By Santee Ross, University of Montana

Beer is the reason I receive more surprised looks than most people my age. I don’t drink. I’m a 23-year-old college student who chooses not to drink. I’m also Native American, which makes the surprised looks seem even more exaggerated.

People then ask me why. Why don’t I live up my youth and party? I say something simple, “just because.” No long explanations because if I tell them the real reasons, I become the focus of a controversial issue: alcoholism and Indians.

In February, the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe filed a lawsuit against beer manufacturers and distributors along with the four stores that sell them near the Pine Ridge reservation, where alcohol is illegal.

The lawsuit claims the beer companies and the four stores in Whiteclay, Neb. knowingly contributed to the alcohol-related problems on the reservation.

It’s been my experience that the sensitive subject of alcohol and Indians usually causes two different perspectives for people. One is pity, “Those poor Indians, that’s just so sad.” The other is cynicism, “It’s their own fault for drinking and becoming drunks.”

Both reactions aren’t exactly bursting with solutions to the actual problem of alcoholism in Indian Country. Although from my perspective both of these reactions hold some weight.

I am sitting on the fence regarding this lawsuit. This may appear as though I’m not concerned with the alcoholism issue in Indian country but honestly this issue hits too close to home for me to definitively agree or disagree with the lawsuit.

Most of my family lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a heavily poverty-stricken area that combats issues like alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse and addiction affects eight out of 10 families on the reservation. This sounds high, and almost unbelievable. But from personal experience I can say these statistics are not exaggerated.

There are various programs that aid in combating the problem but those efforts are trying to fight against decades of damage caused by alcoholism. The issue is so deep rooted in our collective history that the Whiteclay issue is only one of several stories you’ll find of its kind in border towns across the country.

Taking action against the issue has been a continuous effort with little progress and so I can see the lawsuit as a last ditch effort. The weight of continuous fail takes a toll on anybody’s perseverance. Despite decades of attempts at the community levels, there is still the question of the choices people make individually.

I have seen enough alcoholics to understand that it is an addiction. It’s an addiction that requires great support from their friends and family. I also understand that for any kind of success it begins with the individual. The recovery rests solely with the individual’s willpower and how badly they want to become sober.

I’ve seen rock bottom alcoholics recover and stay recovered so it’s not impossible but certainly never easy.

Filing this lawsuit against the beer companies is ballsy and I honestly hope they win but it further blurs the lines of individual responsibility and societal responsibility. When is it up to the individual to say no? When can you say the company’s marketing has gone too far?

Personally, all I can say is it’s always an individual choice, even when your environment says otherwise.

Santee Ross (Hopi/Lakota) is from Lander, Wyo.