By Jason Hancock
The private membership association, called Return to the Land, owns 160 acres in northeast Arkansas, according to its website. Jews and non-whites are explicitly banned from membership.
The group’s leader recently said it is exploring the idea of expanding north and building a new enclave in the Springfield area.
“We have the God-given right to form communities according to whatever values we hold dear,” Eric Orwoll, co-founder of Return to the Land, said in a recent social media post, “and the government does not have the right to tell free American citizens what values they have to live according to in their own private lives.”
The idea of a segregated community coming to southwest Missouri was greeted with scorn by both Democratic and Republican legislative leaders from the area.
“Racism in any form is evil and reprehensible,” said House Majority Leader Alex Riley, a Springfield Republican. “Groups engaging in racist conduct are not welcome in Springfield.”
State Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Springfield Democrat, said history has been “very clear on what happens when you stay silent as groups discriminate based on race and discriminate based on whether or not someone is of the Jewish faith. I cannot believe that in 2025 we are retreading this ground.”
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said racial discrimination “has no place in Missouri.”
“Attorney General Bailey is committed to protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens,” the statement said. “The landmark Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer, which originated in St. Louis, made clear that government cannot enforce racially discriminatory housing practices, and Missouri will not tolerate efforts to revive them.”
The Springfield City Council and City Manager David Cameron issued a joint statement this week declaring that “there is no place in Springfield, or anywhere, for such a divisive and discriminatory vision.”
“While it is improbable that such a project could legally or practically occur within city limits, silence is not an option,” the statement said. “As a regional leader, we will not stand idly by in the face of attempts to revive outdated, harmful ideologies.”
On its website, Return to the Land its mission is to “separate ourselves from a failing modern society, and we will make positive cultural changes in ourselves and in our ancestral communities.”
It also includes a disclaimer that the group does not engage in the sale or rental of real estate.
Orwoll responded to criticism from Springfield elected officials in his social media post, denying that excluding people of color and Jews should be considered racist.
“We are not a hate group,” he said. “We have never expressed hate towards any ethnic group, racial group or religious group.”
He took umbrage with Fogle calling the group racist, saying: “She wants to call us racists because we prefer being among our own people.”
“It’s not a supremacist group. It’s not a hate group. It’s not even a white nationalist group,” he said. “We are white identitarians. We value our identity and want to preserve it. That’s not hate. That is love for your own people.”
Fogle, who was among the first public officials to condemn Return to the Land’s possible expansion to Missouri, said she has been inundated with “pretty horrific messages and pretty horrific responses” on social media.
But she said she has no intention of being silent.
“It’s my job to make sure I’m using my platform to communicate that there’s no place in Springfield, no place in Missouri, no place in this country for a group who is intentionally leaving behind people who have a different skin color or intentionally leaving behind people of the Jewish faith,” she said. “And I would expect every elected official at every level to use their platform to see the same things.”
Across the state line, the group also drew the ire of Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.
The Republican announced his office would open an investigation of the group to ensure its activities didn’t violate state or federal law. That probe, Griffin said in an email to The Independent, has not turned up any illegal activity.
“Racism has no place in a free society,” he said, “but from a legal perspective, we have not seen anything that would indicate any state or federal laws have been broken.”
36 comments:
I thought SW Missouri already had a group similar to this with an established area. It’s called Briarbrook. And laws don’t apply to its residents.
We all know where this is going. The maga movement is based on white supremacy and I predict the welcome mat is in place because again, as we heard at Charlottesville, "there are some very fine people" in that crowd spoken by the grand wizard himself....trump.
I don’t agree with this, but it is a private group they get to make the rules. End of story
I love the Orwellian phrase at the end, “Racism has no place in a free society". Wait a second... if it's a free society...
I mean, that sentence would make a little more sense if this group controlled the government and brought back Jim Crow laws... but instead it's simply a small group of people that nobody even knew existed until a week ago, that purchased a chunk of land away from society, that want to preserve their own culture as a group of people that are technically a minority in the world becoming a much smaller minority every year...
Of course optically it doesn't look great in today's society as you're basically telling the rest of the world that you don't want to be around them... but in a free society you're able to say what you want and associate with whoever you want as long as you're not harming another person. Buying your own property and living AWAY from everyone is not harming POC or jews.
