Planned white community organizer answers questions about his PMA
Tammy Curtis, Managing Editor
Editor’s Note:
This article was published to provide the communities surrounding RTTL with a real identification of the motivation, background and everyday lives of those who live in the community. It is not our intention to judge whether or not these people are racists or anything else. Our opinions at the newspaper are not included in this article on the RTTL. It is merely an explanation in the hope of answering many questions which have yet to be covered beyond the allegations against this organization and its founders.
Most have heard from various news agencies, state and national about the planned white community Return to the Land (RTTL) near Ravenden, Ark. in Sharp County founded by Peter Csere and Eric Orwoll. The community has garnered much publicity and has been called a white supremacist community and all who opt to live there are racists and bigots and even Hitler lovers. Allegations of a scheme to steal money from investors have also been widely suggested by various media sources.
Co-Founder Eric Orwoll sat down with the SRC to explain his motivation, background and plans for the community, which was founded as a Private Membership Association (PMA) in Sept. 2023. This is to assure the county they mean no harm, but have strong beliefs in their heritage and their basic Constitutional right to free association.
Historically and currently back-to-the-land movements such as RTTL are a social movement where individuals or groups move from urban to rural areas to live a more self-sufficient, simple, and often environmentally conscious lifestyle. This involves practices such as growing their own food, building homes from natural materials, and generating alternative energy. RTTL excludes individuals who are Black, Jewish, non-European, and sexual orientations (LGBTQ).
Orwoll, who grew up in Southern California, said, “More than 10 years ago, I started noticing the changes that are happening in our country, and becoming concerned about what the country would look like for my kids and grandkids. I came from Southern California, so I remember looking at my parents’ yearbook pictures and seeing what everyone looked like back in the 1970s, versus what I grew up with in Southern California, where I didn’t fit in; there weren’t many people who looked like me. I felt a little uncomfortable.”
He explained that he began examining numbers in depth around 2010 regarding the state of America’s economy. “I gave up hope that some top-down political change could secure a place for my kids and grandkids. So from that point forward, I thought that intentional communities were the best way of looking after my family’s interest and then also just the interest of my people, more generally, who I’d say is traditional,” he explained.
Orwoll attended college in New York and later moved around the country. He explained why he chose Arkansas for his planning for the RTTL “intentional community” to move his family, including four children, from the city for a simpler life.
After researching real estate online, he found that Arkansas and South Carolina were the optimal locations, but he ultimately chose Arkansas. “Arkansas stood out because a lot of people come here to homestead. Many preppers have decided to relocate here. It’s easy to develop because there are fewer permitting requirements and zoning laws compared to other places. That makes sense. So, I moved.”
After moving to Arkansas in 2013, Orwoll said he found it difficult to make a living so he was forced to move back to New York. After ten years, he finally gained the resources he needed. At the beginning of Covid, he bought seven acres in the hills near Mammoth Spring sight unseen and lived there, homesteading the land before selling it. He then bought a house and 13 acres in Southern Missouri. After that, the RTTL group came together and bought the nearly 160-acre tract where it is currently located near Ravenden in Oct. 2023.
Among those listed on the Limited Liability Corporation’s registration besides Csere and Orwoll are Gavin Baker and Scott Thomas Hallowood.
The organization is registered with the Secretary of State as Wisdom Works LLC, registered agent is listed as Peter Neugebauer at 480 Browns Creek Road in Ravenden.
Orwoll explained that those living there, who collectively bought the land, are a group of like-minded individuals, such as himself, who met online. He said that many of the nearly 40 residents currently residing at the RTTL have tech backgrounds and can sustain themselves by working remotely from home. Others are very well-versed in construction-related trades. He said there are many more looking to move to the area.
It has been said that fire can not spread without air, and many news agencies have helped Orwoll promote his community free of charge by providing that much-needed air in running national news and state news on his community. People who would not know about it had they not seen the stories that now wish to be a part of it.
Orwoll explained the process of becoming a member, similar to that of a hunting club. “The Return of the Land is a private association and paying an application fee. To apply you go to the website, return to the land.org and fill out an application, interview over the phone, and then, if one is interested in actually coming in and buying into the company that we formed that owns that land and residing there, you would also have to meet with us for a few days, get to know us and pass a background check.”
He explained the criminal background check to verify whether or not the person has a felony record is conducted by an outside organization, paid for by the RTTL. This is to ensure the safety of those living there and prevents violent individuals from moving to RTTL.
If a person decides the lifestyle isn’t for them after moving to the RTTL, Orwoll explains the process of selling their share. “ So with the company, you own a share in the company, and that share is tied to a particular lot on the land. Initially, they were just all three-acre lots all the same value, but now different lots have been developed to different degrees, and it’s an open market within the association for who’s willing to pay what for each share. So, if you build a house on yours and you want to put it up for sale for, you know, $100,000, you can put that as the price for your share, and then if someone wants to buy it, that’s what you get. Okay? So, yeah, if you decide you want to leave, you can always sell. And people have sold shares and left.”
