made a racially charged rant which was posted on a website with wide coverage and this led to financial loss of clients for the hotel as well as the damage to the hotel’s reputation,” Judson wrote, as was reported by the Rapid City Journal on Friday.
He also said he was upset that no board meeting had been held since the racist comments ignited a firestorm despite requests to do so.
“The bylaws of the corporation require a special meeting to be held upon request by any shareholder,” Judson wrote.
But on Saturday, he told The Daily Beast he regretted filing the lawsuit and will withdraw it.
“I will be withdrawing the lawsuit,” Judson said. “I just want them to look at some other things but they are hard-headed. But I love them. I feel absolutely horrified and stupid. I love my mother very much.”
He said he believes his mother is not a racist and just reacted terribly to the March 19 fatal shooting of Myron Pourier, 19, who was a guest at the hotel. Quincy Bear Robe, 19, has been charged with second-degree murder.
“I think it’s very important that people understand that people say bad things when they are faced with horror and mayhem,” Judson said. “Myself included, I fall short, like many, of the righteousness that’s required. My mother has children that have Native American ancestry and she also has grandchildren that are of African ancestry. As a matter of fact, she grew up with… she has a lot of Native American friends that are very proud to call her a friend, also. We actually hire more Native Americans in our hotel than the local government has in their government per ratio.”
Hundreds, including Candi Brings, bottom left, march from Memorial Park to the Andrew W. Bogue Federal building in Rapid City, S.D.
Matt GadeBut several Native American employees resigned in the wake of Connie Uhre’s comments. Judson Uhre said Natives are welcome as guests and as members of the staff.
“Natives have always been welcomed in the Grand Gateway Hotel, are welcome now and will be welcome forever and ever amen.”
He said his mother is 78 and has been hurt by the controversy caused by her “shameful statement.” But he also said she is strong and resilient.
“And I will even say this: My mother is not a racist. I will say my mother loves Native Americans. She has many Native Americans that she loves,” Judson said. “Now, she does have a bent on virtue. Anyone who is virtuous she gravitates toward, and that doesn’t matter who you are.”
Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender, a former police chief, termed this family drama “one of the more bizarre chapters for Rapid City.”
Allender just wishes it would quiet down.
“It certainly seems best for the Uhre family and for Rapid City to put this whole mess behind us. Unfortunately, the Uhre family will not allow this to happen,” he told The Daily Beast. “I don’t think they have permanently harmed Rapid City but they have certainly put their hotel business at risk.”
Recent events show how high tensions remain. There have been protests outside the hotel, and a march was held on March 23 to show community opposition to racism. A class action lawsuit was filed in federal court, with former U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, the son of longtime Congressman and Sen. Tim Johnson, representing the plaintiffs. They include NDN Collective, a Native American advocacy group based in Rapid City.
“We need to be clear,” Johnson said at a March 23 press conference. “We don’t file this complaint to send a message. We file this complaint because we want justice.”
There also has been more trouble for Connie Uhre.
On May 27, she confronted several protestors and sprayed Sunny Red Bear, director of racial equity at NDN Collective, in the face with a cleaning product. The attack was caught on a cell phone camera and shown to police.
Connie Uhre was charged with three counts of simple assault.
“This is what we mean when we say that white supremacy is violent,” Red Bear said in a post on the NDN Collective website. “No matter how long they lie dormant, peoples’ racist worldviews eventually come out in their actions. Connie Uhre already made her view of Native people clear when she said she’d ban all of us from her business, and when her staff followed through on that ban. Those actions alone were violent. Now that we’ve seen that she was willing to commit a physical act of violence — in public and in broad daylight — I hope that people will begin to understand and believe us when we say how dangerous and REAL racism is.”
NDN Collective President and CEO Nick Tilsen also condemned the attack.
“Connie Uhre’s behavior today was not only racist, violent and disgusting—it was also illegal,” Tilsen said. “As Native people we will not sit on the sidelines while our rights are violated. This incident will be added to the federal civil rights lawsuit)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ndncollective.org/ndn-collective-responds-to-rapid-city-hotel-threat-to-ban-all-native-americans-with-civil-rights-lawsuit/__;!!LsXw!RRGBDs1OeBGSdJZaWqnZl5ohZdVqpLgsBzCbGXRXxoTEYWpB01y3VaKvDmRYo7vcjKGMXuy_LbcdT9h5gZyKWR70tT8r$">federal civil rights lawsuit that was filed in March. We now call upon the Department of Justice to intervene and hold Connie Uhre and the Grand Gateway Hotel accountable for these racist and illegal acts against our people. It requires aggressive action to dismantle white supremacy. Everybody in this community should be outraged.”
Judson Uhre said his mother has had some weak and inexplicable moments, triggered by the murder in her hotel.
“In the face of the horror and mayhem, she obviously lost her mind,” he said. “This is not the mother I know… this is not the person her friends know. This is not the person her Native American friends know.”
But Judson said she is doing better now.
“She’s already fixed,” he said. “She broke and it was a momentary thing.
Hundreds of demonstrators gather outside the Andrew W. Bogue Federal building where a lawsuit was filed against the Grand Gateway Hotel for denying services to Native Americans.
Matt GadeIn the lawsuit, he also accused his brother Chad of having an affair with a hotel employee and damaging the business’ reputation. On Saturday, he dismissed that as “hearsay” and said he regretted including that in the lawsuit.
“My brother Chad is an outstanding husband and father,” Judson said.
“I am deeply ashamed of my writing… I am deeply ashamed of myself and I am embarrassed.”
Judson said there have been other victims in this case who have been overlooked: his family. They closed the hotel for about a month and have dealt with an avalanche of bad publicity in South Dakota and across the country.
“We’ve been unfairly punished for it,” he said. “I am a victim of believing half this stuff.”
Judson said NDN is “just plain wrong” to center its protests around his mother. She has been scarred by crime and violence in the city, he said.
“The crime in Rapid City has been going up steadily, horrifically in the last five years,” Judson said.
Racial tensions in Rapid City are nothing new. The city is located on land pledged to the Sioux Nation in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. But after the presence of gold in the Black Hills was confirmed during an 1874 expedition led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, the land was seized through the Indian Appropriations Bill of 1876.
A legal battle has been underway ever since, and in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the land had been stolen, and the Native Americans were entitled to compensation. They have refused a settlement, which with interest now tops $1 billion.
Natives said it is stolen land and they want it back.
Lakota elder Tim Giago of Rapid City, the publisher of The Native Sun News, has covered this story for decades.
Giago, 87, said many Natives stay at the Grand Gateway Hotel when they come to Rapid City. He said Connie Uhre’s post was foolish and self-defeating.
“I saw that and I thought, ‘That’s kind of a stupid thing to put out there in the internet.’ That place has had Native American customers for the last 50 years or however long it’s been there,” Giago told The Daily Beast in March. “It’s one of the places a lot of the Native Americans stay when they come up for the basketball tournaments or conventions.”
He said this comment is like cutting their own throat, as many Natives will now avoid the Grand Gateway.
“I think probably a lot of them won’t,” Giago said. “No one wants to go where they’re not welcome.”
