Politics and Money

[lesgetrich]

I never heard of the Proud Boys until tuesday night's debate. Following the actions of white supremacist organizations is not my thing. But now that you ask, it's not me accusing them of being white supremacists but Trump's own Department of Homeland Security state Information Analysis (aka: fusion) Centers...

Proud Boys are a dangerous 'white supremacist' group say US agencies - Law enforcement have shown concerns about the group’s menace to minority groups and police officers, and its conspiracy theories

Files from the Blueleaks trove of leaked law enforcement documents reveal warnings that the Proud Boys, who some of the US agencies label as “white supremacists” and “extremists”, and others as a “gang”, show persistent concerns about the group’s menace to minority groups and even police officers, and its dissemination of dangerous conspiracy theories.

Repeated warnings about the Proud Boys, and descriptions of them as a dangerous white supremacist group, were issued by members of the national network of counterterrorist fusion centers. The Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) showed particular, repeated concerns about the group, and their activities in that state.

In a 22-page 2019 document titled Violent Extremism in Colorado: a Reference Guide for Law Enforcement, published by CIAC, the state’s Division of Homeland Security, and the Colorado Department of Public Safety, various incidents of violence involving the Proud Boys are discussed under the heading of White Supremacist Extremism.

On page 15 of the document, the group is discussed in terms of the “threat to Colorado” from white supremacist extremists, and the “concern that white supremacist extremists will continue attacking members of the community who threaten their belief of Caucasian superiority”.

...in fairness, this particular group's focus seems to be more far right neo-fascism, white nationalism and political violence than overt racism, though it's members have been known to participate in racist events like the Charlottesville rally. From Wikipedia...

Proud Boys

The Proud Boys is a far-right neo-fascist male-only organization that promotes and engages in political violence. It is based in the United States and has a presence in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The group was started as a joke in the far-right Taki's Magazine in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes, taking its name from the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the Disney musical Aladdin. The Proud Boys emerged as part of the alt-right, but McInnes began distancing himself from the alt-right in early 2017, saying the alt-right's focus is race while his focus is what he defines as "Western values." This re-branding effort intensified after the Unite the Right rally. Since 2018, the group's leader is Enrique Tarrio.

The group believes men—especially white men—and Western culture are under siege; their views have elements of the white genocide conspiracy theory. Officially, the group rejects white supremacy, although members have participated in multiple racist events and events centered around anti-left violence, with a former member organizing the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The organization glorifies violence and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has called it an "alt-right fight club."

In late November 2018, it was reported the FBI had classified the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism. Two weeks later, at an FBI official briefing Clark County, Washington law enforcement officials on the group, denied that it was their intent to classify the entire group in this manner and ascribed the mistake to a misunderstanding. During the briefing, FBI agents suggested using websites for more information, including the SPLC resource. The official said that their intent was to characterize the possible threat from certain members of the group.

The organization has been described as a hate group by NPR's The Takeaway and the SPLC. In February 2019, despite having said that he broke his ties with the group in November 2018, McInnes filed a federal defamation suit against the SPLC over their "hate group" designation, saying that it was untrue and had damaged his career. The group has been banned by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.