The Poarch Band of Creek Indians (PCI) on Wednesday responded to an “unwarranted” lawsuit that was filed by the Oklahoma-based Muscogee (Creek) Nation earlier the same day in which the Muscogee want money for “emotional distress.”
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s new federal lawsuit is “demanding” that the Poarch Band of Creek Indians “immediately return” the sacred site known as Hickory Ground to its condition prior to the construction of the PCI gaming authority’s Wind Creek Casino in Wetumpka, according to a Muscogee press release.
The lawsuit claims that the casino, which opened in 2013, is desecrating the human remains of Muscogee ancestors, a charge the PCI denies.
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians acquired the Hickory Ground site in Wetumpka via a federal grant in 1980, and the new U.S. District Court lawsuit alleges that “subsequent desecration and construction were executed unlawfully” by the PCI and numerous federal defendants.
Mekko George Thompson, who has served as the traditional Chief of the Hickory Ground Tribal Town for over four decades, asserted, “Our ancestors’ remains have been wrenched from their final resting places and removed. We’re not opposed to development, but a burial ground is no place for a casino.”
The Muscogee are demanding restoration of the original site, and Thompson is actually seeking monetary damages for “the intentional infliction of emotional distress” by the PCI.
The suit purports that both the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and the federal government violated federal laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Indian Reorganization Act.
The new lawsuit expands upon a legal action first filed in 2012 that was paused while the two sides explored a settlement.
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, one of the largest tribes in the United States with more than 87,000 tribal citizens, was relocated from Alabama and the southeastern U.S. in the 1830s to what is now Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears. The last capital of the Muscogee before relocation was at Hickory Ground.
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, numbering just over 2,900 tribal citizens, are composed of Muscogee (Creek) Nation descendants who were not relocated from the Yellowhammer State during the removal of southeastern tribes on the Trail of Tears.
Despite Thompson seeking monetary damage for “emotional distress,” he remarked, “No amount of money is worth betraying our faith and disrespecting our ancestors.”
In a response to the lawsuit, PCI Tribal Chair and CEO Stephanie A. Bryan told Yellowhammer News, “It deeply saddens us, as extended family to the Muscogee Nation, that they have taken this unwarranted action against us.”
“We have attempted to preserve historical remains in a suitable manner,” she explained. “In that effort, we have had numerous conversations with the Muscogee Nation and Hickory Ground Town in an attempt to balance the historical interests with the current use of the property.”
“We wish that as family we could have reached a mutual understanding, and we continue to hope that we can move forward together,” Bryan concluded.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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