The variety of Proud Boy chapters registered throughout the USA has elevated whereas different comparable teams are reporting fewer members than earlier than.

The variety of energetic Proud Boy chapters has elevated from 43 in 2020 to 72 in 2021. When these chapters have been registered in 2021 is unknown, however with occasions such because the January 6 Capitol riots, their message was arguably unfold extra up to now yr than ever earlier than.

This enhance of Proud Boys chapters, nonetheless, comes because the variety of energetic hate teams in the USA is reported by the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle to have decreased from 838 in 2020 to 733 in 2021.

Nonetheless, the middle wrote that this isn't one thing to have a good time.

"Moderately than demonstrating a decline within the energy of the far proper, the dropping numbers of organized hate and anti-government teams recommend that the extremist concepts that mobilize them now function extra overtly within the political mainstream," stated the report.

The Proud Boys describe themselves as a "pro-Western fraternal group for males who refuse to apologize for creating the fashionable world, aka Western Chauvinists." The Southern Poverty Regulation Middle says that their main beliefs embody these with roots in white nationalism, Islamophobia, and misogyny.

Proud Boys Counterprotesters
Members of the far-right group Proud Boys scream at counter-protesters throughout a "Justice for January sixth Vigil" at St. Patrick's Cathedral on January 6, 2022, in New York. The variety of energetic Proud Boys chapters within the U.S. has almost doubled since 2020.AP Photograph/Yuki Iwamura

The group posits that teams, such because the Proud Boys, have been in a position to turn into mainstream by a proliferation of native communities. Moderately than new chapters being established in main cities, they have been typically created in small cities.

"Within the aftermath of Jan. 6, they shifted their efforts to native politics, focusing particularly on COVID security protocols and faculty curricula," defined the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle. "Arduous-right organizations disrupted college board and metropolis council conferences across the nation and, within the course of, created area for extra excessive and bigoted voices."

The rise in Proud Boys chapters comes at a risky second for the group on account of its involvement within the Capitol riots. Henry "Enrique" Tarrio was arrested on March 8 for allegedly serving to to plan an invasion of the U.S. Capitol weeks prior with the only real focus of disrupting the Electoral School certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden. Whereas Tarrio was not current on the occasion, he additionally supposedly "claimed credit score for what had occurred on social media and in an encrypted chat room throughout and after the assault," in line with the U.S. Division of Justice. A number of different Proud Boys have been charged in connection to the January 6 Capitol riots.

The Proud Boys have been amongst a number of teams studied by the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle for his or her annual report. Explicitly white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations, corresponding to Patriot Entrance, have been additionally studied.

Replace at 3/9/22, 3:27 p.m. ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate extra info on the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle.