Welcome to Leith
DVD
Review
by Kam Williams
Documentary Exposes
Neo-Nazi Enclave in North Dakota
Does
the name Craig Cobb ring a bell? It didn't for me either. But the
notorious white supremacist is on the Southern Poverty Law Center's
watch list of the Top Ten most dangerous racists in America. He also
mentored Frazier Glenn Cross, the anti-Semite recently convicted of
hunting for Jews during a deadly rampage around Kansas City in April
of 2014.
Well,
there aren't exactly a lot of cities likely to roll out a red carpet
for his ilk, which explains why Cobb and his followers decided to
settle in Leith, North Dakota. In 2012, they purchased their first
piece of property in the tiny town of three square miles, at a time
when only a couple dozen people resided there.
The
hate monger's diabolical plan was to turn the quiet hamlet into a
mecca for bigots, and to wrest control of the municipality's
government via a combination of importing allies and scaring locals
into leaving. After all, the real estate was cheap enough. He bought
his first house for just $500, that's right just $500. Furthermore,
there were excellent paying jobs not far away, thanks to the state's
oil boom.
So,
Cobb and his henchman, Kynan Dutton, moved in and immediately set
about terrorizing their new neighbors by hanging big Confederate
flags in front of their homes and brandishing shotguns as they
strolled down the street spouting racist rhetoric. They proceeded to
harass Leith's Mayor, Ryan Shock by disrupting city council meetings
with chants of “Heil Hitler!” while routinely referring to Bobby
Harper, the only African-American resident, as “boy.”
Despite
the inveterate racists spouting rhetoric advocating the extermination
of blacks and Jews, the tight-knit community would not be
intimidated. Instead, they responded by employing tactics designed to
force the invaders out before they could take root. And they enlisted
the assistance of a nearby tribe of unamused Native-Americans in this
endeavor.
Cobb
and his minions soon found themselves being hounded by honking car
horns outside their windows and confronted by angry citizens also
armed to the teeth. Their cars were spray-painted with graffiti
identifying them as Nazis, too. Eventually, the police found a good
excuse to arrest Cobb and Dutton and, the next thing you know, their
homes were burned to the ground while they were sitting behind bars.
A
textbook primer on how a united community ought to respond to the
arrival of racist bullies before the creeps have a chance to ruin the
neighborhood.
Excellent (4
stars)
Unrated
Running time: 86 minutes
Distributor: First Run Features
DVD Extras: Extended and deleted
scenes; and biographies.
To see a trailer for Welcome to
Leith visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKR32_3Yx08
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