(GoRealNewsNow.com) – HAPPENING NOW: The Proud Boys have been ordered to pay over $1 million due to their violent dismantling and incineration of a “Black Lives Matter” sign outside a majority African-American church in Washington, DC, in 2020.
In addition, the group and its leaders were banned from approaching the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church or uttering threats or slanderous comments against the church or its pastor for five years. Superior Court Associate Judge Neal A. Kravitz made the decision.
Kravitz described the event as an “attack” on the Metropolitan AME Church that resulted from an intricately planned series of actions that underscored the Proud Boys’ central beliefs: white supremacy and violence.
The group has been ordered to compensate the church $1.03 million for their “detestable and blatantly racist” behavior, as stated by Kravitz.
This ruling was a default judgment made after the Proud Boys neglected to appear in court to contest the case.
This judgment was delivered years after the Metropolitan AME took legal action against this far-right group. The church claimed they broke Washington DC and federal law by trespassing and vandalizing religious property as part of a prejudiced plot.
The Proud Boys defaced and trampled over the Black Lives Matter sign during demonstrations supporting former President Trump in Washington DC in December 2020. These demonstrations occurred after weeks of claims by the far right that the former president lost his re-election bid due to widespread electoral fraud.
In response to the ruling, the Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan AME, issued a statement via the church’s counsel: “Our courage and determination to fight back in response to the 2020 attack on our church is a beacon of hope for our community and today’s ruling showed us what our collective vision and voice can achieve.”
Despite the Metropolitan AME Church’s refusal to be quiet in the face of white supremacist violence, the congregation and the church have experienced real trauma and harm – but have and will persist in overcoming it.
A video recording captured the chaotic scene where numerous Proud Boys members can be seen assaulting and stomping on the sign just outside the entrance of the Metropolitan AME Church. Meanwhile, other protesters rejoiced by shouting, “Our streets!”
The group later targeted the Asbury United Methodist Church, another primarily African-American congregation, repeating their actions.
A few weeks later, Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested and eventually convicted for property destruction — an act he confessed to in an interview with The Washington Post.
At the time of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Tarrio was in custody but conspired with other Proud Boy leaders to coordinate the attempted rebellion.
In May, he and two other leaders were declared guilty of seditious conspiracy for instructing group members to breach the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
