Buffalo’s Black Lives Matter protests have garnered national attention, but it’s not only progressives who have taken to the streets. Over the past few months, many suburbs have been subject to a different type of march, those organized by the Marching Patriots and their four-wheeled counterparts, the Rolling Patriots. While packaged as family-friendly events that nobody could object to, even occasionally raising money for veterans, these events serve a darker purpose as well. They recruit both for a network of far-right anti-masking organizations that prey on small business owners, lonely people stuck in their homes, and parents who find themselves homeschooling for the first time; and for the Watchmen, an armed right-wing extremist group started in North Carolina that touts an ideology called “Civic Nationalism” and has open ties to the Proud Boys. Many members of the Marching Patriots and Rolling Patriots are also members of the Watchmen; or formerly were, as in the case of local anti-masker Pete Harding, who still aggressively promotes the organization.
The Marching Patriots and Rolling Patriots formed some time over the summer, as separate groups. They have increased their activities since October. Their membership appears to be overwhelmingly suburban and white, with a disproportionate number of business owners and retirees among them. This is perhaps unsurprising, as the anti-masking movement they’ve aligned themselves with is concerned with the interests of business owners, not the workers in those businesses who will be subject to an increased risk of injury or death from COVID-19. While most of their activities have been confined to their own suburban and rural areas, they have occasionally been seen in the city of Buffalo supporting the events of other organizations in their far right network, such as Breathe Free NY (Harding’s group) or Re-Open NY (Rus Thompson’s group). They were also present at the anti-masking protests outside Mark Poloncarz’ and Dr. Gail Burstein’s homes.
What the Marching Patriots and Rolling Patriots do is deceptive and pernicious. Under the guise of promoting patriotism, they are aiding in the recruitment efforts for two forces that pose direct threats to residents of Western New York: an anti-masking movement that prioritizes the profits of business owners over the lives of workers, and an armed right-wing extremist group formed in opposition to the Black Lives Matter protests that believes in taking the law into its own hands. The suburbs these groups hail from are seeing exponential increases in COVID infection; it is these areas that are driving the infection rate for the region. The anti-masking movement, in league with armed rightwing extremists, and sold to the public as patriotic pride via the Marching Patriots and Rolling Patriots: this is a ticking time-bomb, and our region’s COVID infection rates are about to explode.
