Reuters photographer Cheney Orr took a photograph of a Black woman on the DC Metro on July 4 surrounded by Patriot Front members as they prepared to march amid the America250 festivities that has struck a chord with the public living under President Donald Trump's administration.
The neo-Nazi organization, which is based in North Texas, proceeded with its demonstration despite the cancellation of numerous Fourth of July events across the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region, including the parade planned to mark America's 250th anniversary.
But one image has really gotten people talking: one that captures a Black woman sitting calmly aboard a Washington Metro train while dozens of masked members of the white nationalist group surround her en route to a march in downtown Washington, D.C.
You can see it below.
The photo particularly struck liberal activist Brian Krassenstein, who said it should win Orr the Pulizer Prize and added:
"A black girl sits in the middle of dozens of white supremacist patriot front members in Washington DC on the Fourth of July. This is so representative of the country we’re living in under Donald Trump right now. I want my country back."
You can see his post below.
Indeed, the photo's publication appears to capture much of the discontent surrounding the nation's semiquincentennial, which has been largely characterized by Trump's insistence to make the festivities all about himself.
Alongside unveiling a commemorative passport bearing his likeness for America's 250th anniversary, Trump has also approved a design for a new $250 bill featuring his image. In recent weeks, his widely criticized renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has drawn backlash over what critics described as the defacement of one of the country's most iconic landmarks.
Trump blamed unnamed "vandals" for the damage without providing evidence, even after reports revealed that the project had been overseen by a contractor and Mar-a-Lago donor whose work came under scrutiny.
To make matters worse, few people attended the Great American State Fair, which the Trump administration projected as many as 45,000 people would attend. But it seems that the majority of Americans don't want anything to do with a politically polarizing celebration of the nation's independence.
Against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis and a widely unpopular war in Iran, the Trump administration has continued to court white supremacist and white nationalist groups amid growing public unease over its sweeping immigration crackdown.
That concern has been echoed internationally: a United Nations watchdog warned that "racist hate speech" by Trump and other U.S. political leaders has contributed to human rights violations.
In a report, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged the U.S. to review its human rights policies and comply with international law, arguing that rhetoric portraying migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers "as criminals" or "as a burden"—particularly by the president—could encourage racial discrimination and hate crimes.
In the weeks since that warning, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was called out for its anti-immigration rhetoric after sharing an image of the U.S. men's World Cup team, imploring them to "defend the homeland."
DHS shared a post featuring U.S. men’s national team players celebrating a goal from a 4–1 win over Paraguay, pairing the image with a message for players to “Defend the Homeland. One Nation. One Homeland. One Team.” The post also included the phrase “Our Soil” alongside a U.S. flag emoji, framing the team’s victory in explicitly nationalistic terms.
All the while, the insurrectionists—many of them affiliated with white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups—who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 are free.
Many were struck by the photo's resonance.
Unfortunately, the U.S. had to commemorate an important anniversary with the worst people in charge.
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