Documentary Filmmaker Reframes January 6 as ‘Hate America Rally,’ Tying Its Symbols to Her Family’s Anti-Fascist Legacy

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A Personal Lens on a National Crisis

A new documentary exploring the events of January 6, 2021, has sparked intense discussion across the country days before its public premiere. The film, directed by award-winning documentarian Eliza Ward, reframes the Capitol riot as what she calls a “hate America rally,” emphasizing the display of Confederate flags and nationalist symbols inside the halls of Congress. Ward links the imagery and ideology that day to her own family’s history, tracing a direct moral and political line back to her great-grandfather’s service in the Union Army during the Civil War.

The documentary’s trailer, released earlier this week, fuses haunting archival footage of the insurrection with personal voiceovers from Ward, who narrates as both storyteller and descendant of a soldier who fought to preserve the United States. The film, Banner of None, draws explicit parallels between the Confederacy’s secessionist fervor and what Ward describes as “a modern-day echo of rebellion against democracy itself.”

Confederate Symbols and the Continuity of Rebellion

In one sequence, the film pauses on the striking image of a rioter carrying a Confederate flag through the Capitol’s rotunda. Ward has described this moment as “the ghost of Appomattox walking where Lincoln once legislated.” She argues that the symbolism of that flag, once carried by men fighting to dissolve the Union, resurfaced generations later as a rallying emblem for anti-government extremism.

Historians consulted in the film contextualize this visual within a longer continuum of American resistance to equality. The Confederate flag, once confined primarily to Southern heritage displays and fringe rallies, had—by the 2010s—become a symbol frequently adopted by white nationalist movements. From Charlottesville in 2017 to the Capitol attack in 2021, the banner’s presence has moved from protest streets to the very center of national governance.

The film notes that Confederate imagery has also played an evolving role in regional identity politics. Where state governments across the South once incorporated the Confederate emblem into official state flags, decades of activism have spurred removals and redesigns. Yet, as Ward’s documentary stresses, the symbolic fallout endures, complicating dialogues about heritage, history, and democracy.

From Charlottesville to the Capitol: Mapping Extremism’s Rise

Ward’s narrative structure places the Capitol insurrection within a decade-long escalation of extremist mobilization in the United States. Using archival footage, she charts the path from the violent 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville — where white supremacists marched with torches beneath Confederate and Nazi symbols — to the widespread disinformation campaigns that fueled the Capitol breach.

Security analysts interviewed in the documentary note that law enforcement agencies had long warned of increasing coordination among far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The film argues that these movements, once dismissed as fringe, found new visibility and a sense of legitimacy in national discourse during the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Ward juxtaposes these developments with historic parallels: post–Civil War militias, Reconstruction-era terror groups, and 20th-century anti-Communist political crusades. Through these connections, she contends that extremism in America has always been cyclical—surfacing during moments of political instability and moral panic.

Family Legacy and Anti-Fascism

Ward’s personal connection gives the documentary an added resonance. Her great-grandfather, Thomas E. Ward, served in a Union infantry regiment that fought at Gettysburg and later joined early anti-fascist movements in Europe during the 1930s. Through family diaries and letters, the filmmaker uncovers accounts of soldiers who believed their struggle extended beyond the battlefield—toward a lasting defense of democratic ideals.

In one scene, Ward sits beside his weathered service journal, reflecting on the parallels between his era’s fight against fascism and today’s battles over truth, nationalism, and historical memory. “He fought a war to keep his country whole,” she says in the trailer. “How would he feel seeing that same flag marched into the Capitol he helped defend?”

The correspondence offers a unique generational bridge. Ward uses it to illustrate how patriotic duty, once defined by unity and sacrifice, is being reshaped in American discourse by populist anger and conspiracy theories. Her film confronts that tension: patriotism as an act of defense versus patriotism as a weapon of grievance.

