The small town of Leith, North Dakota, population 19, was already in economic trouble. Now, social unrest seems all but certain as racists move in.

It has long been a dream for white supremacists to set up a community devoid of any diversity, something just for them, with no one ‘inferior,’ ever. That doesn’t just mean skin color, but it also means political views, religion, etc. Paul Craig Cobb, a known white supremacist wanted in Canada for promoting hate, has zeroed in on the small, economically challenged town of Leith, snatching up whatever properties he can and encouraging fellow racists to come live there.

Over the course of the last year or so, Cobb has been able to purchase properties for next to nothing, including a house for $5,000. As he accumulates these properties, he either sells them at next to nothing to other racists, or donates them to racist organizations like the National Socialist Movement. The Southern Poverty Law Center has been digging around in the Grant County tax records, and found that several well-known white supremacists such as Tom Metzger and Alex Linder, both associated closely with viciously racist groups, have purchased properties from Cobb in Leith. The county tax officials acknowledge that there may also have been transactions between Cobb and others that were not recorded in the county record.

Even though Cobb has been actively gathering property and support to control the town, even announcing his desire to take over the local government and rename the town “Cobbsville,” it wasn’t until two tents showed up on one of his properties that tongues started wagging. Following a story in the Bismarck Tribune, the mayor reports that he has received a large volume of phone calls from concerned people wanting more information on what is being called a “takeover.”

And it’s not only the town of Leith that is feeling the sting of white supremacists. According to the SPLC, in a nearby town, a man by the name of Shane Myers has been selling assault rifles out of the back of a NAPA Auto Parts store. Discounts available if you’re a white racist.

There is a divide in the way we may view this development. On the one hand, it may seem reasonable to allow them to have their own space, their own area, where they can live out their lives and leave the rest of us alone. But on the other hand, that is not what America is about. America is about freedom to live wherever you so choose, without the fear of others who wish to drive you out or do you harm. Despite hopes that the community will stand up to Cobb’s plans and keep him from progressing any further, there is a chance that Leith’s only African-American resident is soon going to have to decide: should he stay or should he go?

The question is not an easy one to answer.