Photo: h/t The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Fascist fashionistas: Khaki cargo pants, navy blue T-shirts, and white cowl masks (instead of white Klan hoods? COVID-19 safety first!), is the new uniform of Hitler Youth aka Patriot Front fascists from Texas – similar to the Best Buy uniform, one observer wryly noted.
Where do these fascists get off calling themselves “patriots” while defiling the U.S. flag? This is the same thing the pro-Hitler “America First” movement did in the 1930s. The “America First” movement of 2021 is no different.
These Texas boys had the brilliant idea of marching in Philadelphia over the July 4th weekend. These incels apparently didn’t do the research about the residents of Philadelphia. Philly will fuck you up! They are way tougher than any Texans. You can take that to the bank.
Ed Mazza for the Huffington Post reports, Terrified White Supremacists Run Away After Philadelphia March Goes Awry:
A white supremacist group based in Texas attempted a march on Philadelphia over the Independence Day weekend, but had to celebrate the holiday the Confederate way.
“They literally ran away from the people of Philadelphia,” Michael Crum, a police officer in the city, told local ABC station WPVI.
About 200 masked and khaki-clad members of the Patriot Front organization, listed as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, marched on the city in the Saturday night incident, NBC Philadelphia reported.
They chanted about the election and “reclaim America,” engaged in pushing and shoving with people, and took a reporter’s cellphone, the station said.
BillyPenn Newsletter adds, What we know about white supremacists getting chased out of Philly:
A banner carried by the group said “Reclaim America,” and members chanted things like “The election was stolen” and “Take America Back,” according to NBC10.
At one point, marchers took a cell phone from an NBC photographer, the network reported, but eventually returned it.
So these Hitler Youth are really Trump Youth.
But that boldness quickly faded as more residents turned out.
“They started engaging with citizens of Philadelphia, who were none too happy about what they were saying,” Crum told WPVI. “These males felt threatened, and, at one point, somebody in their crowd threw a type of smoke bomb to cover their retreat.”
Nothing like taking your kids to Philadelphia for the 4th & running into literal Nazis. These scumbags belong to the group Patriot Front. That may or may not be my kids & I joining a growing crowd yelling at the spineless dickholes & chasing them away from City Hall. #fucknazis pic.twitter.com/bqYviUq1Bd
— Not Today (@SunnyDelight888) July 4, 2021
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he was “appalled” that the group chose his city for its demonstration.
“While we respect everyone’s right to exercise free speech, our administration stands against everything these groups represent,” he wrote on Twitter. “Racism, intolerance, and hate have no place here.”
You may say that now, but I remember Frank Rizzo back in the day, so Philly has some history.
Photos and videos from the scene, including images captured by a Philadelphia Inquirer photographer, show them fleeing in Penske box trucks.
One member of the white supremacist group was hit and fell when another member pulled the truck’s roll-up door down, slamming him in the head in the process. [Don’t worry. He was already brain damaged.]
Police stopped the vehicles and footage shows them questioning, frisking and detaining members of the group.
However, police told NBC Philadelphia that there were no arrests, nor were there any reports of injuries or damage.
One local activist said police didn’t do enough to stop the white supremacists from assaulting bystanders.
“It’s obvious that, when Black folks and people who are our accomplices and allies organize in the streets, they are met with a different kind of response from police,” Abdul-Aliy Muhammad told the Inquirer.
Shira Goodman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told CBS Philadelphia that her organization will investigate to make sure the group didn’t get special treatment from the police.
ProPublica in 2019 called Patriot Front “perhaps the most active white supremacist group in the nation.”
The organization said the group was founded after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
BillyPenn Newsletter adds, What we know about white supremacists getting chased out of Philly:
What is Patriot Front and where did it come from?
Formed in the aftermath of the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., the organization uses “a mix of vandalism and intimidation to foster anxiety,” ProPublica reported in a deep dive on Patriot Front’s origins.
Now based in Texas, the hate group’s manifesto calls for the formation of “a white ethnostate”, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
It espouses racism and anti-Semitism under the notion that members’ ancestors “conquered America and bequeathed it to them alone,” per the Anti-Defamation League.
Saturday night’s march follows a recent surge in activity in this region, local Anti-Defamation League director Shira Goodman told The Inquirer.
The Patriot Front logo was stamped all over the George Floyd mural defaced in North Philly at the beginning of June.
In February, the group posted fliers in the Bethlehem Rose Garden and elsewhere in the area, according Leigh Valley Live. Stickers bearing the Patriot Front logo were seen in State College, the home of Penn State University, in January.
This white supremacist fascist group was no doubt encouraged and inspired by this guy after the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, VA.
Donald Trump would no doubt say the exactly same thing about the residents of Philadelphia who chased away these “very fine” Texas fascists.
Born and raised in South and West Philly, graduate of Temple U. Survived the disaster of Osage Avenue and moved out. These morons have no clue who we are. They actually believed they would be accepted? We are raised to be tough, inclusive since Philly is a diverse city and always has been. We don’t take crap from thugs like these racists. So proud of my sisters and brothers for chasing them out of center city. Still have the Philly vibe (and accent) no matter where I live. They won’t be back, guaranteed.