The holiday weekend brought a disturbing sight to Boston on Saturday: a group of white supremacists.
via: BET
According to CBS News, the group who calls themselves Patriot Front, marched in Boston on Saturday (July 2).
Wearing white masks, sunshades, navy blue T-shirts and khaki pants, they were spotted boarding the Orange Line trains at Haymarket Station.
Police took a report from Black artist and activist, Charles Murrell, who reported that he was assaulted during the march. In the report sent to ABC News by Boston Police Department officials, Murrell said he was trying to record the group on his cellphone, but Patriot Front members with shields began to surround and shove him. The police report explained Murrell was knocked to the ground, kicked and beaten, but no arrested were made.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front’s agenda is fascists-based and promotes the extremist ideology of white ethnostate.
Boston mayor, Michelle Wu, called the supremacists’ “hate as cowardly as it is disgusting, and it goes against all that Boston stands for.”
To the white supremacists who ran through downtown today:
When we march, we don’t hide our faces. Your hate is as cowardly as it is disgusting, and it goes against all that Boston stands for.
— Michelle Wu ?? (@wutrain) July 2, 2022
In a statement,, Wu said: “the disgusting, hateful actions and words of white supremacist groups are not welcome in this city. Especially when so many of our rights are under attack, we will not normalize intimidation by bigots. This weekend as we remember Boston’s legacy as the cradle of liberty, we celebrate the continued fight to expand those liberators for all and ensure that Boston will be a city for everyone.”
As they marched through the downtown area in Boston, many of them could be seen holding up flags and carrying police shields. Some wore shirts that said “Reclaim America.”
?#BREAKING : Patriot Front are marching in downtown Boston
Happening Right now A group of approximately 40-70+ people are currently marching in downtown Boston. The Patriot Front, is a white-nationalist group that was recently arrested in Idaho pic.twitter.com/WYGV6oyyzO
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) July 2, 2022
“If you truly wish for safety, you will have it. But you can take nothing else with you,” an unmasked member of the group said to an onlooker, according to the Boston Herald. “Not your home, not your family, not your liberty. There you will be alone with your safety in a rotted world.”
Reports show that the state of Massachusetts has the fourth highest level of hate propaganda activity in the nation. Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas were ranked ahead.
Community and civic leaders called on city officials to address the issue of racism in Boston after this weekend’s events.
A large crowd of people wearing “Reclaim America” shirts gathering outside of Tasty Burger by Back Bay Station. #wcvb pic.twitter.com/MuDQ7Ubw0E
— Danae Bucci (@DanaeBucci) July 2, 2022
