Why I'm Done With Anheuser-Busch

Retailers in Whiteclay, Nebraska, fuel alcoholism among native Americans
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted May 6, 2012 5:22 PM CDT
Why I'm Done With Anheuser-Busch
This June 7, 2003 file photo shows a man drinking a beer standing with other Native Americans on the streets of Whiteclay, Neb.   (AP Photo/William Lauer, File)

This Bud's for you, native Americans—and that's why Nicholas Kristof is done with Anheuser-Busch. The sight of American Indians walking from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to nearby Whiteclay, Nebraska, for a beer or ten, was all Kristof needed: "It’s as if Mexico legally sold methamphetamine and crack cocaine to Americans in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez," he writes in the New York Times.

“It’s hopeless; the tribe can’t stop the alcohol,” an American Indian told Kristof while slumped against a wall—and then asked him for $5. While retailers in Whiteclay sell Pabst, Coors, and Miller beers too, they mostly sell products by Anheuser-Busch. The maker of Budweiser and Michelob wouldn't respond to Kristof, but there is a lawsuit in progress to stop the local beer sales. "For now, Pine Ridge’s alcohol problem is matched only by Anheuser-Busch’s greed problem," writes Kristof. "That’s why I’ll pass on a Bud, and I hope you’ll join me." Click for the full article. (More American Indian stories.)

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