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A Black church in Washington, D.C. that was vandalized in 2020 by the Proud Boys now owns their trademark.
In a Monday (February 3) ruling, Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier granted the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church ownership of the white supremacist group's trademark, per CBS News.
The ruling comes after the Proud Boys, an all-male, right-wing group, attacked the Metropolitan AME Church on December 12, 2020 amid a "stop the steal" event in D.C. The group climbed over a fence and destroyed a Black Lives Matter sign on the church's property. The Proud Boys were ordered to pay the church $2.8 million over the incident, but the group failed to follow the court directive.
With ownership of the trademark, the Metropolitan AME Church can block the group from using the name "Proud Boys" and its yellow-and-black laurel wreath symbol. The Proud Boys also won't be able to sell licensed goods, such as T-shirts and hats, without the church's approval. The D.C. church could collect funds if sales persist as well as any membership dues.
"This is our time to stand up, to be very clear to the Proud Boys and their ilk that we came here fighting, that we have never ever capitulated to the violent whims of white supremacist groups," Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of the Metropolitan AME Church, said in a statement. "If they thought we would be afraid, they were wrong. There are many people with us and who stand with us."
In an X post, Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio suggested that the judge should be impeached and the church's nonprofit status revoked. Tarrio was serving a 22-year prison sentence for his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol but was among the insurrectionists pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Tarrio added that he doesn't plan on honoring Monday's ruling.
"I hold in contempt any motions, judgments, and orders issued against me," he wrote on X.
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