The woman surrounded by members of the extremist group Patriot Front in Washington, D.C., has been linked online to footage appearing to show a 2024 incident that reportedly led to an indecent exposure arrest.
The original viral photo was captured by Reuters photographer Cheney Orr on the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The woman in the photo was identified as Bernita Bowlding, according to The Washington Post. The 33-year-old mother of two sat alone on the Metro surrounded by a sea of Patriot Front members wearing face coverings and khaki pants.
Patriot Front is one of the leading white supremacist groups in the nation and claims to have hundreds of members, with 400 representatives showing up in D.C. to protest. Their goal is to establish the U.S. as a white ethnostate, according to the New York Post. The group was formed in 2017 by Thomas Rousseau following the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
Attention has since turned to Bowlding’s own past. Footage circulating online alongside the viral photo appears to show her partially undressed on the floor of a Metro train before she stands.
Her brother, Paul Bowlding, told The Washington Post that she was arrested in 2024 during a mental health crisis. She was charged with indecent exposure, though the charge was ultimately dropped.
Many on the Left have compared Bowlding to Rosa Parks and other prominent figures from the Civil Rights Movement after seeing Orr’s original photo.
“That’s basically like hounds surrounding her,” said Bowlding’s brother to The Washington Post.
People have taken to X to comment on the incident. One X user pointed out that Bowlding “got home safe and without incident while being surrounded by men in mask[s].”
Many have also compared Bowlding to the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, who was murdered in an unprovoked attack on a Lynx Blue Line light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Zarutska was riding home on the train in North Carolina when she was fatally stabbed by Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., a repeat offender. Brown reportedly said “I got that white girl,” after he stabbed Zarutska, according to WCNC Charlotte.
People commenting under The Washington Post reporter Jasmine Golden’s X post commented with side-by-side pictures of Bowlding and Zarutska, saying, “Guess which young lady made it home safely.”
.png)
.png)
