A neo-Nazi activist has successfully established a whites-only enclave in Arkansas under the guise of a “Christian conservative community,” exploiting legal loopholes to circumvent federal housing discrimination laws while building what amounts to a modern-day segregated settlement.
Story Snapshot
- Billy Roper, a known white supremacist, founded “Zion Town” near Harrison, Arkansas as a whites-only Christian community
- The Lions of Judah group uses coded “traditional values” language to avoid explicit racial discrimination while targeting white families only
- The project exploits rural Arkansas’s low land costs and homogeneous demographics to build a separatist enclave
- Federal fair housing laws are being circumvented through ideological gatekeeping rather than explicit racial criteria
Extremist Leader Behind the Project
William “Billy” Roper, a longtime neo-Nazi organizer active since the late 1990s, spearheads this alarming development through his Lions of Judah group. Roper has openly advocated for a “white ethnostate” and promoted race war ideology throughout his career. His organization combines Christian identity theology with antisemitism and white nationalism, deliberately targeting rural Arkansas as fertile ground for their separatist agenda.
The Lions of Judah has purchased land near Harrison, Arkansas, strategically choosing an area already known for decades of KKK and white supremacist activity. This location provides both symbolic significance and practical advantages, including inexpensive property and an overwhelmingly white, conservative population that may be sympathetic to their cause.
Deceptive Marketing and Legal Evasion
Zion Town markets itself as a “Christian, conservative family community” while carefully avoiding explicit racial language that would violate federal Fair Housing Act protections. Instead, the group uses coded terminology like “blood, faith, and heritage,” “traditional gender roles,” and opposition to multiculturalism and LGBTQ+ rights to screen potential residents. This approach represents a calculated attempt to establish de facto racial segregation while maintaining legal plausibility.
Recruitment occurs through closed social media channels, far-right podcasts, and church-adjacent networks targeting white Christian families seeking escape from what they perceive as “woke” culture and diversity. The community emphasizes self-sufficiency through homeschooling, gardening, and community security measures designed to insulate residents from mainstream American society and constitutional values of equality.
Dangerous Precedent for Constitutional Erosion
This development poses serious threats to fundamental American principles and fair housing protections. Legal experts warn that if Zion Town successfully establishes its discriminatory practices without federal intervention, it could serve as a blueprint for similar separatist enclaves nationwide. The project demonstrates how extremist groups exploit rural settings with limited regulatory oversight to undermine civil rights protections.
The concentration of ideologically extreme individuals raises significant security concerns for surrounding communities, particularly minorities who may face heightened intimidation and harassment. Local law enforcement faces the challenging task of protecting constitutional rights while monitoring potential hate crime activity from this organized separatist movement that fundamentally opposes American values of equality and individual liberty.
