Race Hate Documentary Chronicles Neo Nazis’ Relocation to North Dakota
If you Are familiar with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s dangerous racist watch list, you might know that among the Top Ten most dangerous racists in America is a man called Craig Cobb. As well as being a menace in his own right, Cobb has also mentored others, including the anti-Semite who was recently convicted of rampaging around Kansas City hunting for Jews. That man was Frazier Glenn Cross, and his April 2014 rampage was deadly.
As you might imagine, there aren’t many welcome mats out for these guys in cities around the country.
Cobb and his followers did find a place to go, Leith, North Dakota. This postage-stamp sized town is only three square miles, and there were only a few dozen people living there. That is until the bigots moved there in 2012.
Leith was the perfect place for them. Real estate was cheap – $500 bought their first house. Thanks to an oil boom in the area, there were well-paid jobs nearby.
The hate mongers had a diabolical plan to take over the hamlet as their own, making it into a mecca for bigots, by taking control of the municipality’s government. They would do this in two ways: by importing their own allies and by scaring existing locals into leaving.
The first to move in were Cobb and his henchman, Kynan Dutton. It was easy to terrorize their neighbors. They started with hanging large Confederate flags in front of their new homes. Then they carried shotguns down the street, spouting their racist rhetoric. Leith’s Mayor, Ryan Shock was targeted in city council meetings, where they caused disruption with “Heil Hitler!” chants. They also referred to Bobby Harper, the only African-American resident, as “boy.”
The community of Leith was made of strong stuff, and despite the racist nazis going around advocating the extermination of blacks and Jews, the tight-knit community decided it would not be intimidated. They employed their own tactics designed to force the new invaders out before they could take root and overwhelm the good people of Leith. A nearby tribe of Native-Americans were co-opted into this endeavor.
Craig Cobb and his crew were soon being hounded by the locals honking car horns outside their windows. The supremacists were also confronted by angry citizens, and it helped that they were also armed to the teeth. The supremacists’ cars got new paint jobs graffiti identifying them as Nazis was spray-painted all over. Eventually, Cobb and Dutton were arrested by the police, and while the supremacists were sitting behind bars, their homes were burned to the ground.
This is an illustration of how a united community responded to the arrival of racist bullies, before they were able to completely ruin the neighborhood.
Welcome to Leith
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 85 minutes
Distributor: First Run Features
Watch the Welcome to Leith trailer:
