Overview: While the author acknowledges the good things happening around the country this weekend, they also highlight the white supremacist group Patriot Front’s march through Washington D.C. on the Fourth of July.
S.E. Williams
In my pre-Fourth of July Keeping it Real titled, A Personal Conflict Over Celebrating America on its 250th Birthday, I provided a brief overview of America’s racist history and its continued failure to make amends for the original sins that tarnish its founding and the ongoing resistance to course correct and provide equal opportunities for all. I did so in an effort to explain why I felt conflicted about celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Despite my personal conflict however, I continue to seek and acknowledge evidence that despite my misgivings there are many good things happening in this region just as there are around the county. As I looked around the inland community this weekend I was as inspired and encouraged as I always am when residents coalesce in community and celebrate together despite the national political winds that seek to blow us apart. Such was the case in many places across the Inland Empire this Fourth of July.
From Lake Elsinore to San Bernardino and all points in between people came together in joy and celebration. Consider the annual Fourth of July celebration at Fairmount Park in Riverside where families and friends gathered in great numbers to celebrate, dance, eat, laugh, share and generally enjoy one another as family, friends and neighbors without consideration of race, creed or color. This was an example of America at its finest.
On the other hand, let’s consider what happened in Washington, D.C. this Fourth of July where a large contingent of the white supremacists organization Patriot Front marched through the capitol streets much to the dismay of many in the DC community and the nation.
Although the Patriot Front certainly gained media attention, the shock and turmoil they probably hoped to ignite, seemed to land dully just as Trump’s entire week of hodge-podge-Fourth-of-July-special 250th anniversary celebrations fell flat.
It is the policy of the United States, and a purpose of this order, to provide a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence on July 4, 2026. It is also the purpose of this order to take other actions to honor the history of our great Nation.
Donald J. Trump, Executive Order 14189: Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday
The group’s website states, “Americans will fully recognize themselves as a people, not merely citizens or residents of a country, but a people bearing a unique national interest rooted in our heritage on this continent. Our people, born to this nation of our European race, must reforge themselves as a new collective capable of asserting our right to cultural independence. The LIFE of this nation, unique among all others, will be defended.” With this statement, the group leaves no ambiguity about who they are.
Patriot Front marchers handed out flyers to bystanders that seemed to say it all. It read in part, “The strength of America is the strength of its people. The strength of its people is the strength of its families.” Who can argue with this sentiment? Certainly, not me. I agree with this assessment.
It was, however, the rest of this paragraph on the flyer that gave me heartburn. It reads, “The posterity of our nation must be defended against a government hostile to the descendants of the European race who created it, and sustain it still.” And the disgusting rhetoric continues on from there. See the image below. For me, the flyer itself not only conjured memories of this nation’s history . . .but, also the Third Reich.
On the Fourth, after the Patriot Front marched like unwelcomed gestapo through the streets of the city, Trump spoke or should I say rambled on about a number of disparate issues and bragged, wined, or lied about himself ad nauseum before polluting the air with an over-the-top fireworks exhibition that left pollution hovering over D.C. was so over the top all viewers could really see were clouds of white smoke.
As much as Trump likes to post on Truth Social, he has remained mute on this incident though I’m certain he will have much to say as we go forward.
In the meantime, I remain conflicted over celebrating the Fourth of July.
As always, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.