If these people are so terrible, so unfathomably awful and racist, why would you want to live with them? Why would you want to legally destroy them so that they are FORCED to allow POC on their own private land that they purchased? What POC would want to live on this private property with these people once the law eventually cracks down on them?
And of course there's the classic double standard of "what if the races were reversed". Where we already know, because this has already happened, that when a group "of color" decide to do this exact same thing it is celebrated and praised by the majority of people. At least be consistent people, either condemn both or allow both, I'd prefer that you allow both IF you value freedom of association but that's just me...
WWJD? I’ll tell you what He wouldn’t do is go around establishing purposefully segregated societies. Nor would He try justifying them based upon a “freedom of this, freedom of that” defense.
If you think it's great that your family tree looks like a utility pole then you might think like this too.
if your daddy was 39 and married your mama when she was 14 for reasons, then you might think like this too!
Private land, their rules. Bottom line. But I do find it interesting that Caucasians are the only race on the planet not allowed their own homeland.
528, you cant be serious, the brainwashing is strong with you. The "very fine people" claim was debunked a decade ago lol. Out of context silly billy, he denounced the white supremacist in that same press conference. Not a very good white supremacist if you denounce white supremacist. Also, Trump loves Jews, not very white supremacy of him... its almost as if you guys dont understand the concept of white supremacy and are easily manipulated by mainstream media...
323 and what does that have to do with this group exactly? Its not a religious group, and this is America, so guess what, people get to do and say things you dont agree with. Deal with it.
1032 is waaay too gullible and no doubt a member of the cult. This is no way to spend your life 1032. Ignorance leads to hatred and allowing yourself to be gaslighted by a 34x convicted felon with sexual predator tendencies is obviously leading you down the same deplorable hole. Wake up and see the truth, don't be a passive patsy waiting to be told what to do by your master.
Hitler and the Nazis
I agree with "private land, their rules." You can't legislate racism out of people's hearts and minds. It's an individual choice. That being said, it's best to let people expose who they are. I'd rather know who the bigots and racists are than have them hide their views.
Normalizing racist behavior and small ideas by allowing segregated communities like this to exist is exactly the wrong approach to fostering a healthy, successful and secure society. And I agree with Louise Ott, WWJD in this situation? He would not agree that building a segregated community based on race is reflective of Christian ideals (which is what this group purports to be doing).
Accurate.
Very curious what 8:01 believes to be the homeland.
"Private land, their rules". Ummm, the US has a fun little history of busting up this kind of nonsense on private property
"The frontman behind a whites-only community in remote Arkansas who touts its residents' conservative values has a history of starring in sex-for-tips online porn videos, Daily Mail can reveal.
Several of those show Eric Orwoll and his now ex-wife continuously checking for comments and donations while the two have sex in front of a live webcam."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14958783/whites-community-leader-eric-orwoll-porn-videos-wife.html
Yet nobody’s complaining about BLM
No one does victimhood better than conservative talibangelicals and nazis.
647 is obviously a racist maga member. BLM exists because whites like you are stuck in jim crow and are afraid of anyone of color.
BLM exists because of lies and propaganda, and fools like you funding it. Tell me again what BLM did for anyone expect its founders who stole all the money..
528, YOU are the problem.
600 what's hilarious about your comment is the fact that I'm not a Trumper either. Pointing out obvious lies pushed by the mainstream media doesn't make me a Trumper, I'm outside of the box you NPCs are living in, you guys should try it sometime.
My reply to 626 must have made too much sense, therefore it wasn't approved, that's ok. 626 is obviously just slinging ad hominems without anything to back it up. Yeah, let's pretend like the whole world isn't made up of groups of people that have been sticking to their own kind for hundreds if not thousands of years... Just because a white person marries a white person, or an asian marries an Asian, it doesn't mean its some incestual relationship, how that is not obvious to some of you is beyond me.
Dear 257, your selective maga memory might want to recall the George Floyd incident where a white officer killed a black man for no apparent reason. Until you get off your Faux News diet of conspiracies and misinformation, you'll be sitting in your lazyboy getting fat and seeing your world thru the ignorance of hate and division. Get with it 257, you've on the wrong side history.
