Back in October, WorldNetDaily responded to presidential debate remarks about whether the far-right thugs in the Proud Boys are white supremacists by pointing out that national leader of the group, Enrique Tarrio, is “a black-Hispanic American” who denies any white supremacist motives. Not only is that not true, there is a Proud Boys faction that is quite proud to be white supremacist and anti-Semitic.
Nevertheless, WND felt the need to defend the honor of the Proud Boys once again. In a Nov. 20 article, Matt Keener wrote about how he “talked with Enrique Tarrio – the Afro-Cuban leader of Proud Boys – on camera about how his group became a lightning rod in the 2020 election” during a trip to the Million MAGA March:
Aside from that, if your only familiarity with the group is Chris Wallace and Joe Biden teaming up to ask the president to condemn white supremacy yet again, specifically the Proud Boys, during the first debate, then there is one thing that immediately comes to your attention when you see this “white supremacist” group.
There are quite a few people of color in their ranks.
Indeed, as I approached Tarrio, he was joking around, apparently drinking a beer and hugging a fellow group member who is black.
I spoke with Tarrio on camera about how on earth the Proud Boys came to be a focal point of this year’s election.
Keener gave Tarrio a pass in letting him handwave the group’s history of violence:
Tarrio pulls no punches when asked about how the Proud Boys are portrayed or if they are misunderstood.
“We’re not this violent f–ing group of guys – we’re not. Can we be violent?” he asks rhetorically. “Absolutely so. Are we good at self-defense? Yes sir. But we don’t – we had 250 Proud Boys on the streets today. But they didn’t board up businesses because we came into town. They’re boarding up businesses when the left are the ones that get together.”
Tarrio explained how he handles the perception or claims they are a white supremacist or hate group.
“I’m not concerned about the people that hate us or call us white supremacists. I really don’t give a s–t about them. All right? Because they’re not reasonable. So I don’t try to reason with them. I don’t try to argue with them. I avoid them,” he says, before adding, “The people that don’t know who we are – or somebody that thinks that we’re something but isn’t 100% sure? Those people I reach out to. Because we’re not a white supremacist group.”
What Keener isn’t going to tell you is that the Proud Boys are, indeed, a violence-driven group. Since then, Tarrio admitted to burning a Black Lives Matter banner he stole from a church during a December march, and he falsely claimed he was invited to the White House (turns out he just took the regular public tour).
All this stuff was interspersed with rants from Keener like this:
You can call yourself “woke,” but if you are canceling, censoring, eliminating, or assaulting someone based on who they voted for, you are misguided. It is you who is the oppressor.
You can call the Proud Boys white supremacist, but the leader of the group and several members are black and brown. I saw them with my own eyes.
The media manipulate and lie to you.
Look around. Use your eyes.
The emperor has no clothes.
And no one wants to say it.
Keener has a bright future as a WND columnist … if WND survives that long, anyway.