Outrage is intensifying over a whites-only community being built in Arkansas as organizers claim they have found a way to skirt fair housing laws.
Construction has already started on ‘Community1’ which bars people of color, Muslims, Jews and anyone else organizers deemed to be LGBTQ-leaning or a militant atheist.
Professor Florence Wagman Roisman, an expert on housing rights at Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law, called the group’s insistence on segregation ‘disgusting’.
‘In virtually any other administration, I would expect the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate …and take swift action against it,’ she told Daily Mail.
But under President Donald Trump, she said, such a move is unlikely.
The group building Community1 – also known as ‘The Settlement’ – is called Return to the Land. Its right-wing YouTuber president, Eric Orwoll, claims the 160-acre development is legal because it is a private, members-only club, and so can limit who may join.
‘It’s important to our members to raise their children around whites – people they feel comfortable around,’ Orwoll, who is working to help a string of similar developments sprout up nationally, told Daily Mail.
‘It’s an important battle that needs to happen, he added. ‘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.’
Eric Orwoll, the president of Return to the Land, is planning a whites-only community near Ravenden, Arkansas
Orwoll has posted the community’s progress on his social media platforms – including YouTube. If bars people of color, Muslims, Jews and anyone else organizers deemed to be LGBTQ-leaning or a militant atheist
Florence Wagman Roisman, a housing rights professor at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law, condemned the group’s segregation stance as ‘disgusting’ but said it’s unlikely the Trump-era Justice Department will pursue an investigation
The homes are going up outside tiny Ravenden, Arkansas, a town with a population of just 423 near the Missouri border and 140 miles north of Little Rock, the state capital.
Public documents filed for Return to the Land’s limited liability corporation show the group has eight unidentified founders who each pitched in between $10,000 and $90,000 in startup funds. By doing so, they become eligible for membership units or shares that entitle them to live on the property.
Based on applications and interviews, the group grants new memberships only to people who can verify their white, European ‘ancestral heritage’. It expressly bans Muslims and Jews, even those who are ethnically European, and accepts only Christian and pagan applicants.
Orwoll, 35, asserts that the group can legally exclude certain kinds of members because it’s selling membership not land.
‘We’ve been to several lawyers,’ he said. ‘We have it all worked out.’
But legal experts disagree.
University of Minnesota law professor Myron Orfield admitted he finds the group’s members-only approach novel – ‘an interesting wrinkle’ that could be likened to private country clubs legally excluding certain kinds of members.
But Orfield, who directs the school’s Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, notes that state and federal laws protect people’s land and housing rights far more than their right to play golf.
Ravenden (population 423), the closest town to Orwoll’s land, is near the Missouri border, 140 miles north of Arkansas’s state capital, Little Rock
Orwoll said his beliefs originated from his experience growing up white in La Mirada, California, right outside of Los Angeles where the population is predominantly Hispanic
Orwoll was influenced by his six months working at Shen Yun, a traveling Chinese ballet and symphony ensemble, where he admired the power of people working together as a community
If residents of Community1 tap public utilities, drive on public roads to get home, benefit from publicly funded programs, use the US Postal Service, or send even one child to a public school, Orfield contends the group is squarely subject to anti-discrimination laws.
The logo for Orwoll’s organization Return to the Land which is overseeing the development of the community. The group sells memberships rather than land in hopes of skirtingthe federal Fair Housing Act which prohibits housing discrimination
‘Will this place stand up in court – even with today’s Supreme Court? My guess is absolutely not,’ he said.
Orwoll, who is blond and blue-eyed YouTuber, says he embraces ‘identitarianism,’ a right-wing movement centered on the preservation of white European identity.
He expects and said he even relishes the prospect of legal challenges to his ‘ethno-culturally homogeneous’ community free from what he sees as dominant ‘woke’ ideas.
Sympathizers of his cause claim whites are under threat from immigration, multiculturalism and globalization.
Orwoll told Daily Mail that his views on race formed largely from having been raised in La Mirada, a majority Hispanic city in southeast Los Angeles County.
‘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 said.
‘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.’
University of Minnesota law professor Myron Orfield called Return to the Land’s criteria for membership ‘an interesting wrinkle,’ likening it to private clubs that can exclude certain kinds of applicants. But he notes the group risks violating anti-discrimination laws if they use public resources such as the Post Office
Orwoll says he relishes the chance to defend his community in court and that he has already cleared its legality with his lawyers
Critics say Orwoll would have to contend with his community falling foul of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the 1968 Fair Housing Act and more current laws protecting people of all sexual orientations and gender identities if he were challenged in court
Orwoll searched for opportunities in several states. After COVID hit in 2020, he moved from New York to rural southern Missouri and then to northeastern Arkansas with his growing family, which now includes four kids under 10.
