Proud Boys Raise Profile in Local Councils, as DC Targets Group for Lawsuit

In an effort to bring their brand of intimidatimg politics to the local level, members of the Proud Boys have increasingly appeared in recent months at town council gatherings, school board presentations and health department question-and-answer sessions across the country, reports the New York Times. Its followers have tried to expand membership in small suburban communities by taking on local causes connected to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as protests against mask mandates and mandatory vaccinations, in hopes of swelling their ranks in time two influence next year’s midterm elections. Over a dozen new Telegram channels have emerged for local Proud Boys chapters in cities such as Seattle and Philadelphia over that same period, rapidly growing from dozens to hundreds of members. This year, members of the Proud Boys were recorded at 145 protests and demonstrations, up from 137 events in 2020.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine has sued the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, seeking to use a 19th century law written to cripple the Ku Klux Klan to seek stiff financial penalties from the far-right groups that Racine alleges were responsible for the violence.Racine’s suit is the first effort by a government agency to hold individuals and organizations civilly responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol. The goal is to unravel the financing behind the groups and secure “full restitution and recompense” for the city of Washington, which has incurred huge costs for treating hundreds of injured officers.