A Warning About Democratic Fragility

Political scientists featured in Banner of None situate the events of January 6 within broader international trends. They note similar authoritarian surges in Europe, South America, and parts of Asia, pointing to how fragile institutions can become when partisanship eclipses civic trust. Through interviews with experts on political extremism, the documentary underscores that the Capitol riot was not an isolated eruption, but a manifestation of cumulative disinformation, economic frustration, and cultural resentment.

Ward’s film refrains from overt partisanship, focusing instead on institutional decline and civic disengagement. Economists interviewed in the film draw attention to how regional economic disparities—particularly in post-industrial areas of Appalachia and the Midwest—have intensified susceptibility to conspiracy-driven politics. These communities, once stabilized by manufacturing and mining, have faced prolonged downturns since the late 20th century, leaving fertile ground for resentment against perceived elites.

The Economic Backdrop of Political Extremism

While Banner of None centers on ideology and symbolism, it also tracks the underlying socioeconomic currents that amplify division. Archival economic data presented in the film reveal that areas with the highest participation in extremist activity since 2016 often overlap with regions suffering chronic unemployment, opioid addiction, and population decline. Economists and sociologists argue that these conditions mirror historical precedents, such as those that preceded populist surges during the Great Depression.

Regional comparisons within the documentary showcase how struggling rural counties contrast with urban centers experiencing technological and financial booms. Ward avoids simplistic explanations but highlights that extremism thrives where hope wanes. As one expert in the film notes, “It’s not only about politics—it’s about a sense of abandonment.”

A Cultural Reckoning and Public Reaction

Following its preview screenings in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., Banner of None has ignited conversations across academia, civic groups, and online forums. Many viewers have praised its restraint and emotional honesty, while critics debate its framing of January 6 as an “anti-American” event rather than a misguided expression of protest.

Some military veterans and historians have publicly supported the filmmaker’s interpretation, emphasizing that loyalty to democratic institutions—not to individual leaders—defines genuine patriotism. Others argue that labeling participants as “anti-American” risks widening the nation’s already fraught ideological divide. Ward, however, insists that her work aims less to assign guilt than to reexamine national myth-making. In interviews, she describes the documentary as “an autopsy of disillusionment.”

The trailer itself, set to an understated orchestral score, has gone viral on social media. Within 48 hours of its release, it amassed over four million views, inspiring renewed debate over how Americans remember the Capitol attack and what lessons remain unlearned.

Linking Past and Present Through Protest

Ward’s growing public profile has also drawn attention to her forthcoming involvement in the “No Kings” demonstrations scheduled for October 18 in several major U.S. cities. The protest movement, organized by a coalition of civil liberties groups, aims to raise awareness of what activists describe as the “erosion of presidential accountability” and the dangers of unchecked executive power.

Ward has stated that her participation will center on a theme of historical continuity—drawing connections between the Confederacy’s rebellion, mid-century fascism, and modern authoritarianism. Her presence underscores the evolving link between documentary filmmaking and activism, blurring the line between art and civic engagement.

Historical Context and National Reflection

In a broader historical frame, Banner of None revisits perennial questions of power, identity, and dissent that have defined the American experiment since its inception. From Shay’s Rebellion to the civil rights marches, from anti-war protests to the Capitol riot, the film contextualizes upheaval as both symptom and signal of national transformation.

By portraying the January 6 attack as not only a political event but a cultural reckoning, Ward challenges viewers to confront the imagery that reappears across the generations—the banners, slogans, and myths that persist through time. The Confederate flag, once folded into museum glass, continues to move through American public life as a cipher for unresolved history.

Her film concludes on an image intentionally devoid of narration: the Capitol dome at dusk, its flag lowering quietly in the wind. It is a moment that symbolizes both endurance and fragility, asking what kind of union can survive when symbols of division walk its halls once again.

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Banner of None premieres nationwide next week, accompanied by town hall discussions on the future of democracy, extremism, and national identity. Organizers of the October 18 “No Kings” movement expect Ward’s involvement to draw further attention to their call for renewed civic vigilance. For many viewers, her film offers neither closure nor condemnation, but a mirror held to a divided nation still wrestling with the ghosts of its own history.