In 2023, a group of his YouTube followers started meeting online weekly to discuss using land to push their whites-only ideas. When their plans grew to include a residential community, they collectively bought the plot near Ravenden.
Roismon and fellow legal experts say Return to the Land’s plans fall foul of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the 1968 Fair Housing Act and more current laws protecting people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
She cites one court case after another ruling against organizations that have banned protected groups not just from owning land, but also from dwelling on it.
‘There is absolutely no doubt’ that its segregationist rules won’t stand up,’ she said.
‘Legally, it won’t fly.’
Professor Roisman cited multiple cases where groups were legally struck down for trying to ban protected classes from owning land, stressing such efforts ‘won’t fly’ under the law
In a series of angry X posts, Orwoll blasted criticism from ‘Jews on Reddit,’ arguing it’s hypocritical for them to oppose an all-White community while having their own country in Israel
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
But Return to the Land is confident that the development is legally sound and members’ own First Amendment rights to associate and assemble freely are protected.
Already they have been collectively clearing trees from the land, drilling wells, installing septic systems and building roads, cabins and at least one full-size house on the property.
Peter Csere, Return to the Land’s other co-founder, and his family live in a cabin he built two years ago.
‘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,’ he said.
The group encourages families to have as many children as possible. Members also tend to be home-schoolers who are big on traditional gender roles and averse to their children being exposed to LGBTQ lifestyles.
Orwoll said: ‘Masculinity for men and femininity for women we see as a virtue,’
Although many members own firearms, he noted there is no organized militia.
When asked if any people of color live on the property or have visited, he paused before answering: ‘I mean, some members have tans.’
The cabin where Csere lives. He said he likes homesteading and that it’s appealing to a lot of other families who want to raise their children in a homogenous white environment
Orwoll’s group encourages families to have as many children as possible. Members also tend to be homeschoolers who are big on traditional gender roles and averse to their children being exposed to LGBTQ lifestyles
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
It is perhaps no accident that the community has sprung up in Arkansas, which has a fraught civil rights history. The state was home to the Little Rock Nine, a group of Black students who in 1957 tried to integrate Central High School, only to face resistance, including from the governor.
Several organizations deemed as hate groups by the Anti Defamation League (ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center operate in Arkansas.
The ADL warned that ‘Residents of Northeast Arkansas should be deeply concerned about the community.’
‘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’.
Meanwhile, state governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has pushed policies prohibiting affirmative action and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs. She also has issued executive orders removing the word ‘Latinx’ from public documents and banning ‘indoctrination and critical race theory’ from being taught in public schools.
With the exception of the ADL, most minority and civil rights groups have stayed mum about the burgeoning community.
But scores of social media users have lashed out, calling members everything from ‘a bunch of ignorant hillbilly crackers’ to ‘murderous Nazi scum.’
‘F%ck that! I’m going to train my space laser on that community as soon as it’s fully occupied,’ one Jewish commenter posted on Reddit.
The rise of communities like Orwoll’s has been emboldened by former President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies and the broader ideology of the MAGA movement
Orwoll fired back on X, pointing to what he argued is the hypocrisy of Jews opposing an all-white community in Arkansas when they have a whole country of their own in Israel.
A second Reddit commentator wrote: ‘What a sad, limited life they have chosen. Just a bunch of fragile, insecure humans scared of anyone who isn’t exactly like them.’
A third posted: ‘Oh look! You can almost make out the swastika in the(ir) logo.’
Another said the appropriate reaction would be to build ‘a Queer Black and Jewish community right next door’.
Orwoll tried but failed to create an all-white community about a dozen years ago, but the timing wasn’t right. He says now, ‘more normal people’ are involved, not just fringe, dragon-slaying Viking cosplayers.
As he tells it, several perceived threats have emerged over the past few decades that have made many white people fear the dilution of their European race. Among those are declining fertility rates and statistics showing overwhelming support for interracial marriage.
Interest has gained momentum as Trump and his MAGA movement have emboldened more white people to speak out against DEI efforts and so-called ‘woke’ culture that some say demeans them and their history.
Although Orwoll says he personally doesn’t identify as either a white supremacist or white nationalist, he would like to see the U.S. population become more, not less, white.
‘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 asked on X, encouraging Americans who want to live exclusively among whites to start organizing and forming similar compounds.
He noted that Return to the Land never intended to build just the one development near the Ozarks, but also create a prototype on which other groups can model their own all-white communities, both rural and urban, all across the US.
