I an almost crazy story out of western North Dakota, Craig Paul
Cobb, a white supremacist wanted in Canada (but not badly enough for them to
actually extradite him when offered the chance – they apparently were o.k. not
having him back), slowly and quietly bought up parcels of land in a tiny
western North Dakota town near the Bakken Shale fields. The town had 19 people before he got there.
He bought up a lot of the town’s available real estate for a few thousand
dollars here and there, most of which had been on the market forever. He then started recruiting others on white supremacy
message boards with the lure of cheap land, nearby available jobs, and the
promise that if they were quiet for long enough, and enough moved to town (around
20 people), they could effectively take over the town politically by doubling
the population.
Things went awry when Cobb opened up his
mouth when someone in town asked what he was doing. The Southern Poverty Law Center, who monitors
white supremacy message boards, also showed up in town and talked to the
mayor. The town reacted appropriately
and bought up the rest of the available parcels so Cobb would have nowhere else to
buy. The town’s one black resident is
unsettled by the new neighbors.
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