University of Nebraska – Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications Special Topics 291: Social Justice, Human Rights and Media class is hosting Whiteclay Week through Saturday, Nov. 21 to raise awareness about issues surrounding the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and Whiteclay, Nebraska.
The class of 120 students across all UNL disciplines planned this campaign as part of the course to raise awareness and effect a positive influence in Nebraska.
“We have studied a number of local and global issues of injustice in this class. The Whiteclay and Pine Ridge issue was one that really concerned the students and Whiteclay Week is completely a student-driven idea and assignment. The stories really concerned them,” the class professor Sriyani Tidball, advertising and public relations professor of practice, said. “I love that millennials want to be the change they want to see. This is a really creative response to a major issue in our state.”
Whiteclay is an unincorporated town of 12 residents that sells $4 million worth of cans of beer annually, primarily to the Lakota living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. These large sales have been linked to high rates of fetal alcohol syndrome, domestic abuse and human trafficking.
The week’s activities include a visually captivating social media campaign, distribution of handouts and posters across campus and letters of protest that will be sent to Gov. Pete Ricketts, as well as Budweiser leadership because Budweiser accounts for about 80 percent of the revenue in Whiteclay.
For more information and to support the Whiteclay cause, visit the event’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/openeyesnotcans/ and use the hashtag #OpenEyesNotCans on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.