Judge awards Black church $1 million after BLM banner burned by Proud Boys throughout protest

A decide on Friday awarded greater than $1 million to a Black church in downtown Washington, D.C. that sued the far-right Proud Boys for tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter banner throughout a 2020 protest.

Superior Court Associated Judge Neal A. Kravitz additionally barred the extremist group and its leaders from coming close to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church or making threats or defamatory remarks in opposition to the church or its pastor for 5 years.

“Our courage and determination to fight back in response to the 2020 attack on our church is a beacon of hope for our community and today’s ruling showed us what our collective vision and voice can achieve,” stated the Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan AME, in an announcement from the church’s counsel on Saturday. “While A.M.E. refused to be silenced in the face of white supremacist violence, that does not mean real trauma and damage did not occur – merely that congregants and the church have and will continue to rise above it.”

The ruling was a default judgment issued after the defendants failed to point out up in court docket to combat the case.

Two Black Lives Matter banners had been pulled down from Metropolitan AME and one other traditionally Black church and burned throughout clashes between pro-Donald Trump supporters and counterdemonstrators in December 2020.

The destruction passed off after weekend rallies by hundreds of individuals in help of Trump’s baseless claims that he gained a second time period, which led to dozens of arrests, a number of stabbings and accidents to cops.

Metropolitan AME sued the Proud Boys and their leaders, alleging they violated D.C. and federal regulation by trespassing and destroying non secular property in a bias-related conspiracy.

“The attack against Metropolitan A.M.E. was an attempt to silence the congregation’s voice and its support for Black life, dignity, and safety. It represents just the latest chapter in a long history of white supremacist violence targeting Black houses of worship,” stated Damon Hewitt, president and govt director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, within the church counsel’s assertion. “These attacks are meant to intimidate and create fear, and this lawsuit’s aim was to hold those who engage in such action accountable.”

Proud Boys chief Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, of Miami, publicly acknowledged setting hearth to at least one banner, which prosecutors stated was stolen from Asbury United Methodist Church.

In July 2021, Tarrio pleaded responsible to 2 misdemeanor prison prices of property destruction and tried possession of a high-capacity journal.

He was sentenced to greater than 5 months in jail.