Monday, February 13, 7-9pm, Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park Ave.

Today’s program: screening of film “Welcome to Leith”

White supremacist Craig Cobb attempts to take over of a small town in North Dakota. As his behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar and residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor.

An unsettling exploration of what happens to democratic principles when they’re pushed to the limit, the film asks us to consider how in a free society we confront people whose views we find abhorrent. Leith, a 90-minute drive from the nearest city (Bismarck) is home to around 20 people, mostly farmers and ranchers who are living on a prairie backdrop of sky and wheat.

In 2012, an outsider moved in and started buying up property. Residents initially welcomed him, figuring he’d moved to be closer to the oil fields, but Craig Cobb had other motives.

Posting on white nationalist forums that he’d found the perfect place to start an all-white enclave, Cobb implored other white supremacists to move to Leith and help take over the town’s government.

“Welcome to Leith” details the clash between the locals and Craig Cobb’s band of white supremacists as they challenge his vision for the future of the place they call home.