Bringing hope to Whiteclay

I attended a panel discussion at Bellevue University recently on the situation in Whiteclay, Neb. For those unfamiliar with Whiteclay, it is an unincorporated town two miles south of Pine Ridge on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. What makes this little spot so well known is four beer stores there sell 4 million cans of beer a year, almost all to residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol consumption is prohibited.

Here's where my anger and frustration begins. Well, it used to begin here. I now have a different view on it. I am more or less going to rant and rave this time. I will probably here it from my journalist cousin, who edits and filters my tirades so it makes sense to the public. He's a journalist, so he isn't allowed to be biased due to his profession. That being the case, I am not sure if this paragraph will make the editor's cut. Canku, please let it be!

After hearing many arguments of what should be done with Whiteclay at the panel discussion -- some of them well-educated and others as irrational as blowing up the road that leads in and putting up a 10-foot wall like the one in China, which I thought would be very interesting to see -- I decided to go with the rational side of the argument and discuss the issue from an economic standpoint.

One of the panelists, Lance Morgan, CEO and president of Ho-Chunk Inc., a Winnebago corporation, brought up a good point: "From a legal perspective, there's things you can do," he said, citing such actions as cross-deputization and increased funding and enforcement. But, Morgan said, the law protects economic rather than social interests, and elected leaders are unlikely to tear down legal hurdles to real change in Whiteclay. "If it was going to be done, it would have been done already."

Morally, beer stores in Whiteclay should be shut down. That'll never happen. There isn't enough economic interest to the state of Nebraska. Money rules. Mr. Morgan also stated, "This (alcohol) is a sympton of the problem. Poverty creates lack of hope, dispair, depression. I worry they'll just buy it someplace else if they don't buy it in Whiteclay."

I do know that progress is being made, and that's a step in the right direction. Then it hit me -- that's the battle we should have been fighting for decades. Nobody does the right thing anymore. If so, Whiteclay would be shut down. But since economic interests dictate social interests, maybe there's a way for Pine Ridge residents to improve their own economy while striking at the roots of their own social problems, including alcoholism and joblessness.

If factories or businesses could be brought in to provide jobs, it could lead to more economic infrastructure. Working parents would set great examples to their children, who might see that as the way of life they should lead and further their education. It would provide more income, which could lead to small businesses achieving long-term economic sustainability (I borrowed that line) due to local spending. I think we call this hope.

Maybe Obama had it right! Maybe we can give the people that reside on the reservation hope. Enough to see that there are good jobs, that they don't have to move away to get a job and raise a family. That there are more constructive things to do than drink. Just so I am clear, not everyone drinks on the reservation. Not everyone is unemployed. There are great role models, activities and very spiritual people that set examples of what type of life can be led.

There is hope and beauty on the reservation, just as there is a dark side.

My point is, alcoholism exists, as a result of hopelessness and despair. So we need to knock out hopelessness and go from despair to improved living conditions, for everyone. I am a big fan of federal funding to provide treatment programs, some housing upgrades and other grants. What I would be a bigger fan of is federal funding to corporations to entice them move to the reservation and provide jobs. Funding to provide more financial education to be able to manage money also would help. Who knows, maybe the corporations employing the residents will want to protect their investment and will convince the state of Nebraska to shut down the beer stores of Whiteclay. We all know, Nebraska won't listen to us Indians.

-- Richard Abourezk