masked Patriotic – A Fourth of July march by masked individuals described as the “Patriotic Front” drew concern and fear for some Americans, while an outspoken writer used the moment to argue that “white pride” is easily confused with grievance. The piece also contrasts pride ti
WASHINGTON — The Fourth of July should have been a day for parades and fireworks. Instead, video clips circulating of masked men marching in Washington, D.C. left at least part of the public unsettled.
The march drew a general reaction of concern. and for some. fear. the writer says. describing the men as white supremacists moving in close formation while their faces were covered. The writer. who identifies as white and Jewish. frames the masks less as intimidation and more as a telling change from history. comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan’s march 100 years ago. when members wore white hoods and robes with their faces uncovered.
But the piece is not only about what the marchers did—it’s about what the marchers claim. In the writer’s account. the group’s worldview is built around the idea that being white and Christian places them in a world stacked against them. with suffering and struggle cast as entitlement. The writer portrays the marchers as believing they “deserve everything,” and says they treat anyone else’s success as theft.
They point to a specific accusation: that “every medical student of color stole a slot from a white person. ” with the claim that white people are “better. ” according to the writer’s description of what the march represents. The writer calls the outlook “strange,” “narrow,” and “fearful,” and says the act of marching with masks underscores their insecurity.
At the same time, the writer describes an additional pressure point—who counts as “in” and who gets excluded. The writer says commentators described the masked men as members of a hate group called the Patriotic Front. and adds that. in the writer’s view. such groups would still reject the writer for being Jewish. The writer also argues the far left would exclude them too. describing a situation in which they are “not white enough” for the Patriotic Front but “too white” for what the writer calls the “Liberal Students Klaxon for Peace” due to religion.
The result, in the writer’s telling, is an uncomfortable bind: “That’s why I’m also proud of being Jewish,” they write, presenting their identity as something that does not fit cleanly into either extreme.
The author’s central distinction comes back to what pride means. The writer says they are proud. but that their kind of pride is tied to work—effort over time. real obstacles. and accomplishments that are not handed to a person at birth. They point to a long career as a writer for 44 years. married for 35 years and raising two sons. and add that they have been sober for 20 years. In their description. these achievements required struggle and persistence. while qualities tied to birth—like race—belong to “a condition of birth. ” not to effort.
The writer argues that other groups have pride too, including Black Pride and Gay Pride, which they say is bound up with overcoming difficulties. Against that backdrop, the writer says the Patriotic Front’s posture looks less like pride earned and more like grievance staged.
In their view, the marchers are not building anything. They are only demanding recognition, turning every mismatch with their narrative into a crisis or insult. The writer reads that insecurity as a core danger: that the world’s diversity—refugees. histories. and accomplishments outside their control—is experienced by the marchers as existential threat.
After watching clips, the writer draws a final contrast between spectacle and substance. They describe the march as if it were a pageant. and ask why pride must be performed in public at all. The writer ends with the argument that they live in a “varied. inclusive. bountiful. open. generous world. ” where even “strutting nutjobs like the Patriotic Front” have a place and purpose: as “abject lessons” in what not to be. and as a reason to feel proud of something wider than a single identity claim.
Washington D.C. Fourth of July Patriotic Front masked march white supremacists white pride Jewish identity pride and achievement Ku Klux Klan