Welcome to Leith: A Red State Stands Up to Racists

By Robert Horton
Tue., Sep 22 2015 at 06:13PM

Guess who’s coming to burn a cross on your lawn. Noted white supremacist—now there’s a tagline for a business card—Craig Cobb decided a North Dakota town would be just right for seeding a nationwide racist movement. So in 2013 he moved to tiny Leith, population 24 or so. Buying a few bargain-basement properties, Cobb hatched a plan to get other white-power advocates to settle there, take over the town council, and live the dream. This crackpot is the central figure of this documentary account of what happened when the residents of Leith found out what Cobb was up to ...

A couple of things deepen this film. One is the sense that even without its white supremacist, Leith would be a fascinating location for a documentary. Seemingly untouched by the North Dakota oil boom, the town is a collection of quiet people and abandoned shacks. (There’s one black resident, understandably perturbed by the new neighbor) ...

One might also feel just a slight hint of unease about the lengths the townspeople go to get Cobb out of Leith. Theirs is an entirely understandable reaction—Cobb is a loathsome character for whom it would be impossible to feel sympathy—and you’d need a Fritz Lang to truly explore what happens if good people adopt the tactics of their enemies. Still, the suggestion is there. (A sequence in which the neighbors legally burn down a Cobb property approaches that sort of disquiet.) The story rounds off in a quiet way, resolved yet unresolved. You can’t help thinking Cobb or his equivalent is about to spring out from under the next available rock.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/960841-129/welcome-to-leith-a-red-state