Lawsuit claims Arkansas group rejected woman’s land purchase due to Jewish ancestry, Black husband
A real estate broker said an organization denied him the opportunity to buy land in an Arkansas residential area because he was of Jewish descent and had a black husband and biracial children, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in Arkansas on behalf of Michelle Walker, names the Return to the Land, Ozarks chapter and five officers, a development whose owners say applicants must personally certify that they are white before being accepted. Return to the Land’s founders were “clearly trying to build an all-white community,” he says.
The lawsuit also says Back to the Land is a white nationalist organization that violates federal and state fair housing and civil rights laws.
“The founders believed that white people were genetically superior to other races, advanced the view that Jewish people were involved in a conspiracy to eliminate the white race, and advocated for segregated white communities to create a separate all-white nation-state that would help prevent ‘white genocide,’” the lawsuit states.
For decades, Blacks and other minorities were restricted from buying or renting homes in some neighborhoods or areas because of racial covenants built into mortgages and leases. Potential homebuyers also faced a red line where mortgages and loans were denied because of race.
St. Walker, a real estate broker who lives in St. Louis, applied to buy land at below-market price in the Arkansas town of Ravenden last year. Ravenden is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock and just south of the state line with Missouri.
During the application process, he was asked questions about his ancestry, religion and family, according to the lawsuit.
Walker is white and belongs to a Christian church. His Jewish ancestors are on his mother’s side.
The Relman Colfax law firm is represented in the case by the Legal Defense Fund and Arkansas Legal Aid.
Return to the Land did not respond Wednesday to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment on the case.
Return to the Land bills itself on its website as a private membership association “for individuals and families with traditional views and common continental origins.” In addition to its Ozarks Regional Chapter, which covers parts of Arkansas, Missouri and eastern Oklahoma, Return to the Land says it also has chapters around the United States.
Following reports that Return to the Land was eyeing the Springfield, Missouri, area for a white-only community, the Springfield city council said in a Facebook post last July that there was no room in the city “or anywhere for such a divisive and discriminatory vision.”
In April, the Pennsylvania State House passed a bill blocking the creation of whites-only housing communities by a slim vote of 101 to 100. House Bill 2103 followed Return to the Land’s intention to expand into Pennsylvania and other states.
The legislation is currently before the Pennsylvania Senate.
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Williams is a member of the Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicities team. He reported from Detroit.
