This song is about a tragic situation unfolding on the border of South Dakota and Nebraska. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge South Dakota where elders banned liquor because of an epidemic of alcoholism. Trouble is, they can't stop white store owners from selling 6-packs right across the border in White Clay, Nebraska. Whiteclay, which has four liquor stores for its fourteen residents, has always been notable for the quantities of alcohol it sells to residents of the legally dry Pine Ridge reservation. The four stores in Whiteclay, which now sell only beer, sell an average of 4.5 million cans per year. This equates to over 12,300 cans per day, for gross sales of 3 million dollars annually.
The status of Whiteclay's beer stores has been a recurring political issue. In the late 1990s, a pair of unsolved murders of Lakota men in 1999 led to marches and rallies led by various activist groups, including the American Indian Movement (AIM) and Nebraskans for Peace, demanding that Nebraska revoke the area's liquor licenses and increase law enforcement in the area. The nearby Sioux tribal law enforcement in Pine Ridge, South Dakota had no legal authority in Whiteclay. The nearest Nebraska-based law enforcement is in Rushville, which is 22 miles (35 km) to the south.
In 2005, the state of Nebraska and President Cecilia Fire Thunder of the Pine Ridge reservation signed an historic agreement allowing Oglala tribal officers to enforce Nebraska laws in Whiteclay.[2] Congress earmarked $200,000 over two years to pay for the increased cost of patrols, but by May 2007, no money had been spent.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge,_Nebraska