When was BLM proposing a blacks only community? Oh, they didn't, that's not what BLM does.
7:32 all I have ever seen them do is organize shoe and tv rescue party’s
I attended one of said parties on a recent day off 217. Had a hell of a good time. You obviously need to find more humor in your life. Faux news and maga conspiracy theories aren't going to cut it when they're the pipeline for all misinformation and division that you seem to be inhaling.
That's ironic 512, seeing how you're the one obviously falling for mainstream propaganda. You're still falling for the "official" narrative craftfully put together by MSM to get the most rage out of people and push their divide and conquer agenda that they have clearly been pushing for decades. Sorry to inform you that your boy saint George was a drug addict that is on record beating and holding a pregnant woman at gun point. Hes also on video begging the police officers to put him on the ground, and saying "I can't breathe" long before the infamous video of the officer on his neck. Which by the way is a normal restraint used by cops that doesn't affect breathing like you think it does. Floyd was on multiple drugs, including a deadly amount of Fent. But hey don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
I bet you donated money to BLM, the founders are enjoying their mansions thanks to people like you while doing absolutely nothing to help black lives, you all were duped, sorry.
eat some prunes and try again tomorrow!
There's good and bad people of every color and every religion. These white people are going to decide that some in the group are no longer wanted in the group, for whatever reason. Given time, this will fail spectacularly on it's own.
Also, different colors and religions are already segregated in their social lives by choice.
Backs, Latinos, whites and Asians etc, hang out with their own color because they have so much in common, things like food, music and many other things. But if their other friends want to go bowling with them, or out to eat, they're welcome to go listen to country/rap/rock music at a concert or eat a cheeseburger at a Mexican restaurant.
It's the same with religion. You can go to a Catholic Church with your Catholic friend if you want to, but most choose to go to their own church or synagogue etc.
Whites and blacks etc can marry any color they want to, and do. Nobody is going to attack you if you say I'd really like to marry a black, white, or Asian woman etc.
That's choice (freedom) and their little white community is most likely going to run into members who want to do exactly that, marry another color. We're all the human race. That's why I didn't say another race.
My niece married a Hispanic gentleman who is exactly that. I'd rather that she marry him than one of the white people in that community.
Best to stay in your little outdated white cocoon 448. Your racist ignorance gets put in full display for the rest of us to know you belong riding your horse in the confederate army fighting to keep your "property" and defending white supremacy.
5:06
Burn
Loot
Murder
Buy
Large
Mansions
I believe these were slogans used by the KKK and Retired Confederate Officers’ Association.
506 I noticed that you can all call me names but are unable to point out where I'm wrong... Interesting.
Do you feel the same about black only groups? Do you argue against the black hebrew israelites? You ever go to China town and yell at them to start being more inclusive? Does Japan trigger you? How about Korea? You don't really care, you're just a hypocrite. You only hate the thought of people of European descent living together as a group.
And stretching things a bit there aren't we? Oh no, people want to purchase some land and only live with people of a similar ethnic and cultural background, that's totally the same as owning slaves! Same line of thinking as "Trump is like, totally Hitler guys. Well, he hasn't killed millions of people yet, but you can imagine if he did!"
You guys live in coo coo fantasy land. I'm laying out facts and all you guys have is "wow, ur totally racist and u suck!"... like that means anything.
The funniest part is, I wouldn't even want to live with these return to the land people. Imagine starting over from scratch, with a bunch of strangers.. no thanks. But I'm not going to stop them, and if a group of black people wanted to buy some land and do the same, more power to them, they're not hurting me by doing that.
This group is going to fail for two reasons, and it's not because someones all of a sudden going to feel the need to bring in a person of color to the group. A person with that mindset would not be allowed into this group, and if they all of a sudden "see the light" and want to be with a POC, it would be way easier to leave than convince the entire community to flip a 180 on who is and isn't allowed.
1, they will probably be brought down legally, the leader said he's ready for it, but I don't think they're fully ready. If they fight against the law enough this will become another Waco.
2, this group doesn't have Christ as their foundation. They have being of European descent as their foundation, the mix of Pagans, atheists and Christians is not going to work out well for them over time.
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