‘Who Are These Masked Men?’

Mark Twain is credited with saying, “History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.” Such is the case with several semi-related incidents in Virginia Beach.

First, as I have testified to in earlier columns, not only was I there for what are called the “Unite the Right” riots in Charlottesville, but for the years leading up to them. So when familiar patterns start appearing, it gets my attention.

On Saturday, a group of individuals in white masks carried Confederate flags and 13-star American flags as they marched down the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Cat Porterfield, of the independent local media outlet Stoke Media, posted a photo of the masked men, taken, she says, from a video sent to her by a Black family staying at a nearby hotel.

The group is called the Patriot Front, which was founded in 2017 to attend the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The group’s website offers this statement: “The present State has lost the mantle of legitimacy derived from the Founding and must face alteration or abolition.” 

This is all starting to take on an eerily reminiscent feeling.

It begins with Virginia Beach businesses and residents confronted with large, unpermitted “pop-up” events at the Oceanfront, often advertised on social media, that draw thousands of young, predominantly African American people. The defenders of these gatherings have stated that they are simply young people trying to enjoy their beachfront that they feel has been taken over by “Big Tourism.”

However, on multiple occasions, shootings have been connected to people attending these events. Last month, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate requested a new curfew: “We are no longer dealing with a mere nuisance or an acceptable level of crime. We have experienced a public safety crisis.” City Council enacted a permanent change to 10 p.m.–5 a.m. for unaccompanied minors on the beachfront.

Opposition came from unusual places. Republican former Delegate Tim Anderson, an attorney, filed multiple lawsuits, arguing that the curfew exceeded City Council’s authority under the commonwealth’s “Dillon Rule” form of government, which requires authority to be granted by the General Assembly for these kinds of actions. He cited SB 1455, which allows curfews only for imminent threats, not past incidents or anticipated gatherings.

On Facebook groups and Reddit threads, the issue often split along the lines of “safety vs. freedom,” with opponents stressing constitutional rights, legal overreach, and the specter of race.

One hears echoes of Mayor Vaughn in the film “Jaws”: “As you see, it’s a beautiful day, the beaches are open, and people are having a wonderful time.”

Virginia Beach is preparing for a starring role in “America 250,” and I’m rereading DOJ reports of how the Southern Poverty Law Center has, in the past, paid members of groups like Patriot Front and wondering if that’s what is going on here as well.

SPLC says they were just helping get inside material for law enforcement. If that’s the case, why did law enforcement seem so blindsided by events like Charlottesville? Are they looking for more ways to generate racial tensions so they can arrive in time to fundraise again on how their work is needed?

Or, at some point, will this get so out of hand that the manifesto of Patriot Front might seem reasonable enough to discuss? That’s what the “Overton Window” does. You use it to make the absurd and obscene seem “normal” by forcing it into mainstream news and conversations.

One last point. In the wake of the Charlottesville riots, then–5th District Congressman Tom Garrett told me on my radio show that intelligence analysis showed Russian agents used social media to ramp up both sides.

Why would an outside actor want to cause a race riot on the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States? Why, indeed.

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