Racist hotelier and convicted assaulter Connie Uhre died September 5. No word on whether Uhre banned Indians from her funeral. But on Friday a Rapid City jury said Uhre’s attempt to ban Indians from her Grand Gateway Hotel and bar constituted discrimination:
The jury ruled in favor of NDN Collective’s discrimination claim and awarded the group $1 in damages, an amount the organization specifically asked for. Leaders said the symbolic figure underscores that the case was never about financial compensation.
The jury agreed with five individual claims of discrimination from George Bettelyoun, Sunny Red Bear, Bre Jackson, Mary Bowman and Nick Cottier, awarding them a total of compensatory and punitive damages ranging from $8,000 to $25,000.
The jury found Retsel Corporation liable for Connnie Uhre’s assault against Sunny Red Bear, awarding her $1,000 in damages.
Counterclaims of defamation by Nick Uhre and Restel Corporation against NDN Collective were rejected by the jury.
In one successful counterclaim, the jury ruled in favor of the claim that NDN Collective created a nuisance against the Retsel Corporation and awarded the hotel company $812 in damages [Jack Caudill, “Jury Sides with NDN Collective Against Rapid City Hotel Owners, Awards $1,” KOTA-TV, 2025.12.20].
The hotel’s consolation prize, winning the nuisance charge against NDN Collective, stems from NDN Collective’s May 2022 protest action in which they covered lights on the hotel property and then projected their own “Eviction Notice” on the building. Light projection creates interesting legal questions; this jury verdict signals that you can be punished for beaming your protest messages onto someone else’s wall.
But that tricky point of free speech versus property rights is a footnote to the obvious overall message from the jury: discriminating against Indians or any other group is bad, and it will cost you.