"NO INDIANS ALLOWED": An Open Letter to the Rapid City Community

For those who have been following the news, they will remember the Grand Gateway Hotel and may have heard about the recent bankruptcy filing. This resulted in a delay in justice and accountability. By filing for bankruptcy, the owners of the Grand Gateway Hotel have bought themselves time and halted the federal civil rights lawsuit against them.

While justice is delayed, we are still fighting and holding the owners accountable to our people. This is not over.

March in downtown Rapid City on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective.

As we work to challenge the systems and injustices our people face on a daily basis, we also reflect on the impacts such blatant racism has on our community.

Natives denied hotel rooms feels like racism out of time, like something out of the Green Book, or the Freedom Riders that fought against segregation on interstate travel. It reminds me of the old sign in Scenic, South Dakota, that for generations said “No Indians Allowed”, and now hangs on rusted hinges painted over with “Indians Allowed.”

An Indigenous woman raises an “Indians Allowed” sign in the march from Roosevelt Park to the Grand Gateway Hotel. Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective. March 26, 2022.

Our ancestors, our uncis and lalas, grandmothers and grandfathers, fought against the weight of racism their entire lives, refusing to let it define their existence. It was not just one moment, but many, where discrimination chased them down. They knew why this town bore the name “Racist City”—because they lived it. Still, they resisted, carrying the memory of those before them, remembering the fights, the exclusions, and the signs that said they did not belong on their own Lakota lands.

As Indigenous members of this community, we are more than what we are seen or labeled as. We’re considered radicals, militants, or terrorists, but we carry the strength of our elders, the stories of grandmothers who survived generational atrocities, and the knowledge of grandfathers who built us up. This community, our community, stands on resilience. We have endured the names they’ve called us, the places they tried to exclude us from. Yet, we remain here on our homelands, knowing who we are, fighting for the future we want for our children, for the pride in our heritage that cannot be taken.

Two Indigenous relatives watch as march participants gather in the parking lot of the Grand Gateway Hotel Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective. March 26, 2022.

“Racist City” did not come from nowhere—it came from the treatment of our people, and the reality they had to endure. This city, where signs once denied us entry, where systemic racism persists in schools and workplaces, has long been a place of exclusion. Families like those who own the Grand Gateway Hotel are not alone in their actions; they are part of a larger pattern that has shaped this place for generations. Racism is not just a personal slight; it is woven into the fabric of this town. And for too long, despite outcry against these systems, it has gone unchallenged.

I want my children to walk these streets without fear, to enter their schools and feel safe. I want them to know who they are and be proud of it. I don’t want them to feel as though they must hide their Lakota identity, to conform to what others tell them to be. This place, these lands, are their home, a place where they belong. They should be able to exist as they are without shame or fear. Our community should be one of inclusiveness, where every person, Indigenous or not, feels they are part of something larger.

Indigenous people and allies gather in the parking lot of the Grand Gateway Hotel Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective. March 26, 2022.

This is about more than one trial, more than one family. This is about saying enough to racism. We must do something now because this community deserves better. Our voices, our stories, deserve to be heard. Change must come, and it must come now.

Let this be the moment where “Racist City” becomes something else, where the tide turns, and our children inherit a place they can call home without hesitation.

An “Eviction Notice” banner being hung over the sign of the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City. Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective. March 26, 2022.

There are people that are going to tell you we are trying to divide our community, who will call us terrorists, who tell you we are preparing for war. Make no mistake: at NDN Collective we are preparing for a united community, a Rapid City that is not weighed down by the bigotry of the past, but a community, country, and world that has the courage to confront the hard truths and not run from them.

Accountability for the Grand Gateway Hotel is just one part of this journey toward justice, but a necessary and powerful step forward toward creating a world where all of our Indigenous children, relatives, and elders know they are seen, deeply valued, and empowered to live their best lives.

Ways to take action:

📲Sign up for campaign updates by texting RAPIDVRACISM to 50302

💻WATCH the full OST Council meeting on passing a resolution calling for the DOJ to investigate RCPD and Pennington Sheriff’s department: https://www.youtube.com/live/lHqCp69oUU8

💻Check out our LANDBACK for The People Podcast episode on the Rapid City vs Racism Campaign on YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify

Watch the Full LANDBACK FOR THE PEOPLE S2 Ep.3 Episode Here

Authors:

Valeriah Big Eagle
Valeriah Big Eagle (she/they) is Ihanktonwan Nakota/Hunkpati Dakota. She believes that the community knows what it needs and strives to…