Patriots’ Day, a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Cohesion – the primary confrontations of the American Revolution – holds historic worth as a logo of American resistance to British colonial rule. Through the years, alternatively, the vacation has been co-opted through extremist teams.
Capitalizing on ambiguities within the working out of patriotic symbols, extremist teams have tried to modify the which means of freedom and liberty embedded within the image of the American flag.
Now not all states have fun Patriots’ Day. Massachusetts and Maine practice it as a public vacation at the 3rd Monday in April. Wisconsin observes Patriots’ Day as a state observance – no longer a public vacation – on April 19, with colleges and companies last open. Different states may additionally mark it informally or thru tutorial actions.
As a student of extremism, I’ve transform an increasing number of involved through the appropriation of patriotic symbols such because the American flag and Patriots’ Day into narratives for far-right rhetoric, recruitment and radicalization. Patriotic occasions such because the Fourth of July will also be marked through demonstrations, armed protests and requires militant motion through far-right extremist teams.
A 3-Percenter flag at an anti-government rally on July 21, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio.
Paul Becker/Becker 1999 by the use of Flickr, CC BY
Simply earlier than the Fourth of July in 2019, the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart demonstrated how extremist teams have lengthy followed symbols of U.S. historical past to advertise white supremacy. A 2010 SPLC document documented extremist requires “freedom,” together with a decision from such far-right teams for repeal of all social provider spending.
The hijacking of patriotic symbols is a part of an effort to create an environment the place members imagine they’re enticing in a modern day combat for freedom.
In interviews I carried out with extremists in March 2025, a number of individuals of the Patriot Entrance stated they’re making plans to protest on April 19 so that you can use the vacation to draw media and public consideration to their efforts to create a white native land.
Extremists don’t seem to be the one American citizens who’re making plans on the use of Patriots’ Day as a platform to draw consideration to their reasons. Mobilization of opposition to President Donald Trump’s insurance policies and deportation efforts also are deliberate for April 19. Protesters elevate considerations in regards to the incorporation of American patriotic symbols through the precise wing to enhance insurance policies that they view as distinctively anti-American and unconstitutional.
The 250th anniversary on April 19 of the primary battles of the American Revolution is a becoming time to mirror at the which means and use of historic symbols.
White supremacy and Patriots’ Day
From a sociological standpoint, nationwide symbols and occasions such because the American flag and Patriots’ Day do not need fastened meanings. Slightly, any image is outlined through how folks in reality use it. Whether or not one raises an American flag or burns one, the usage of the flag is a formidable image this is understood to imply various things to other folks, relying at the context.
Extremists ceaselessly take different symbols of American patriotism, such because the bald eagle, the 2nd Modification and the word “America the beautiful” and check out to make use of them to advertise their message. For instance, white supremacists imagine that The usa will also be gorgeous provided that white American citizens are in positions of authority. The interpretations of those symbols transform equipment for extremist mobilization.
Within the lead-up to Patriots’ Day in 2023, individuals of the Patriot Entrance, a white supremacist crew, rallied close to the Massachusetts State Area in Boston. They displayed a banner studying “Reclaim America,” a slogan related to their ideology.
A number of white supremacist teams such because the Patriot Entrance, Nationwide Socialist Membership-131 and different neo-Nazis teams place themselves as original modern day “patriots” combating to keep society. They declare they’re “undermined by a government that represses citizens” and creates an unsafe area for what they name a “white homeland.”
The Patriot Entrance manifesto, written through crew founder Thomas Rousseau, states: “A nation within a nation is our goal. Our people face complete annihilation as our culture and heritage are attacked from all sides.”
The position of extremist narratives
The extremist teams see Patriots’ Day no longer most effective as a commemoration of resistance in opposition to British colonialism however as a rallying level for an intensive imaginative and prescient of American id that pulls extra consideration from the general public and the media as a result of the usage of the identified image.
