BY: Shayla Brown
Published 4 hours ago
In the Ozark Mountains of Sharp County, Ark., a private group called Return To The Land (RTTL) is building an explicitly whites-only community. Founded in 2023 by Eric Orwoll and Peter Csere, the project bans non-white residents, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and non-Christians (with the narrow exception of pagans). On paper, RTTL calls itself a “private membership association” meant to preserve “European heritage communities.” In reality, it’s a segregationist settlement wrapped in the language of self-sufficiency.
Civil rights advocates say the optics are alarming — and they’re right. “I think it’s the change of our presidency…that’s where the change is. It’s allowing people to have the right to be open for hatred,” said Pat Johnson, founder of the Eddie Mae Herron Center, in an interview about the group.
A growing movement with dangerous optics
RTTL doesn’t exist in isolation. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), extremist-related demonstrations and acts of political violence in the U.S. skyrocketed from 13% in 2020 to 80% in 2024. White nationalist groups like the Aryan Freedom Network have openly praised Donald Trump for “awakening” their movement.
In this climate, RTTL has already expanded: beyond the initial 150-acre Arkansas parcel, four more communities are in planning, stretching into Missouri, the Appalachian region, and the Deep South. That means this isn’t just about one remote Arkansas town — this is a blueprint for multiplying segregation.
Their ideology in their own words
Orwoll has made no secret of RTTL’s intentions. “You want a white nation, build a white town. It can be done, and we’re doing it,” he declared in one interview.
He insists it’s not about oppression, but choice: “It’s free association. We’re not trying to keep other people down. This is a small settlement in the middle of the Ozarks. You don’t let everyone into your home.”
Residents echo that sentiment: “It should at least exist. Do people really think that we should never be able to choose our neighbors?”
But what sounds like “preference” is really segregation, exclusion, and fear disguised as community.
Explicit hostility toward LGBTQIA+ people
RTTL doesn’t just exclude non-white families — it bans LGBTQIA+ people altogether. Orwoll and Csere have released videos railing against what they call the “degenerate lifestyle” of queer people. Csere argued that “gay priests are just gonna take it and run with it and [the] entire religion is gonna become gay.”
This rhetoric isn’t just outdated — it’s dangerous. It fuels homophobia while intertwining with the group’s white supremacist ideology. The Anti-Defamation League condemned RTTL earlier this year, saying the project revives “discredited and reprehensible forms of segregation” and should be illegal under state and federal housing laws.
The broader implications
Civil rights experts warn that groups like RTTL risk undoing decades of progress. If these communities grow, they could normalize exclusionary enclaves across the country, undermining federal protections for fair housing and equality.
As Johnson put it, what’s happening in Arkansas is proof that some Americans are becoming “more open for hatred”—and they’re building it into the land itself.
What do you think about Arkansas’ whites-only community? Should officials step in before more of these enclaves expand? Comment below!
