Proud Boys Categorized as Extremist Group by FBI – Do You Support the Designation?

What’s the story?

• The Federal Bureau of Investigations has now categorized the “Proud Boys” as “an extremist group with ties to White Nationalism,” according to a document from a Washington State sheriff’s office.  
• “The FBI has warned local law enforcement that the Proud Boys are actively recruiting in the Pacific Northwest and that some in the group have contributed to the escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses,”  Michael McCabe, headquarters commander at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, writes in the report.
• McCabe told The Guardian that the FBI had classified the Proud Boys as “extremist” during a briefing.

“Proud Boys members have contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses, and in cities like Charlottesville, Virginia, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington,” an executive summary of the report read.

Who are the Proud Boys?

• The group describes themselves as “Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” They are explicitly anti-feminist, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-transgender, and anti-leftist.
• The Proud Boys were established by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes in 2016, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• The group was banned last month from Facebook and Instagram because of policies against hate groups, but the Proud Boys deny they’re connected to the racist “alt-right” and aren’t a hate group.

"It’s such a rape culture with these immigrants, I don’t even think these women see it as rape. They see it as just like having a teeth [sic] pulled. ‘It’s a Monday. I don’t really enjoy it,’ but that’s what you do. I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t have the same trauma as it would for a middle-class white girl in the suburbs because it’s so entrenched into their culture.” — Gavin McInnes, Get Off My Lawn, June 19, 2018

What does the extremist designation mean?

• Not much. David Gomez, a retired FBI executive and former head of the Seattle counter-terrorism program, explained to the Huffington Post that the FBI’s “extremist” label is not a formal designation and doesn’t mean the agency is currently investigating the Proud Boys. “Rather,” HuffPost writes, “it’s simply how the FBI is apparently describing the group to local law enforcement agencies.”
• FBI spokeswoman Kelsey Pietranton reinforced this sentiment, saying in a statement that the bureau doesn’t "police ideology."
• "Our focus is not on membership in particular groups but on individuals who commit violence and criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security," the FBI statement said.

"When it comes to domestic terrorism, our investigations focus solely on criminal activity of individuals — regardless of group membership — which appears to be intended to intimidate or coerce the civilian population or influence the policy of the government by intimidation or coercion."

What do you think?

Do you agree with the FBI categorizing the Proud Boys as an “extremist” group? Should the FBI clarify what this designation means? Take action above, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Carla Kote via Flickr)