The Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma on Wednesday renewed its lawsuit against an Alabama Creek tribe for building a casino on what they say is sacred ancestral land.
Muscogee Creeks say the Poarch Band of Creeks in Alabama exhumed over 57 human remains to make way for the 20-story hotel and casino in Wetumpka, Alabama, despite their promises to protect the historic site. The lawsuit seeks “redress for this greedy, tragic, outrageous, and illegal act.”
“We’re not opposed to development, but a burial ground is no place for a casino,” Mekko George Thompson said in a statement. Thompson is chief of the Hickory Ground Tribal Town in Oklahoma.
The Muscogee Creeks first sued in 2012 when the casino was under construction, but the case was paused in 2017 for settlement negotiations. The casino opened in 2013.
Poarch Creek Tribal Chair and CEO Stephanie A. Bryan called the action unmerited said she wished they could have come to a mutual understanding “as family.”
“It deeply saddens us, as extended family to the Muscogee Nation, that they have taken this unwarranted action against us,” Bryan said in a statement.
“We have attempted to preserve historical remains in a suitable manner. 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,” Bryan said.
The tribe has previously said remains were reinterred at the site.