Main Street Independent’s report is based on a federal lawsuit described in an Associated Press story by Corey Williams.
The complaint, filed in Arkansas federal court on Wednesday, says Michelle Walker applied to purchase land last year in the town of Ravenden, Arkansas, where she saw an opportunity in a below-market price. Walker, who lives in St. Louis, is described in the lawsuit as a real estate broker. The suit alleges that Return to the Land and its Ozarks chapter rejected her application after questions raised issues tied to her ancestry, religion and her family.
According to the lawsuit, Return to the Land requires applicants to meet a white-only standard that it says it personally verifies before acceptance. The suit says the group’s founders are “explicitly attempting to establish an all-white community,” and it characterizes the effort as seeking segregated white communities. The complaint also describes the founders’ alleged views as including beliefs about genetic superiority among races and claims about Jewish people being involved in a “plot.”
The lawsuit names Return to the Land, the Ozarks chapter, and five officers. In the complaint, attorneys allege violations of federal and state fair housing and civil rights laws tied to the denial of Walker’s land purchase. Walker is described as white and affiliated with a Christian church, while the suit says her Jewish ancestry is on her mother’s side.
The complaint also says Walker’s husband is Black and that she and her husband have biracial children. It alleges that the application questions extended to those aspects of her family, and it characterizes the rejection as part of the development’s membership requirements. Return to the Land did not respond to an email seeking comment about the lawsuit, according to the Associated Press report.
The lawsuit places the allegations in the broader context of housing discrimination in the United States, including past practices such as racial covenants in mortgages and leases and redlining, in which loans and mortgages were denied based on race. It argues the current conduct fits within that pattern and that the alleged restriction on who can buy or reside in certain developments violates civil rights protections.
The Associated Press report says Return to the Land promotes itself online as a private membership association “for individuals and families with traditional views and common continental ancestry,” and it describes an Ozarks regional chapter covering parts of Arkansas, Missouri and eastern Oklahoma. It also says the group has chapters around the United States.
The lawsuit and the Associated Press account add that after reports that Return to the Land was considering a whites-only community in the Springfield, Missouri area, the Springfield city council said in a Facebook post last July that there was no place in the city, or anywhere, for “such a divisive and discriminatory vision.” The Associated Press report also describes a Pennsylvania legislative effort aimed at blocking the creation of whites-only housing communities: in April, the state House passed House Bill 2103 by a 101-100 vote, and the measure is now before the Pennsylvania Senate.