The quiet town of Leith, N.D. was at the center of a controversy on Sunday. Anti-racist activists and protesters rallied against the news that Jeff Schoep, head of neo-Nazi group the American National Socialist Movement, and his followers planned to hold a town hall meeting where they would discuss the possibility of using the small town as a new base for the white supremacist community.
The 24-strong population of Leith had to deal with a turbulent weekend of verbal disputes and busloads of neo-Nazi supporters and anti-racist detractors.
Talking to Mint Press News, Grant County Sheriff Steve Bay said, “The rally was mostly verbal abuse between the two groups. Although there were around 350 people who took part in Sunday’s rally, it was mostly non-violent and there were no arrest.”
The dispute occurred when it became known that Leith newcomer and right-wing extremist Paul Craig Cobb began buying up deserted plots of land with the intention of creating a white supremacist community.
Cobb, 61, openly describes himself as “more of a white separatist. I don’t lord it over other races, but we want our race to remain separate.”
“It’s fine for minorities to talk about race. Let me tell you about racial cohesion and people loving their own tribe,” he says. “It’s fine for minorities but not for us. If you dare to even speak about it you’re defamed in this country.”
Cobb’s history with the extremist right-wing groups was exposed by bloggers who disclosed that he had moved to Leith in the hope of quietly constructing a neo-Nazi community along with allies in the National Socialist Movement and the White Aryan Resistance. When the news broke, he was in the process of transferring some of the properties to Schoep, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Tom Metzger, and April Gaede, founder of the neo-Nazi group National Vanguard.
Cobb defends his right to buy property and move his friends and people who share the same extremist right-wing beliefs into the neighborhood. But not everyone agrees.
Leith resident Paul Ferrie said, “We are hoping that Cobbs plans don’t materialize and we continue to have the nice little friendly town promoting love rather than hate that we’ve got now”
The adverse publicity surrounding Cobb’s plans for a white supremacist community in Leith has stopped him from buying more land in the area.
Local residents have been exploring ways to encourage Cobb to leave Leith and have even gone as far as setting up a defence fund to pay for legal fees to remove him for the area.
The legal battle doesn’t seem to pose a problem for Cobb. According to one report, he said once the media hype goes away, everything will be back to business as usual and with more people planning to move into the area: “It’s important people get a chance to know their neighbors.”
We asked Grant County Sheriff Steve Bay on whether Cobbs plans to create a White supremacist community would require more police on the ground. Steve responded by saying, “If the situation requires more police we will indeed bring in more police. It’s all based on monitoring the situation.”