Whites-only community plotting expansion to another state as its efforts to build a ‘white nation' continue

Independent

a day ago

A far-right ethnonationalist group that has set up a 'whites-only' community in a remote part of the Ozarks in northeastern Arkansas is reportedly exploring the possibility of expanding north into Missouri.
Return to the Land (RTTL), which describes itself as a private membership association (PMA) for individuals with 'traditional views and European ancestry,' opened its first community in Arkansas in October 2023 and is now considering entering a second state, according to TMZ.
The group is opposed to mass immigration, multiculturalism and 'forced integration' and reportedly does not welcome non-white, non-Christian or LGBT+ people, explaining that its members are seeking to 'separate ourselves from a failing modern society' and return to pastoral living.
'You want a white nation? Build a white town?' RTTL's co-founder Eric Orwoll asks in an X video promoting the initiative. 'It can be done. We're doing it.'
RTTL's flagship community spans 150 acres of land, is home to approximately 40 inhabitants, and features its own cabins, roads, wells, a community center, and a schoolhouse.
It was followed by a second site nearby that opened in January this year, with the group listing a further Ozarks site as upcoming and aspirations to move into the Appalachian mountains on its website.
Speaking to Sky News journalist Tom Cheshire – who visited RTTL's first 'fortress for the white race' and found a world of fresh goat's milk, flute recitals, family kickball games and creek swimming – Orwoll expressed a nostalgia for the America of the 17th century encountered by the Virginia settlers.
'I would probably feel more comfortable there because I'm white and that's the way this country was when my ancestors came there,' he said, overlooking the Native Americans soon to be displaced by the colonists.
'Even if an individual has all the same values that I have, if they have an ethnic identity that other people share and care about, their children will also have that identity, and their children might not necessarily have all the same beliefs that they have.'
On his ambitions for RTTL's expansion, he said: 'I would like to have more communities so that people in all parts of the U.S. have this as an option if they want. I would also like us to network and branch out internationally.'
Part of that branching out includes online fundraising campaigns, one of which seeks donations to enable the group to pay 'cash rewards to parents of newborns as a means to incentivize population growth,' which was halfway towards its modest $10,000 goal at the time of writing.
For a back-to-nature movement, RTTL is surprisingly active on social media, posting updates on the progress of its construction projects, wildlife photography, and even illustrations from children's books to promote its vision of rural idyll.
Orwoll – who frames the debate surrounding his project as a 'First Amendment issue' and a 'freedom issue' about 'doing what we want on our own private land' – has invested tens of thousands of dollars into research on its legality.
He believes its PMA status exempts it from legislation like the Civil Rights Act or the Fair Housing Act, which mandate equality and outlaw discrimination, although that is by no means an opinion shared by all experts.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, for one, said in a statement responding to RTTL's practices: 'Racial discrimination has no place in Arkansas or anywhere in a free society. These allegations raise all sorts of legal issues, including constitutional concerns. My office is reviewing the matter.'
Barry Jefferson, president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said: 'I just truly believe that we don't need to get back to the Jim Crow era. We've been through that before. I think no one should be discriminated against because of their skin colour.
'If you really look deep into the Civil Rights Act, it doesn't state that. I think they're misunderstanding what it states because there have been many organisations that tried to carve that out. That's not right.'
The Anti-Defamation League has been even more blunt about RTTL, accusing it of trying to revive 'discredited and reprehensible forms of segregation.'
Asked by Sky about the more overtly racist aspects of his organization, including the sharing of white supremacist slogans in its Telegram channel and his own thoughts on a 'second coming' of Adolf Hitler, Orwoll did not shy away, saying conventional opinion on the Nazi leader is 'one-sided' and informed by Second World War propaganda.
'I think all historical figures are complex, multi-dimensional,' he said.
'But when I say, 'you're gonna have to wait for that new Hitler to arise', I'm not saying you're going to have to wait for a new person to start a new Holocaust.
'I am saying you are going to wait for a charismatic leader who is going to advocate for your interests because that's how a lot of people see Hitler.'