Home / Crime and Justice / Hotel Owner Found Liable for Native American Discrimination
Hotel Owner Found Liable for Native American Discrimination
21 Dec
Summary
- Hotel owner found liable for discrimination against Native Americans.
- Jury awarded $1 to NDN Collective and $812 to hotel owner.
- Social media posts led to hotel banning Native Americans.
A federal jury determined on Friday that the owner of the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota, discriminated against Native Americans. This verdict follows a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2022 by the Indigenous advocacy group NDN Collective. The company Retsel Corporation, which owns the hotel, was found liable for denying service to Native American individuals.
The legal battle saw delays due to Retsel Corporation filing for bankruptcy in September 2024. The jury awarded $1 to NDN Collective and $812 to Retsel Corporation in a countersuit concerning protests. The hotel owner had previously posted on social media in March 2022, announcing a ban on Native Americans following an incident involving two teenagers identified as Native American.
Following a November 2023 consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department, the hotel owner was required to issue a public apology and was barred from managing the establishment for four years. Rapid City, a city where about 8% of its 80,000 residents identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, has a history of racial tension.
