That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
‘Return to the Land’ bans non-whites and Jews from becoming members
Sky News’ Tom Cheshire meets with Peter Csere, a leader of the whites-only community in northern Arkansas. Screenshot of Sky News
By Hannah Feuer August 1, 2025
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.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey appeared to agree with Seicshnaydre. Local media asked him about the legality of Return to the Land after Orwoll told a Missouri news station earlier this month that he hopes the group will soon expand to the state.
“Bailey is committed to protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens,” a spokesperson for Bailey told the Missouri Independent in a statement this week. “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.”
