RAVENDEN, ARKANSAS — Michelle Walker filed a federal discrimination lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Northern Division, alleging that the Return to the Land community in Ravenden, Arkansas, barred her from purchasing property because of her Jewish ancestry, her Black husband, and her biracial children. The complaint describes Return to the Land as a white supremacist group attempting to establish an all-white community.

According to the complaint, Walker, a real estate broker in and around St. Louis, Missouri, who is white and Christian, learned last summer that the organization was selling land in the Ozarks, where she occasionally vacationed. She applied to purchase land because the asking price was unusually low and because of the investment potential and other possibilities the property offered.

During the application process, Walker encountered questions about her ancestry and religion. She disclosed that her father's family had arrived in the United States in the 1600s and that her mother's family were Russian Jewish immigrants, and that her husband is of Irish and African descent and her children are of mixed racial heritage. In response to a question about her religion, Walker wrote, "I am a Christian. I believe Jesus died for my sins and through believing in him, I will have a heavenly eternal life."

The complaint states that Walker was surprised by the questions, which she understood violated federal and state fair housing laws prohibiting consideration of race and religion in land-sale decisions, but completed the application hoping the organization would comply with the law. A member of the group asked her whether she belonged to any other white nationalist organizations.

After a month without response, Walker called Return to the Land and was told she should not expect her application to be approved, the complaint says. She never received any further communication from the defendants, and her application portal states that she was not accepted because she was not an ideal fit for the community.

The complaint alleges that the organization's founders believe white people are genetically superior to other races, believe Jewish people are engaged in a plot to eliminate the white race, and advocate for segregated white communities to create a separate all-white nation state to avoid what it terms "white genocide." On its website, Return to the Land describes itself as a "private membership association (PMA) for individuals and families with traditional views and common continental ancestry." In a July interview, group co-founder Eric Orwoll said only white people are welcome in the 40-member community in Ravenden and characterized the policy as "free association," not segregation.

Attorney Reed Colfax said in a statement that Return to the Land's actions violate long-standing federal and state fair housing laws dating back to 1866. He said Walker was deprived of her housing and civil rights, including the right to purchase land and build housing. Return to the Land did not provide an immediate response to the lawsuit.