Arkansas Attorney General says whites only community legal

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ASPartOfMe
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05 Aug 2025, 2:19 pm

That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?

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Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said Thursday that “Return to the Land,” which bars non-whites and Jews from membership in its northern Arkansas living community, doesn’t violate state or federal law.

“Racism has no place in a free society, but from a legal perspective, we have not seen anything that would indicate any state or federal laws have been broken,” Griffin said in a statement provided to the Forward by a spokesperson.

Griffin’s comments walk back legal concerns he previously expressed about the whites-only settlement. Earlier this month, Griffin told TMZ that Return to the Land — a community where prospective residents must verify their “ancestral heritage” in a written application and interview — raises “all sorts of legal issues, including constitutional concerns.”

The Forward reported in June about Return to the Land’s hopes of replicating its whites-only settlements across the country, with the stated aim of “trying to put land back under the control of Europeans.” Eric Orwoll and Peter Csere lead the group, which Morgan Moon of the Anti-Defamation League described as one of the most established white supremacist residential communities in the United States today.

In a June 30 email obtained by the Forward through a public records request, Gary McGee, an investigator with the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission wrote that “as of today, AFHC has not discovered any actual property owned by this organization or its founder, nor any advertisements for housing.”

Records show that a limited liability company in both Csere and Orwoll’s name, “Wisdom Woods LLC,” owns adjacent parcels of land totaling 157 acres near the town of Ravenden, where Sky News reporter Tom Cheshire visited the group and spoke with residents of the whites-only community in July.

Griffin did not respond to the Forward’s request for clarification about why the office believed Return to the Land had not broken any laws and whether it had considered the property owned by Wisdom Woods LLC.

McGee’s email appears to echo arguments made by Return to the Land about the legality of the arrangement.

“There is no actual change of real estate title occurring, nor are they renting the land,” Csere wrote in a message to the Forward, differentiating between directly owning land versus purchasing membership units of the LLC that owns the land. “The land stays under the ownership of the business entity that they are becoming a part-owner of.”

Since the Forward’s article was published in June, Return to the Land updated their website with a “legal disclaimer,” writing that “RTTL does not engage in the sale or rental of real estate,” and earlier this week they posted similar information on Substack in response to, “Is RTTL legal?” RTTL says it’s exempt from the Civil Rights Act because it’s a private club, and housing is not the group’s primary purpose.

Arkansas’ attorney general has not contacted Return to the Land, Csere wrote in a message to the Forward, adding that the group continues “to work with legal professionals to explore all facets of our organization, to ensure that we are operating in a lawful manner.”

But Stacy Seicshnaydre, a law professor at Tulane University who specializes in fair housing and anti-discrimination law, said she still believes that Return to the Land is likely running afoul of federal housing law.

She said the structure reminds her of a co-op, where members purchase shares in the corporation that owns the building rather than owning individual apartments.

“Imagine a co-op in New York City, in Manhattan, saying ‘no Jews,’ and it says, ‘Oh, but we’re a private association,’” she said. “I mean, the purpose of the co-op is to run a housing business.”

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is intentionally broad to cover circumstances like these, she said. And yet another law, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 — which prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of both race and religion — has no exemptions.

“I’m not aware of any reason why the civil rights laws would not apply in this circumstance,” Seicshnaydre said

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cyberdora
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05 Aug 2025, 5:08 pm

Anyone interested in the backstories to this now global news should watch the now hundreds of videos on this settlement. the settlers are not exactly the cream of the crop. Founders Orwall and his wife are former onlyfans grifters. Others appear to be a mix of unemployed and semi-skilled rural folk. A second property has been purchased in Missouri for the same purpose and others are planned.

what is missing is who has bankrolled these settlements? I doubt it's solely crowd funded as Orwall claims. the settlement itself is not doing any harm (I mean nobody is scrambling to live in rural Arkansas or Missouri). However more clever people than Orwall have done their research on the prior legality of a "whites only" town. what is damaging is the anticipated media publicity and message it sends to the existing 90% white dominated rural towns and regional cities throughout the US to fight immigration and diversity.

It shouldn't surprise anyone but the idea sprang from Orania in South Africa. South Africa has a tiny white minority but whom still own 70% of the land. Meanwhile currently 61% of the US population are white Americans but are scheduled to be < 50% of the population by 2050. Already 60% of small businesses are in the hands of POCs. But like South Africa, land ownership across the US will remain white owned.

I think with the shrinking white population and republican obsession with the "great replacement", some wealthier elements are trying to acquire more land. Land ownership will be the new battleground in race/identity politics over the coming century.

