The Proud Boys were founded in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes and described themselves at the time as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists."
Current Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who is Afro-Cuban, says the group has "longstanding regulations prohibiting racist, white supremacist or violent activity," Ronald D. Coleman wrote in an email to USA TODAY. Coleman said he is a spokesman for the Proud Boys.We do not care what color you are or what your background is ... if you love America ... we consider you a brother," Tarrio said in a written statement provided by Coleman. The group condemns racism, fascism, communism and socialism, the statement says.
The group is known for its "anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric," according to The Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy organization that has designated the Proud Boys as a hate group. The SPLC has been warning about the group's violent tendencies for years.The Proud Boys have become an increasingly visible part of ongoing social unrest as the group's demonstrations have frequently devolved into fights and violence. When the Proud Boys met with counterprotesters in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in August, the tensions boiled over into fights requiring law enforcement to step in.
Last weekend in Portland, Oregon, hundreds of people – dozens of them wearing militarized body armor – gathered for a rally organized by the Proud Boys. Although law enforcement said the rally ended without serious violence, videos showed an assault after a suspect kicked a man who was livestreaming at the rally."The Proud Boys have had a yearslong reputation for not only violence but very clear ties to white supremacy," Cooter said in an email to USA TODAY.
The group remains dominated by white men while being “more to the right than most constitutional militias” and “more prone to physical violence,” Cooter told USA TODAY. But they seemed committed to attempt to publicly separate themselves from neo-Nazi groups.
Their reputation for violence was a subject on the debate stage Tuesday night.
When presidential debate moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and urge them to stand down from adding to violence and social upheaval, Trump asked Wallace to name a specific group. Democratic rival Joe Biden interrupted to cite the Proud Boys.
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