Conservative ‘Proud Boys’ Labeled “Extremist Group” By FBI
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Tue, 11/20/2018
The “Proud Boys”, a self-described “Western chauvinist” group founded by Vice Media co-creator Gavin McInnes, has officially been labeled by the FBI as an “extremist group with ties to White Nationalism”. News of the classification (which had previously not been made public) was broken by the Guardian, which reported that disciplinary action taken against a female sheriffs deputy in Clark County, Washington led to the designation.
In a warning issued to police departments in Washington state, the FBI described the Proud Boys as “contributing to the escalation in street violence” at political rallies and noted that they are “actively recruiting” in the area. The report was first issued two months ago.
“The FBI has warned local law enforcement agencies that the Proud Boys are actively recruiting in the Pacific north-west,” and: “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.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time that a conservative or “alt-right” group like the Proud Boys has been lumped in with overtly racist, white supremacist or otherwise extremist groups. The Proud Boys have repeatedly insisted that they condemn bigotry in all of its forms (though their embrace of traditional gender roles has led to them also being labeled “misogynist”.) However, the involvement of the FBI represents a troubling escalation. In recent years, organizations like the ACLU and SPLC have started lumping in socially and politically conservative groups like the Family Research Council with overtly racist groups, effectively opening the door to the criminalization of conservative groups. Meanwhile, groups like Antifa, which regularly participates in street violence and vandalism, have evaded this classification, despite warnings from the Department of Homeland Security.
The firing of Erin Willey, a sheriffs’ deputy who was photographed in a “Proud Boys Girls” sweatshirt, reportedly precipitated the internal law enforcement inquiry that led to the classification. Willey was fired last July after the photo was published by the Vancouver Columbian.
The document, provided to the Guardian by the government transparency non-profit Property of the People, was part of an internal affairs investigation into a probationary deputy in the Clark county sheriff’s department.
The former clark county deputy, Erin Willey, was fired last July after a photo of her wearing a “Proud Boys Girls” sweatshirt was published by the Vancouver, Washington newspaper the Columbian. The Proud Boys Girls is the female auxiliary of the men-only group founded by McInnes in 2016.
The author of the document, headquarters commander Michael McCabe, is in charge of internal affairs, training, background investigation and courthouse security in the Clark county sheriff’s department.
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