KETV Omaha: Tribe Demands $500M From Beer Makers

[sofa king]

13. I suspect the issue is considerably more complicated than that.

In point of fact, I know it, having worked on this very issue, but I am still bound by confidentiality and cannot discuss the particulars.

But I can say this: That particular Nebraska town is taking clever advantage of sovereign immunity, hiding behind the protection of the state of Nebraska to prolong a horribly exploitative situation.

When this sort of situation works in reverse--say, when a tribe sells gasoline or tobacco at a lower rate than its neighbors, the state goes howling to Congress about it and tribes are inevitably forced to tack an "equivalence tax" on its products. I don't work in Indian Affairs anymore because it's simply too depressing to see tribal sovereignty eroded every single damned time a white guy stands to make a buck.

The simple solution would be a state-equivalence agreement to disallow--and enforce the disallowment--of alcohol sales to Indians. But that would interfere with some redneck's profit margin, so fuck the Indians.

The Oglala have no direct recourse against the state of Nebraska (which could easily correct the problem by making it illegal to sell booze to Indians). So, they're taking it to the beer-sellers, who are much more likely to instruct their distributors to get the hell out of there and never come back. Unfortunately, to get something done in Indian Country, you usually have to be an asshole about it.

Alcoholism is inextricably entwined with American Indian tribes in their culture, in their history, and especially in the law. The Oglala Sioux in particular are specifically prohibited from selling alcohol on their reservation. These bastards, literally right next door, have taken deliberate advantage of the situation, and the Tribe is using the ingenuity of some very, very wonderful people to pursue an alternative course of action.