Extremists body their movements as a continuation of the American Revolution and draw upon the parable of an oppressed, virtuous “true American” status in opposition to tyranny. On this view, conventional symbols of American patriotism constitute resistance no longer in opposition to an overarching international energy however in opposition to inside threats to their imaginative and prescient of The usa.
Those come with perceived threats posed through modern actions, racial minorities, immigrants and the government. Within the minds of the ones at the a ways appropriate, what’s at stake are their conventional values, gun possession and person rights.
The Southern Poverty Regulation Heart has highlighted the importance of April 19 within the anti-government “patriot” motion’s calendar, noting that it’s been related to larger job from militias and different extremist teams.
A person belonging to the Boogaloo Boi far-right crew at an anti-government rally on Aug. 29, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio.
Paul Becker/Becker 1999 by the use of Flickr, CC BY
A few of the ones teams come with the sovereign voters motion, Boogaloo Bois and the Patriot Entrance. The sovereign citizen motion is a loosely arranged crew of people who imagine that they aren’t matter to authorities rules, particularly federal rules in the USA. The Boogaloo motion is an anti-government extremist crew recognized for advocating for a 2d American civil struggle, which they ceaselessly name the “boogaloo.”
The parable of the ‘true American’
The development of the “true American” is central to the ideology. For plenty of far-right teams, the “true” or “real” American is outlined as any individual who believes within the preservation of a particular, ceaselessly exclusionary model of American values through which white American citizens are observed as each ethical paragons and beneath siege.
Some American military teams, such because the Oath Keepers and 3 Percenters, declare that most effective the ones keen to withstand their thought of “tyranny” are true American patriots and that they must face up to the federal government.
In 2014, the Oath Keepers participated in an armed standoff in Nevada to enhance rancher Cliven Bundy, who used to be in a dispute with the Bureau of Land Control over unpaid grazing charges. The gang situated themselves as defenders in opposition to federal authority. Two males with ties to the 3 Percenters, Barry Croft and Adam Fox, have been serious about a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The plot used to be foiled through legislation enforcement, and the folks have been arrested and charged with terrorism-related offenses. Each gained long jail sentences.
As Stewart Rhodes, who based The Oath Keepers in 2009 in Lexington, Massachusetts, has stated: “We are the last line of defense against tyranny. Real patriots will stand up.”
Any individual no longer aligned with their ideology is observed as a traitor or unwilling to confront systemic issues and are derisively categorized “sheep.”
The mobilization of violence
Some of the regarding techniques through which American patriotic symbols are co-opted through extremists is the possible to justify violent motion.
An instance of the way extremist flags incorporate the American flag into their design, as observed at a protest on July 21, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio.
Paul Becker/Becker 1999 by the use of Flickr, CC BY
The relationship between historic acts of violence, such because the battles of Lexington and Cohesion, and fresh requires preparation for violent movements is intentionally emphasised. In keeping with historian Darren Mulloy, extremists use well known and accredited American symbols to create a way that violence is a justified and important manner of protection. Defense force teams, in Mulloy’s analysis, exploit the will for violence within the American Revolution and the settling of the American West to legitimize their fresh calls.
The Oath Keepers romanticize the position of armed militias within the founding of The usa as observed at Lexington and Cohesion. They use this present day to advertise the concept their purpose is solely and that armed resistance is a sound type of political expression.
Teams corresponding to The Base and the Oath Keepers have referred to as for coaching in preparation for armed protection in opposition to the federal government. They recruit present and previous army, police and primary responders, urging them to uphold an oath to protect the Charter – as the gang translates it – ceaselessly in opposition to what they see as a tyrannical federal authorities.
This creates a perilous comments loop through which extremism and violence are normalized throughout the glorification of historic occasions that commemorate acts of insurrection whilst strengthening identities that radicalize folks.
Figuring out how patriotic symbols will also be exploited gives necessary insights into how historic narratives could also be manipulated, probably resulting in damaging penalties in American society.
