An Arkansas group's effort to build a white ethnostate forms part of a wider US movement inspired by white supremacy

An Arkansas group’s effort to build a white ethnostate forms part of a wider US movement inspired by white supremacy

Published: September 5, 2025 8:48am EDT
Paul J. Becker
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton


In October 2023, a group calling itself Return to the Land established its first “Whites only community” in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. They followed that with a second enclave nearby in 2025.

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Return to the Land believes that by calling themselves a private membership association they can create a white ethnostate – a type of state in which residence is limited to white people – and legally exclude people based on race, religion and sexual orientation.

If you read the words of Eric Orwoll, the group’s co-founder, its mission is clear: “You want a white nation? Build a white town … it can be done. We’re doing it.”

As a scholar of right-wing extremism, I have examined several groups calling for a white homeland in America. The creation of a white ethnostate is often seen as an ultimate goal of such white nationalism, which argues that white people form part of a genetically and culturally superior race deserving of protection and preservation. While Return to the Land doesn’t identify as white nationalists, their statements often align with the ideology. ......................(more)

https://theconversation.com/an-arkansas-groups-effort-to-build-a-white-ethnostate-forms-part-of-a-wider-us-movement-inspired-by-white-supremacy-261999