Change.org - [Content warning]: Proud Boys

The Proud Boys are a far-right group with a history of violence and ties to white supremacy. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified them as a hate group. Matty, the petition starter, thinks it’s dangerous that the president told them to “stand back and stand by.” They think that a group that engages in violent action and rhetoric needs to be called what it is: a terrorist organization. Join their campaign and demand that the Proud Boys be declared a terrorist organization. Declare the “Proud Boys” a Terrorist Organization. 2,647 have signed Matty Morissette’s petition. Let’s get to 5,000!

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The Proud Boys, a radical, dangerous, racist, transphobic group were called to arms by President Trump to “Stand Back and Stand By” during the first Presidential political debate of 2020 on 9/29/2020. This was a call for National Terrorism. Within an hour this group had the slogan printed and were thrilled to be given direction by their leader. This vile group must be declared a Terrorist Organization before more deaths occur. Below is a history of the organization: The Proud Boys was formed in 2016 by VICE Media co-founder, Gavin McInnes. In an op-ed in the far-right outlet Taki’s Magazine—notorious for its regular contributors, which included white supremacist Jared Taylor—McInnes announced the foundation of the group, describing its members as “Western chauvinists who refuse to apologise [sic] for creating the modern world,” and who “long for the days when ‘girls were girls and men were men.’” According to McInnes, the Proud Boys, whose name is taken from a song in the musical Aladdin, are a response and opposition to “politically correct culture.” During the last three years, the Proud Boys have established themselves as a dominant force within the alt lite. Easily recognizable, thanks to their black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts and red Make America Great Again baseball caps, members are regulars at far-right demonstrations and Trump rallies. After several years of forging alliances with members of the Republican political establishment, the Proud Boys have carved out a niche for themselves as both a right-wing fight club and a volunteer security force for the GOP.  Despite their associations with mainstream politicians, Proud Boys’ actions and statements repeatedly land them in the company of white supremacists and right-wing extremists. Jason Kessler, the primary organizer of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, is a former Proud Boy. Several members attended the violent August 12, 2017 demonstration that ended in the death of counter-protestor Heather Heyer. During an October 2018 brawl outside the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan, for which two Proud Boys members were convicted and sentenced to substantial prison terms, and seven others pled guilty, the Proud Boys were joined by the 211 Bootboys, an ultra-nationalist and violent skinhead gang based in New York City. In October 2019, members of the Denver chapter of the Proud Boys marched with members of Patriot Front and former members of the now-defunct neo-Nazi group Traditionalist Worker Party. These relationships show the Proud Boys to be less a pro-western drinking club and more an extreme, right-wing gang. Ideologically, members subscribe to a scattershot array of libertarian and nationalist tropes, referring to themselves as anti-communist and anti-political correctness.  Please sign so we can let our government know we will not stand for such injustice!

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