Proud Boys, American
political movement. Founded in 2016 by Vice Media cofounder Gavin McInnes,
the Proud Boys promotes the philosophy of far-right, neo-fascist, and white
privilege groups. It takes its name from the song “Proud of Your
Boy” from the musical Aladdin (2011), which McInnes
thought glorified anti-male sentiment; he thus turned its message on its
head by appropriating its title. The group espouses the idea that white,
Western culture is being attacked by leftist and socialist groups, and
espouses violent confrontation with its enemies. Following the Unite the
Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.—organized by expelled member
Jason Kessler in August 2017--McInnes distanced himself from the movement,
and was replaced by Enrique Tarrio, a Cuban-American who nonetheless
espoused its racist message. In 2021, it was revealed that Tarrio had been
an underground informant for the police during the previous decade. Among
other events, members of the group targeted the oldest historically black
church in Washington, D.C., the Ashbury United Methodist Church, on December
12, 2020, tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter sign that it had
displayed. Following this incident, Tarrio was arrested on January 4, 2021,
on one count of destruction of property and two counts of possession of
high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, and ordered to leave the city. Two
days later, many members were among those who stormed the Capitol building
on January 6, 2021, and several were charged with crimes in its wake. The
Proud Boys has been named a hate or extremist group by the Southern Poverty
Law Center (SPLC), the Anti-Defamation Leave (ADL), and the FBI, among
others.
See L. Crothers, Rage on the Right: The American Militia Movement from Ruby Ridge to the
Trump Presidency (2019, 2nd ed.); A. M. Stern, Proud
Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American
Imagination (2019).
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