Latest news with #whitesonly
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Far-right group establishes ‘whites-only' community with 40 residents
Joe Sommerlad Thursday 24 July 2025 17:12 BST Return to the Land's first settlement site in rural Arkansas (Aarvoll/YouTube) Return to the Land (RTTL), a far-right ethnonationalist group, has established a "whites-only" community in remote Arkansas and is reportedly planning expansion into Missouri. Describing itself as a private membership association, RTTL welcomes only individuals of "European ancestry" with "traditional views," aiming to separate from modern society. RTTL's flagship community spans approximately 150 acres of land, is home to 40 inhabitants, and features its own cabins, roads, wells, a community center, and a schoolhouse. A second community was established near the first in January this year and the group lists aspirations to move into the Appalachian mountains on its website. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, the NAACP, and the Anti-Defamation League have raised significant concerns, accusing RTTL of racial discrimination and attempting to revive segregation. In full
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Whites-only community plotting expansion to another state as its efforts to build a ‘white nation' continue
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, likely near Springfield, according to NBC's regional affiliate KSNT. 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 approximately 150 acres of land, is home to 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. 'The attorneys we've consulted believe what we're doing is legal,' he told KSNT. 'Americans have the right to freely associate and form intentional communities on whatever basis they choose.' Orwoll 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.' Solve the daily Crossword
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Whites-only community plotting expansion to another state as its efforts to build a ‘white nation' continue
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.'
Sky News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Why are far-right white nationalists on the rise in the US?
👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 Warning: This episode contains themes of racism and homophobia which listeners may find upsetting. No gays, no Jews, and definitely no non-whites. It's messaging that reminds us of a segregated United States – a time that apparently ended in the 1960s. But a community in Arkansas, called Return to the Land, wants to establish a whites-only town, and think they have the legal standing to do so. The group says it's about freedom and community - but critics say it's "pure white supremacist rhetoric". Tom Cheshire, our data and forensics' correspondent, went to visit this whites-only community in Arkansas, and joins host Niall Paterson to tell him about the people he met. Niall also speaks to Dr Heidi Beirich, an expert on the American and European far right, about Return to the Land's ideology, and why white nationalism is on the rise in the US.
Daily Mail
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Founder of planned whites-only Arkansas community insists his ideas don't make him a supremacist
The founder of a whites-only community under construction in Arkansas has claimed in an exclusive interview with Daily Mail that he's no supremacist after his plan sparked outrage. 'The communities that many of us grew up in have changed in our lifetimes. The places that used to feel like home no longer feel that way,' he told the Daily Mail. 'A lot of people who have come into our communities feel hostile. Some foreign populations that are entering the country are not loyal to the country and don't think well of white Americans.' Orwoll, 35, spoke to Daily Mail after he posted a video on X last weekend. 'If you as a white American feel more comfortable around other white people, there is nothing wrong with that,' he said in the video. 'If you want to raise your children in the company of other whites who have shared in a common civilizational project for thousands of years, and if that shared identity means something to you, then you're well within your right to act on that and have your own community for your own people.' Orwoll is president of the group that is planning 'Community 1' or 'The Settlement', a 160-acre tract near Ravenden in northeast Arkansas. They hope it will be the first of a string of all-white, members-only communities nationwide. Orwoll and his organization, Return to the Land, have in the past few weeks been slammed mainly by Jews who see their efforts as white supremacist, antisemitic and illegal – a dangerous Trump-era rebirth of segregation-era ideology. He sat for an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Wednesday to explain how he came to lead the movement and set the record straight on points he says the critics are getting wrong. Blond-haired, blue-eyed and 6-feet-tall, Orwoll personifies the northern European Übermensch idealized in Nazi Germany. He understands the power of that image, especially among people seeking a way out of what he calls 'the mainstream anti-white system.' He grew up in a working-class family in La Mirada, then and still a majority Hispanic community in southeast Los Angeles County. His whiteness and the minority status it gave him, he says, 'Informed the beliefs that I developed'. As a French horn performer, he attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, then turned down a graduate program in music at the University of Wisconsin to join Shen Yun, the traveling ballet and symphony ensemble. The group is led by Falun Gong, a culture of spiritual followers the Chinese government has labeled a cult. He wasn't a 'cultist', as he describes most troupe members, and didn't fall in line with the spiritual beliefs they shared. Still, he says his six months with Shen Yun made him appreciate the power of 'having a group of people working on things together', and convinced him that he wanted to found a community. Orwoll moved to New York, Arkansas, Hawaii, California and back to New York, searching for opportunities while working white collar jobs in a field he's still in, but refuses to identify for unspecified reasons. Meanwhile, the self-described Christian Platonist philosopher built up an audience through two YouTube channels – one about understanding Plato and the other delving more into his cultural and political beliefs. Those ideas generally revolve around 'white identitarianism,' a movement centered on the preservation of white European identity, which followers claim is under threat from immigration, multiculturalism and globalization. He takes care to distinguish that idea from white supremacy, the belief that whites are superior to non-whites, and white nationalism, a desire for white political and social dominance – both labels that critics have tagged on him unfairly, he says. He moved to northeastern Arkansas, then, when COVID hit, to southern Missouri with his growing family, which now includes four kids under 10. In 2023, a group of his YouTube audience members started meeting online weekly to discuss using land he owned in Southern Missouri to build a school and media center to