Last edited by cyberdora on 05 Aug 2025, 5:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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05 Aug 2025, 5:09 pm

They need to have a "private club" when Arkansas has towns like Harrison and Piggott that already suit their needs?

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05 Aug 2025, 5:11 pm

^^^ US still has sundown towns where POCs aren't welcome.

Mona Pereth
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06 Aug 2025, 12:43 pm

cyberdora wrote:

It is also harmful to the residents' own LGBTQ+ children, of whom there will inevitably be some. One of the rules of belonging to this "private club" is that you must be purely heterosexual.

cyberdora wrote:

It shouldn't surprise anyone but the idea sprang from Orania in South Africa.

I hadn't heard of Orania, so I googled it and found this Guardian article: An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming, Thu 24 Oct 2019.

Yep, I see the parallels, including a private club that limits its membership not only by race but also by "a string of conservative Christian undertakings. Unmarried couples, for instance, cannot live together" (according to the above-linked Guardian article).

cyberdora wrote:

South Africa has a tiny white minority but whom still own 70% of the land. Meanwhile currently 61% of the US population are white Americans but are scheduled to be < 50% of the population by 2050. Already 60% of small businesses are in the hands of POCs. But like South Africa, land ownership across the US will remain white owned.

I think with the shrinking white population and republican obsession with the "great replacement", some wealthier elements are trying to acquire more land. Land ownership will be the new battleground in race/identity politics over the coming century.

Very likely true, alas.

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cyberdora
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06 Aug 2025, 3:30 pm

Mona Pereth wrote:

It is also harmful to the residents' own LGBTQ+ children, of whom there will inevitably be some. One of the rules of belonging to this "private club" is that you must be purely heterosexual

Yes this is already an issue across conservative Christian communities, not just in "whitetowns". Hypermasculinity is already a badge of honour in rural US or rural Australia, NZ or Canada. Being gay in rural Arkansas in the middle of a whites only community there is nowhere to run or hide.

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07 Aug 2025, 2:31 am

Ok Orewoll confirmed the entire town is Pty. Ltd. inc. owned by one unamed businessman. Musk?

Texasmoneyman300
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07 Aug 2025, 3:51 am

It sounds like a cult to me.

cyberdora
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07 Aug 2025, 4:50 pm

^^^ From what I can see it's a commune. Orewall has indicated they are not 100% self-sufficient yet. So they still need some services (like digging wells) from outside. I assume they can't fuss about the ethnicity of delivery drivers either.

Interestingly Orewall has indicated in an interview several of the current 40 residents have one great grandparent who is non-white (he didn't specify what ethnicity). He also said membership applications cost $25 and involve interviews. Many of the applicants provide DNA tests (although this is not mandatory).

An interesting aside, requiring applicants to have "European heritage" is not illegal. where they get stuck is prohibiting membership based on "having European heritage but being mixed". I think they get around this using exactly the same language used by other ethnic based organisations (like native or black Americans) where heritage is only one factor must also demonstrate being "part of the culture". Here's where they can improvise and make stuff up in order to reject an applicant if they don't have a European "appearance". Native American communities across the US have also been accused of a similar double standards, accepting white or Hispanic looking individuals into the tribe but finding reason to reject anyone of African appearance.

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09 Aug 2025, 12:28 am

backworldsmen. pigs are insulted by the comparison to themselves.

Jakki
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09 Aug 2025, 1:15 am

Ever been to South East LA , ALL Hispanic .And can be exceedingly bias against White people . Solid Hispanic neighborhoods ,And at least once a middle age Hispanic informed me I was not welcome there while his group gathered of younger Hispanics , As he spit on me. When I was trying to decide to shop in a store there .Had my little p/u stolen 2x there . Try out the Watts / Lynwood area , while being White.nope , these are Solid Crypts, blue and red gang areas . You can go entire day,where you will see no white persons . These areas have no (appearances concepts) of integration.
So having had these experiences .[[[ You might understand, why, this is not any special news to me ! .]]]
Now having written these things of my life experiences ( I do NOT agree with segregation as a method to improve the human Species ). Had black friends had brown friends had American Indian ,and Asian friends. All smoothly but as with most Aspies keeping friends can be a thing.And some actually knew long time and they passed on.Most of their parents knew mine too.( ie. the longer term friends). Then again , you would not want to get caught driving while Black in some parts of Missouri ( Clay County) or being Black in So.East Pasedena, California ,especially down Pasty White Boulevard
( Colorado blvd.) No offense intented by this post to anyone.

