Members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front ride the Washington Metro during Independence Day celebrations in Washington on Saturday, as the United States marked the 250th anniversary of its founding. Festivities and fireworks were held across the country to mark the occasion. [Getty Images/AFP via Yonhap]
Members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front ride the Washington Metro during Independence Day celebrations in Washington on Saturday, as the United States marked the 250th anniversary of its founding. Festivities and fireworks were held across the country to mark the occasion. [Getty Images/AFP via Yonhap]

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended a white supremacist group's mass march through Washington on Saturday — Independence Day — as an exercise of free speech, even as the demonstration drew widespread condemnation.

According to CNN, Burgum said in a broadcast interview Sunday that while he disagreed with the values espoused by members of Patriot Front, "the fundamental principle of America is free speech, even though it complicates democracy."

"There are expressions that I personally find offensive or unacceptable, but in America, free speech is permitted — across the board," he added.

Burgum's remarks emphasized the First Amendment's free speech protections, but some critics said his comments amounted to tacit endorsement of a public march by a white supremacist organization.

The controversy erupted Saturday when roughly 400 Patriot Front members marched through the streets of Washington. Dressed in matching navy tops and khaki pants, their faces concealed by masks, sunglasses and hats, the group carried Confederate flags — widely seen as symbols of slavery and the Confederacy — and chanted slogans including "Reclaim America."

A Reuters photograph showing members surrounding a Black woman on the Washington Metro spread rapidly online. The image was widely described as a stark illustration of racial tensions and the realities facing people of color in the United States since the start of the Trump administration.

Patriot Front is a far-right organization formed in the aftermath of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which turned violently deadly. Since then, the group has staged masked marches and demonstrations across the country, promoting white supremacy and extreme nationalism.

Trump drew criticism during his first term for suggesting that both white nationalist demonstrators and counter-protesters bore responsibility for the Charlottesville violence — remarks many interpreted as a defense of white supremacists.

The Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol also fueled ongoing scrutiny of Trump's ties to the far right, as members of white supremacist-aligned extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, were among those who took part in the attack.


sjy@heraldcorp.com