push their ideological values. When their plans grew to include a residential community, the group collectively bought the 160 acres in nearby northeast Arkansas. Return to the Land's limited liability corporation's operating agreement indicates the group had eight unidentified founders who pitched in between $10,000 and $90,000 each in startup funds. By doing so, they become eligible to buy membership units or shares in the company that holds ownership of the acreage. Because they're selling memberships, not land, Orwoll and co-founder Peter Csere assert, they can restrict who lives there while sidestepping the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin or disability. Based on applications and interviews requiring prospective residents to verify their 'ancestral heritage,' the group grants membership only to white people of European heritage who identify as either Christian or pagan, according to one of its postings on Substack. It bans blacks, Hispanics and Asians, as well as Muslims and Jews, even those who are ethnically European. People it deems to be 'militant atheists' or LGBTQ leaning also don't qualify. Asked if any people of color live there or have visited, Orwoll responded, 'I mean, some members have tans.' Most minority and civil rights groups have stayed mum about the project. But scores of Jewish American, alarmed by what they see as blatant anti–semitism, have lashed out at the movement on social media, calling members everything from 'a bunch of ignorant hillbilly crackers' to 'murderous Nazi scum.' 'Just because something is private does not mean you can discriminate illegally: see restaurants,' one Reddit poster wrote. 'F%ck that! I'm going to train my space laser on that community as soon as it's fully occupied,' posted another. The Anti-Defamation League said in a statement that, 'Residents of Northeast Arkansas should be deeply concerned about the community.' 'We believe this development not only revives discredited and reprehensible forms of segregation – it should also be illegal under the Arkansas Fair Housing Act, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as well as other federal and state civil rights laws. 'We urge the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission, local elected officials, and law enforcement to act swiftly to ensure that Northeast Arkansas remains a welcoming and inclusive community, not a refuge for intolerance and exclusion,' the group posted Tuesday on X. Orwoll fired back on X, blaming the backlash on "Jews on Reddit," claiming they're upset over his plans - even though, he argued, they can have their own country and nuclear weapons, but somehow an all-White community crosses the line The co-founder of Return to the Land, Peter Csere, 36, has been living on the property for two years in a cabin he built there for his family So far, Return to the Land members have collectively cleared trees, drilled wells, installed septic systems, built roads, a few cabins and at least one full-size house on the property. The community has about 30 residents at any given time, says Orwoll, who is in the process of building a home there for his family. He says the homesteaders are generally friendly with neighbors living next to the property with the exception of 'one character in particular' who has no problem with their ideology, he says, but is furious about one member's sheep wandering on to his property. Csere, his co-founder, has been living for two years in a cabin he built there for his family. 'I've always liked living in rural areas and homesteading,' says the 36-year-old who works in the construction industry. 'The idea of living with people who share your views and want to raise families in similar ways, that's very appealing to a lot of families, and very appealing to me as well.' Return to the Land encourages families to have as many children as possible. Members also tend to be home-schoolers and are big on traditional gender roles. 'Masculinity for men and femininity for women we see as a virtue,' Orwoll says. The operating agreement for Return to the Land's LLC shows there are eight unidentified founders who contributed between $10,000 and $90,000 each in startup funds. Their investments made them eligible to purchase membership units – effectively shares – in the company that owns the land Although many members own firearms, he notes, 'We don't really make a big deal out of gun culture.' 'We don't have an organized militia or anything.' The project, he and Csere say, isn't just about building this neighborhood in the Ozarks, but also creating a prototype on which other groups can model their own all-white communities. Return to the Land offers business documents, community platforms and training for people to build such collectives. Orwoll notes that groups in Appalachia and the Pacific Northwest have expressed interest in launching compounds under Return to the Land's model, but declines to share details. Both founders expect – and even relish the prospect of – legal challenges to what the group calls its 'ethno-culturally homogeneous homeland.' They say their corporate structure should stand up to potential Fair Housing Act challenges, and that exclusion of certain groups falls under their First Amendment rights to freely associate and assemble. Such a legal battle could become the Masterpiece Cakeshop case - where a baker refused to create a cake for a gay wedding – of the 2020s. 'I think it's an important battle that needs to happen. We need to decide as Americans whether we have a right to go our own way or be forced by a model of community decided by the government,' Orwoll says. He tried, but failed to float this idea about a dozen years ago, but the timing wasn't right. Now, he says, 'more normal people' are involved, not just fringe, dragon-slaying Viking cosplayers. Donald Trump's second presidency and its heavy emphasis on abolishing DEI initiatives, affirmative action programs and so-called 'woke' ideology have emboldened whites to more publicly embrace Orwoll's brand of white identitarianism. Orwoll says that, although he personally doesn't identify as a white supremist or white nationalist, he would like to see the US population become more, not less, white. He also acknowledges that many who espouse more extreme views 'think what we're doing is a good thing.' Thomas Sewell, a neo-Nazi based in Australia, attended an online conference about 'intentional communities' that he held in January. White identitarians point to a number of threats they perceive over the past few decades. Among those are statistics showing that an overwhelming majority of white Americans support interracial marriage, a practice Return to the Land members fear will dilute the European white race. Other threats stem from white Americans becoming less fertile, less healthy and more addicted to screens, and therefore less likely to meet up and form communities in person. The greatest threat, Orwoll says, is that predominantly white communities have been targeted for increased diversity through DEI initiatives and other programs he says whites don't necessarily want. 'Do you think that once we get the right politician in office that suddenly backyard BBQs populated by blondes in sundresses and alpha dads will spawn?' he recently asked on X.