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enz
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09 Aug 2025, 3:16 am

I'm ok with putting these unsavory people in there own little community

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09 Aug 2025, 1:06 pm

Jakki and Enz have the right ideas :idea:

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09 Aug 2025, 5:59 pm

Jakki wrote:

And at least once a middle age Hispanic informed me I was not welcome there while his group gathered of younger Hispanics , As he spit on me. When I was trying to decide to shop in a store there .Had my little p/u stolen 2x there . Try out the Watts / Lynwood area , while being White.nope , these are Solid Crypts, blue and red gang areas . You can go entire day,where you will see no white persons . These areas have no (appearances concepts) of integration.

I agree ethnic enclaves aren't always a great idea. In London, Sydney and Melbourne there are no go areas where its unsafe (particularly for women). It's not just white folks, east Asians and south Asians have been targeted too. On a holiday in New Zealand (the last place I expected this sort of behaviour) my wife and daughter (who have a south Asian appearance) were subject to taunting from a carload of Māori indigenous men who made monkey noises and threw a banana, which ended up hitting me. I acknowledge most Māori I have met are decent people, but I never felt safe around large groups of Māori people after that and kept to tourist friendly areas.

And flipping things around Indian people in Malaysia and Singapore aren't welcome in Chinese or muslim neighbourhoods. In many countries multiculturalism can be a mosaic not a melting pot. Ostensibly people have the right to live where they want and form enclaves. But they shouldn't make others feel unwelcome.

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09 Aug 2025, 6:11 pm

Jakki wrote:

So having had these experiences .[[[ You might understand, why, this is not any special news to me ! .]]]

Now having written these things of my life experiences ( I do NOT agree with segregation as a method to improve the human Species ). Had black friends had brown friends had American Indian ,and Asian friends. All smoothly but as with most Aspies keeping friends can be a thing.And some actually knew long time and they passed on.Most of their parents knew mine too.( ie. the longer term friends). Then again , you would not want to get caught driving while Black in some parts of Missouri ( Clay County) or being Black in So.East Pasedena, California ,especially down Pasty White Boulevard
( Colorado blvd.) No offense intented by this post to anyone.

No I am the same. I have had friends from all over the world. Getting back to Orewoll and his "whites only" commune, their financial benefactors have long term goals in mind. they clearly intend to expand their enclaves throughout Arkansas and Missouri. Over time I'm guessing they hope as their numbers swell they can first influence local government. And as the idea catches on influence election of governors of each state. By the way this almost happened in the 1990s when David Duke (grand dragon of the KKK) was elected to the US house of representatives on the republican ticket and was on the cusp of being electing as governor of Louisiana.

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09 Aug 2025, 9:34 pm

cyberdora wrote:

I agree ethnic enclaves aren't always a great idea.

Personally I think large ethnic enclaves should be discouraged, with the sole exception of land reserved for indigenous people (e.g. the "Indian Reservations" here in the U.S.A.).

Here in NYC we do have ethnic neighborhoods, but they tend to be small. We also have what I like to call cosmopolitan neighborhoods, with immigrants from many different countries around the world. My own neighborhood has evolved in that direction, which I and my partner like very much.

Seems to me that large ethnic enclaves tend to lead to ethnic tensions along their borders, especially when one ethnicity tends to be of higher socioeconomic status than the other, and/or when one enclave is expanding into its neighboring enclaves.

cyberdora wrote:

In London, Sydney and Melbourne there are no go areas where its unsafe (particularly for women). It's not just white folks, east Asians and south Asians have been targeted too. On a holiday in New Zealand (the last place I expected this sort of behaviour) my wife and daughter (who have a south Asian appearance) were subject to taunting from a carload of Māori indigenous men who made monkey noises and threw a banana, which ended up hitting me.

How old were these men? I would guess late teens or early twenties?

This kind of behavior, alas, is not confined to any particular race or class. When my partner lived in California, he occasionally ran into groups of wealthy young white men who drove around throwing bags of trash at people who were waiting at bus stops.

cyberdora wrote:

I acknowledge most Māori I have met are decent people, but I never felt safe around large groups of Māori people after that and kept to tourist friendly areas.

I would avoid rowdy groups of young men, of any race or class.

But, yes, ethnic tensions can be an additional motive for this sort of behavior.

cyberdora wrote:

And flipping things around Indian people in Malaysia and Singapore aren't welcome in Chinese or muslim neighbourhoods. In many countries multiculturalism can be a mosaic not a melting pot. Ostensibly people have the right to live where they want and form enclaves. But they shouldn't make others feel unwelcome.

Indeed they shouldn't.

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