In an attempt for white supremacists to show Black America the true meaning of “Make America Great Again,” a group of individuals shouted chants as they marched in Washington, D.C.
The group, which was identified as Patriot Front, was escorted by police as they hid behind their masks, long-sleeved shirts, gloves and sunglasses and carried the American flag during the rally.
Reuters reports there were more than 100 members marching along a route through the National Mall on Saturday shouting "reclaim America."
In a video posted to Twitter, a chant of “life, liberty, victory,” was a unifying cry for the group.
White nationalists shouting “RECLAIM AMERICA” through my neighborhood.
This isn’t Charlottesville.
This is Washington, DC.The group is called Patriot Front, and they’re marching near Union Station@WUSA9
#breaking
@CBSEveningNews
pic.twitter.com/e43YvbzH3D— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) February 8, 2020
The organization was accompanied by dozens of police, including officers on bicycles, but a spokeswoman for District of Columbia Metropolitan Police said it had no record of a permit for the march, per Reuters.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Patriot Front as a white nationalist group that broke off from a similar organization, Vanguard America. The organization split after James Fields drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer at one of its rallies in 2017. Fields, a self-described neo-Nazi, received life in prison plus 419 years and $480,000 in fines.
State prosecutors used photos, video recordings and social media posts to argue that Fields had acted deliberately and with intent to damage and was motivated by hate.
President Donald Trump infamously drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats for saying that “both sides” were responsible for the deadly incident.
This Patriot Front group has all the makings of a Klan offshoot. The white nationalist organization's manifesto states that Black people aren’t African Americans, they are simply Africans living in America.
"An African, for example, may have lived, worked, and even been classed as a citizen in America for centuries, yet he is not American. He is, as he likely prefers to be labeled, an African in America. The same rule applies to others who are not of the founding stock of our people as well as to those who do not share the common unconscious that permeates throughout our greater civilization, and the European diaspora," an excerpt from the group's manifesto reads, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Although a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said the demonstration was peaceful with no incidents or arrests, the group is notorious for inciting fear and violence.