One Town's Blueprint for Resegregating America
6/5/202635 min
A real estate investor’s pursuit of cheap land has prompted a lawsuit against a compound in Arkansas that will test whether civil rights laws can stop a whites-only town from existing in America.
Today, Debra Kamin, a New York Times investigative reporter, discusses the community and why its members are convinced that in this political climate, no one is going to stop them.
Guest: Debra Kamin, an investigative reporter focusing on wealth, power and corruption for The The New York Times.
Background reading: A whites-only community in Arkansas has been sued for discrimination.
Photo: Whitten Sabbatini for The New York Times
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
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Debra Kamin· Guest0:30
Did you understand who these people were and what they believed in?
Michelle Walker· Soundbite0:34
Not as well as I thought I did.
Debra Kamin· Guest0:38
Who did you think they were?
Michelle Walker· Soundbite0:42
They call it Return to the Land. So I thought they were, you know, a community of people wanting to return to the land, you know, uh, gardening and communal type of living and things like that. And if you would become a member of their club, you were able to purchase land for $1,000 an acre, which as a real estate investor is extraordinarily appealing because that's way under market.
Debra Kamin· Guest1:07
And your husband's Black, correct?
Michelle Walker· Soundbite1:10
Yes. They wanted to have a whites-only community, so initially I wasn't really thinking about applying. But then as, as time went on, the appeal of the investment opportunity, I, I just couldn't shake it.
Debra Kamin· Guest1:26
Okay, so I'm gonna level with you.
Michelle Walker· Soundbite1:28
Yeah.
Debra Kamin· Guest1:28
I mean, you're clearly a very