Great Plains Activist Accused of Vandalizing Liquor Delivery Truck in Whiteclay

from Earth First! Newswire

LINCOLN, Nebraska – Activist T.R. McKenzie was arrested yesterday, May 24, on charges stemming from an incident on May 3, 2013, where a group confronted a delivery truck. Allegations include someone flashing a knife and telling the driver to leave town while others threw beer containers into the street. The truck’s two front tires were also slashed. (Bravo, to whoever the warriors were behind this bold act!)

McKenzie is an activist with DGR, which has kept up a campaign against the liquor stores in Whiteclay. For the purposes of dialogue it is crucial to discuss this campaign and its tactics. But more than that, it is important now to stand in solidarity with McKenzie and all others under state repression—regardless of whatever infighting (or “horizontal hostility”) might be occurring within the movement. 

McKenzie was picked up in Lincoln prior to his scheduled appearance at a press conference at the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, where he was planning to speak about the most recent in a long history of documented code violations and human rights abuses committed by alcohol sellers in Whiteclay, Nebraska.

This poster was released by Deep Green Resistance, McKenzie is actively involved with DGR Great Plains

McKenzie was held for six hours at the Lancaster County Jail on charges of theft, criminal mischief, third degree assault, and terroristic threats. He was released on bond the same day as his arrest.This arrest comes in the wake of several weeks of protests and encampments on the outskirts of Whiteclay.

“Most of those sleeping at the protest camp are women and children,” McKenzie said shortly after his release. “We are all working to draw attention to the devastation caused to the Lakota people by the sale of alcohol in Whiteclay.”

Whiteclay has a population of 14, yet 4 liquor stores in the town sell 12,500 cans of beer each day. It has been documented that the stores sell to bootleggers, intoxicated people, and minors, as well as routinely trade beer for sexual favors. The tiny, unincorporated town lies less than 300 feet from the border of the Pine Ridge Reservation, where the sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited.

McKenzie has participated in a variety of protests against the activities of Whiteclay’s bar owners and alcohol distributors over the last year, most recently participating in a protest camp near Whiteclay on the Pine Ridge side of the border, named the “Zero Tolerance Camp” by its supporters.

Earlier today, McKenzie was placed under arrest by two “plain-clothes” officers who followed him into a public restroom upon his arrival at the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission building in Lincoln.  Opposition to the activities of Whiteclay’s bar owners has been long-standing, but over the past few weeks, protest activity has seen a distinct increase following recent allegations that a bar owner by the name of Jason Schwarting provided individuals with baseball bats and instructed them intimidate and physically attack women at the Zero Tolerance Camp.  McKenzie had been scheduled to read a statement at the press conference which included his testimony about this incident.

McKenzie’s court date has been set for June 6th, 2013.

For more information about human rights abuses at Whiteclay, visit shutdownwhiteclay.wordpress.com

Local corporate media out of Omaha, KETV 7 offered some additional details on the incident (as well as a video clip):

A group that opposes alcohol sales in Whiteclay is alleging that one of its beer store owners gave baseball bats and a stick to men who frequent the town, and told them to attack the protesters’ encampment on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.     

One of those activists was arrested Friday in Lincoln on [alleged] charges that he vandalized a beer truck in the Nebraska border town.  

Authorities said 33-year-old Timothy R. McKenzie Jr., of Jefferson, S.D., was arrested on a warrant out of Sheridan County, Neb., when he went to file a complaint with the State Liquor Control Commission.

McKenzie alleges in a letter to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission that Jason Schwarting, owner of the Arrowhead Inn, told men in Whiteclay to attack the nearby encampment.       

An Arrowhead Inn employee disputed the allegations, but said Schwarting was not immediately available for comment.

Longtime Native American leader Frank Lamere is upset about the arrest.

“I hope they investigate those claims with the same exuberance as they did when they arrested him in a downstairs bathroom,” he said.

Lamere said tensions are growing in Whiteclay, a town with the population of 14 people and four liquor stores. Photos and video on Facebook show the zero tolerance encampment protestor set up across the South Dakota border on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

“All we are doing is trying to keep a presence of resistance against the enemy, which is alcohol,” one protestor said.

Lamere said he, along with Nebraskans for Peace, came to Lincoln calling for restraint and cooperation, but the arrest makes the situation worse.

“All the state patrol did, all the liquor control commission, did was throw grease on the fire,” he said.

McKenzie posted a $1,000 on a $10,000 bond. He was released from the Lancaster County Jail Friday afternoon. 

For more information about human rights abuses at Whiteclay, visit shutdownwhiteclay.wordpress.com

Check out EF! Newswire feature, “Crazy Horse was a Sober Warrior”, by Russ McSpadden.