Lawsuit alleges 'all-white' community denied woman's land pruchase

Civil rights groups have filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against a housing development, alleging the Arkansas-based organization denied a woman the chance to buy land because of her religion and her family's racial background.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on May 20, was brought by the Legal Defense Fund, the Relman Colfax law firm and Legal Aid of Arkansas on behalf of Michelle Walker, a woman of Jewish ancestry who is married to a Black man and has biracial children. The suit states that Return to the Land, its Ozarks chapter and five officers discriminated against Walker by "refusing to sell her land on the basis of race and religion."

The civil rights organizations described Return to the Land as a White nationalist organization, accusing the group of "building smaller settlements that exclude anyone who isn’t a white, Christian, heterosexual homebuyer." 

"Its founders believe that white people are genetically superior to other races, advance the view that Jewish people are engaged in a plot to eliminate the white race, and advocate for segregated white communities for the purpose of creating a separate all-white nation state that will help avoid 'white genocide,'" the lawsuit states.

Attorneys for Walker allege the organization’s practices violate federal and state fair housing acts and several civil rights laws. The lawsuit seeks to halt those practices and obtain relief for alleged violations.

USA TODAY reached out to Return to the Land for comment, as well as an attorney who has represented some of the defendants in the past. The organization has not yet responded in court documents.

Lawsuit: Woman's application for buying land rejected because 'she was not an ideal fit'

Walker, who also identifies as White and Christian, is a real estate broker who lives in the St. Louis area and had applied to purchase land in Return to the Land's Arkansas community in 2025, according to the complaint. The lawsuit states that she learned the organization was selling land at an "exceptionally low" price and was interested in the "investment potential of the land."

Return to the Land's Arkansas community is located near Ravenden, a town about 150 miles northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas, and just south of the Missouri-Arkansas state border.

During the application process, the lawsuit alleges that Walker was asked a series of questions about her ancestry, religion and her family members' backgrounds. She said in the application she belongs to a Christian church, her Jewish ancestry is on her mother's side, her husband is Black and that their children are biracial, according to the complaint.

Walker was later interviewed by a member of the Return to the Land community, who allegedly asked if she belonged to "any other white nationalist organizations," the lawsuit states. Her application was ultimately denied, with her application portal stating that she was "not accepted as she was not an ideal fit," according to the complaint.

"Ms. Walker was surprised to see the ancestry and religion questions on the application, which she understood as clearly violating federal and state fair housing laws prohibiting consideration of race and religion in a land-sale decision," the lawsuit states. "She nevertheless completed the application to purchase land ... with the hope and expectation that Defendants understood the requirements of the law."

One of Return to the Land's founders, Eric Orwoll, who is named in the suit, told the New York Times last year that the group would screen applicants to make sure they are White. He told the Times he believes the development will qualify for exemptions to the housing law for private or religious groups who give preference to their own members when offering housing. He also said the current "cultural and legal climate" could lead to a more favorable outcome if the development faces legal challenges.

"Seeing someone who doesn’t present as White might lead us to, among other things, not admit that person," Orwoll said.

'Blatant and brazen violations of long-standing federal and state fair housing laws'

The lawsuit accuses Return to the Land, its Ozarks chapter and five officers of rejecting Walker's application to purchase property because the organization's founders are "explicitly attempting to establish an all-white community."

The complaint also said that the organization only allows White people with "European ancestry" to buy land or live in the Arkansas community. According to Return to the Land's website, the organization describes itself as a private membership association for "individuals and families with traditional views and common continental ancestry.”

The organization states on its website that it has regional chapters across the United States. Its regional chapter in the Ozarks covers parts of Arkansas, Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.

In a statement on May 20, Walker’s attorney, Reed Colfax, said Return to the Land's actions amount to "blatant and brazen violations of long-standing federal and state fair housing laws." The complaint alleges Walker suffered economic damage and emotional distress after being denied the opportunity to purchase land and build a home.

What is the Fair Housing Act?

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability. It was enacted into law in 1968. It applies to landlords, real estate companies and other entities that provide housing.

Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson a week after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the bill sought to address segregation in housing that was deeply embedded in American life. Yet today, racial discrimination continues to be a problem, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division says on its website.

In 2024, private, nonprofit fair housing organizations and government agencies received over 32,000 discrimination complaints, according to a report by the National Fair Housing Alliance. Most complaints (over 54%) were related to disability, and the next largest complaint category was race (15.58%).

For decades, states have built upon this federal law to extend protection to other groups of people, like those in the LGBTQ community, veterans, seniors and people using Section 8 housing vouchers. In March, 15 states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over new guidelines issued to housing agencies nationwide, which the states said have weakened fair housing protections and made it harder to hold landlords accountable for discrimination.

Jason Bailey, senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement that a community "grounded in the exclusion of people based on their race and religion" does not fit with the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights laws.

"Return to the Land is attempting to revive housing policies and practices from one of America’s darkest eras, and we will fight to ensure this does not stand," Bailey said.

Contributing: Noe Padilla, USA TODAY