A judge on Saturday ordered members of the Proud Boys to pay over $1 million for tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter sign at a predominantly Black church in Washington D.C. three years ago.
Superior Court Associate Judge Neal A. Kravitz ordered the group to stay away from the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. It is also barred from issuing threats or defamatory remarks against the church or its leader for five years.
Kravitz ordered the Proud Boys to hand over $1.03 million for what he termed as “hateful and overtly racist” conduct.
This was one expensive flaghttps://t.co/t6AzlyPTvv
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 1, 2023
There’s no word if similar punishments are on the way for acts by BLM that caused billions in damages and several lost lives during the violence of 2020. Much like the Jan. 6 incident, only one side of the political spectrum faced consequences for disruptive actions.
The ruling came as a default judgment since the group did not show up in court to defend themselves. Metropolitan AMC sued the organization, accusing them of violating district and federal law through trespassing and destroying religious property.
Plaintiffs charged it was part of a bias-filled conspiracy on the part of the Proud Boys.
The December 2020 incident came during a time of protests in the nation’s capital by citizens upset over allegations of voting impropriety in the just-concluded presidential race. The hammer has already fallen on Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio of Miami, Florida.
He pled guilty in July 2021 to a pair of misdemeanor charges of property destruction and attempted possession of a high-capacity magazine. Tarrio was sentenced to over five months in jail.
Metropolitan AME pastor Rev. William H. Lamar IV released a statement Saturday praising his church’s “courage and determination to fight back in response to the 2020 attack.” He called the lawsuit “a beacon of hope for our community.”
In a video of the intense scene, dozens of Proud Boys are seen attacking the sign and stomping on it in front of the church. Demonstrators in the background chanted “our streets.”
Tarrio was arrested weeks later.
Along with his conviction related to the burning of the BLM sign, he and two other group leaders were found guilty in May on charges related to Jan. 6. Even though he was in custody, Tarrio was accused of orchestrating part of the unrest at the Capitol.