Among the criticisms the organization has received includes that they are violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against who can live in the area.
Orwoll explained that the planned community was designed to avoid breaking any laws. At the same time, many feel it is morally wrong and taking three steps back to segregation in the state, giving the entire state and county the label as racists because the development is even allowed to exist.
Arkansas Attorney Tim Griffin was asked by Arkansas Democrats to investigate RTTL. On July 31, he said in a statement to Jewish non-profit news agency Forward, “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.”
Other organizations that have chimed in on the outrage against RTTL include the Anti-Defamation League, which called RTTL one of the most structured white supremacist residential efforts in the country, citing its use of screening interviews, ancestral verification, and a stated goal of “preserving European heritage.”
Sharp County Sheriff Shane Russell met with Orwoll after explaining that he had heard from the Ravenden Police Chief there has been no issues with the community. The Sheriff asked what their behavior would be if a black deputy were to ever respond to a call at RTTL. He said Orwoll explained they are law-abiding citizens and would have no issue with that if the need ever arose.
Orwoll explained that the people who reside at RTTL came from all over the country. While a large percentage work in tech fields, many are computer programmers. “We have people from California,Massachusetts, Montana, just all over the country,” Orwell explained.
“We don’t do any militia training or anything like that. We have community dinners once a week in the neighborhood. That lets everybody get to know each other, and it’s optional. We don’t force people to show up for that stuff. Mostly, what we’re doing day to day is construction and the board members spend a lot of time on our message boards, managing applicants.”
Orwoll explained the reason for the organization of the RTTL and the exclusion of most who are not white or of European heritage. “Part of it is a concern for the future of the country, and wanting a safe, wholesome place for our kids to grow up. But, it’s not that we’re afraid of other groups or we don’t like other groups. We’re all enthusiastic about our own heritage, so most of us are interested in European and American history, art and music. We’d like to create an aesthetic. Right now, it’s pretty bare bones, so we build what we can afford, but in the future we’d like it to look more traditional. So, this is about preserving our tradition, which comes from our people. We tend to believe that there is a connection between what a group is at the biological level and what culture they produce. I believe that,so that’s our worldview. So, we want to protect our culture and way of life, and that involves preserving the people that produce that.”
Orwoll went on to explain why he believes that this type of planned community is not doing anything others haven’t “I think there is a lot of animus against people who positively identify with their race as white people or with their European heritage. And so there are a lot of people who want to shoot down what we’re trying to do, even though there are black intentional communities, Jewish intentional communities, Native American reservations. No one has a problem with those things, because we’re white, people have a big problem with it. I don’t think they should, but they do.”
He explained his feelings about the animosity toward segregated communities, “The problem with segregation in the past was that it was the government forcing people to segregate. Yes, if people want to freely associate and have their own communities and they’re minding their own business, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“If there weren’t that opposition, we wouldn’t be so conspicuous about what we’re doing. We wouldn’t feel the need to. I wouldn’t be talking to as many reporters. I understand about it, and reporters wouldn’t be interested in the first place.”
“We support the right of all groups to do this, and also, people are too alienated and isolated as it stands. People live as individuals, and they’re concerned with their own little world. We’re not connected to each other, so I think we need communities. I think part of why people are so isolated is that we’ve lost a sense of our collective identity. I lived in Rochester, New York, and it seemed like every black person knew every other black person and their names. Well, because they have a strong sense of identity, and I think that’s fine, but it helps them get along. Whereas white people don’t have a strong sense of identity and a lot of us have shame about it.”
Day-to-day life at RTTL involves raising livestock, gardens, and canning both vegetables and meat, and learning new things to become self-sufficient and live off the land. They also home school their children.
Orwoll invited the public to join them for one of their community dinners and see what it is like. While RTTL houses about 40 people, they live in modest small structures and tents and love being there with like-minded individuals who share a common goal, similar in nature to Amish, Mennonite, Catholic and other communities who live on the same large acreage of land as well as blacks who have a community near Cave City.
Orwoll said his community is growing and he plans to establish others in the Deep Southern states, but said the one near Springfield is not the RTTL’s.
The organization is also collecting funds for potential legal fees related to the backlash from the community’s formation. “We are currently working with several attorneys and accounting professionals to help us make changes that complement our existing framework. We also want to have a large reserve on hand in case any institutions engage in “lawfare” against us in an attempt to deny us our civil rights. A win on our behalf would be a major win for the Constitutional right to free association across the US, and a beacon of hope for the Western world.”
