-- A tranquil town in
North Dakota could lose its serenity if one man has his
way.
Paul Craig Cobb wants to transform Leith, population
24, into a community that mirrors his white
supremacist views.
This weekend, white supremacists and others are
expected to descend on the town in a show of support
for him.
Cobb said he envisions Leith as a place where white
nationalist banners will be flown, where white culture
would be celebrated, and where minorities would not
be welcome.
His white power takeover would begin with getting
political control over Leith. But his ambitions go way
beyond this one small town.
Cobb said he wants this movement to spread to other
communities, other nations, even around the world,
though he does not explain how he would do this.
"I don't understand why all the different other people
don't say 'whitey' is pretty darn nice and clever," Cobb
said. "There are many organizations (in) which whites
have to support other cultures... Where is the
organization of people from around the world that says
let's keep these white people?... They're pretty darn
good, all in all."
Cobb is one of the best known white supremacists in
North America, according to the Southern Poverty Law
Center.
"He believes whites should be separate from other
races," said Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law
Center. "He's also an anti-semite, a raging anti-semite...
And he's a member of the creativity religion, which is a
religion that literally worships the Aryan man instead of
God."
Cobb's quest to change Leith began about two years
ago with the purchase of property.
Leith, a quiet town where you can hear the crickets
chirp and the grain elevator run, is 70 miles southwest
of Bismarck.
It is part of Grant County, North Dakota's third largest
county by land mass at more than 1 million acres,
according to its website.
The communities there once buzzed with activity from
nearby railroads, but all that is gone.
Cobb, 61, said he picked Leith because it was beautiful
and cheap.
He has bought 12 plots of land for as little as $500
each.
He wants like-minded people affiliated with white
nationalist organizations to take up residence on his
properties.
"We hate that which threatens what we love," he said.
"And we're being genocided in our own country.
Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you be bitter about it?"
Reaction of other residents
Other residents of Leith are trying to make sense of the
developments.
"It is very shocking, because I didn't ever know groups
like this existed," said Mayor Ryan Schock, who has
lived in the town his whole life.
Miller Ferrie, a Leith resident for seven years, said the
town's peace has been shattered.
"It saddens us, because of what they stand for," she
said. "If they were coming to hold a rally for Christ we
would be thrilled, but what they stand for is the
opposite of what we believe."
Leith's lone black resident, Bobby Harper, feels under
threat.
Harper's wife said she has received messages from hate
groups calling for her to leave her husband and join
Cobb's movement.
"It made me afraid," Sherill Harper said. "If his goal is
to just have only white people here, where do my
husband and I go?"
Bobby Harper said he had no plans to leave, even if
Cobb's supporters came in and started controlling the
town.
The sheriff of Grant County said he is keeping a close
eye on the situation.
"I'm a firm believer that everyone has a right to believe
what they want, just not the ability to force the issue on
someone else," said Steven Bay, also a lifetime resident
of Grant County.
He said because Cobb has not broken the law, there is
not much he can do.
Bay has talked to Canadian authorities several times,
because Cobb is a wanted man in Canada -- where he
faces hate speech charges over a blog.
"They're not going to extradite," Bay said. "It's not a
crime for which they will extradite someone from the
U.S. back to Canada."
Town hall meeting
This Sunday the National Socialist Movement, a white
supremacist group, will hold a meeting in Leith.
On its website, the group calls the gesture a show of
goodwill "as we plant the seeds of national socialism in
North Dakota."
Jeff Schoep, the commander of the movement, who
claims to have property in Leith, wrote an open letter to
Leith's mayor announcing the group's decision to head
to Leith on September 22 and 23 in a show of support
for Cobb.
He said Cobb's efforts are a chance to revitalize the
community.
Nationalist online message boards such as
WhiteNations.com and Stormfront have also applauded
Cobb for "doing a great job" and jibing critics as
"laughable."
Anti-racist activists are also expected to descend on
Leith this weekend.
One of this effort's organizers told the Bismarck
Tribune that he and others are hoping people will join
them for a peaceful show of solidarity.
Meanwhile, town and county officials said they would
consider extreme measures to avoid Leith being taken
over by white supremacists.
Mayor Schock said he would consider dissolving the city
in order to save the city. But he hopes it doesn't come
to that.
Meanwhile, is there anything that would persuade Cobb
to depart the town?
If the government decides the "send four dozen Somali
families to Leith," Cobb said, that would convince him
to leave.
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