Reuters photo goes viral as it’s branded the ‘defining image’ of modern America | indy100

Finn Gomez/Getty Images

A number of photographs have come to define modern American politics in recent years – not least the one taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci in July 2024 during an assassination attempt on US president Donald Trump. And now, a photo taken by photographer Cheney Orr for Reuters has been branded a “defining picture”.

As Americans marked the 250th birthday of the United States and another Independence Day on Saturday, the white nationalist organization Patriot Front were seen marching through Washington, D.C. with American and Confederate flags.

Formed after the deadly Charlottesville rally in 2017, the George Washington University Program on Extremism states Patriot Front “promotes the idea of a homogenous, white ethnostate in the United States” and “advocates for the preservation of white European culture, viewing multiculturalism, immigration, and diversity as existential threats to its vision of America”.

They also push the antisemitic ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory, which refers to the replacement of white voters with immigrants.

And as Patriot Front marched through the US capital, one Reuters photographer captured a photo which has since gone viral online:

The image in question is captioned: “A commuter sits as members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C., July 4, 2026.

“White nationalist organization Patriot Front posted on social media that it had arrived in the capital, and Reuters photographers saw hundreds of people dressed in Patriot Front outfits travelling on D.C. metro trains.”

Political commentator Brian Krassenstein was among those who called for the photo to receive the Pulitzer Prize:

Another account echoed the call, and added: “Not only does it represent our current state of politics but it mirrors many photos of past which confirm the ugly truth about progress”:

Melanie D’Arrigo, of the Campaign for New York Health, tweeted: “I feel like the photo of this Black women [sic] surrounded by dozens of masked, anonymous, white nationalists is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time”:

“I see cowards afraid to show their faces and a strong woman who shouldn’t have to put up with this s***,” commented the Larry the Cat X/Twitter account:

Tom Nichols of The Atlantic also condemned the masked individuals, writing: “Patriots don’t cover their faces moving among their fellow citizens in their own country”:

Content creator and debater Dean Withers said: “Your great grandchildren will see this photo in their history books”:

And another account wrote: “It’s crazy when you see a photo for the first time and recognize that in 100 years historians are going to use it as shorthand to summarize the whole era you’re living through right now”:

Chilling.

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