WASHINGTON — A now-viral photo shows the chilling moment a black woman is stuck on a DC train surrounded by masked thugs from a white supremacist group as they descend on the nation’s capital July 4.
Freelance photographer Cheney Orr captured the eerie 250th Independence Day moment that some observers argue is symbolic of the nation’s struggles to live up to its promises.
The woman hasn’t been identified, and it’s not clear if she interacted with the Patriot Front members during the ride.
Hundreds of members of the Patriot Front wore masks, khakis, sunglasses and hats to the capital. Some of them paraded around upside-down American flags, and others carried Confederate flags as they marched through DC.
Some were seen in videos chanting slogans such as, “Life, liberty, victory!” and, “Reclaim America!”
Counterprotesters jeered back at them. One man with a bullhorn shouted, “Every single one of you justifies the f–king right to abortion!”
Patriot Front, a neo-fascist group, was formed by Thomas Rousseau in 2017 after the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., where counterprotester Heather Heyer was killed when a sicko drove his car into her and others.
The group has been described as one of the leading white supremacist groups in the country, with more than 200 members. It claimed to have roughly 400 demonstrators converge upon DC.
Patriot Front’s goal is to transform America into a white ethnostate and usher in “a hard reset on the nation we see today — a return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Critics have pointed out that the group fights against core American values.
Its members have spewed antisemitic, racist and other hateful propaganda across the US. Many of them also have a rap sheet.
In 2022, for example, dozens of members were arrested on accusations of inciting a riot for the group’s planned demonstration at a gay-pride parade in Idaho.
Top officials noted that despite the group’s vile behavior, it still enjoys America’s free-speech protection.
“Certainly, what they stand for is nothing that I could possibly agree with. But one of the foundational principles of the United States, which makes democracy messy, is free speech,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told CNN’s “State of the Union on Sunday.
