‘Thought I Was Going to Die’: Black Musician Attacked While Recording White Nationalist Group Marching In Boston Receives $2.7M Judgment, Critics Say It’s Tactic to ‘Bankrupt the Group’

The white nationalist group Patriot Front and its leader, Thomas Rousseau, have been hit where it hurts most in a civil rights violation ruling. On Jan. 13, a federal judge ordered the extremist group from Grapevine, Texas, to pay $2.7 million in damages to Charles Murrell, an African-American man who was attacked when he happened upon the white supremacist group in Boston in July 2022. The classically trained musician, who is also a former special education teacher, was on his way to play saxophone outside the Boston Public Library when he saw a group of masked men marching toward him on the sidewalk. A fight breaks out as the white supremacist group, The Patriot Front marches thru the city of Boston on July 2, 2022 in , BOSTON, MA. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald) Identically dressed in caps, sunglasses, and khakis, they carried military gear, including makeshift shields, and wore shirts with the slogan, “Reclaim America.” According to the police report, Murrell began recording the group on his cellphone when they suddenly swarmed him, and yelled racist slurs like “tar baby” before knocking him to the ground. He sustained lacerations to his head, eyebrow, and finger and was...