"It's only 9 A.M. and a Monday, and inebriated Indians are already lying on the dusty curb here in Whiteclay. This speck of a town has 16 people and three beer stores. Its main business is selling alcohol to the residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, just over the state line in South Dakota.

The situation in Whiteclay has become an obsession for both Nebraskans and the Oglala Sioux. Alcohol is a curse for many Native Americans, and the reservation bans its sale or possession. Good people see the Whiteclay business as despicable exploitation.

Now what to do about it. As H.L. Mencken said, "For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong." There is no shortage of simple solutions for Whiteclay: Close the beer sellers. Regulate them to the eyeballs. Have Indians patrol the town.

But the simple solution to this complex dilemma is problematic. That's because it centers on special restrictions based on race or ethnicity."

Get the Story:
Froma Harrop: Dry the drinker, not the town (The Providence Journal 7/6)
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