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Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, leader of the extremist group Proud Boys, has pleaded guilty to burning a Black Lives Matter banner hanging from Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., a historic Black church.
Tarrio is notorious for being the Black leader of the right-wing, white-loving group Proud Boys in their fight against those they believe to be Antifa, short for “anti-fascism.”
According to The Grio, Tarrio, his affiliate group, Proud Boys, removed a Black Lives Matter banner from Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., and set it on fire on December 12. Proud of his work, Tarrio later posted on social media about it.
The Proud Boys were also involved in the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on January 6.
Tarrio did not participate in the Capitol insurrection because he was in jail. However, he did admit to the Proud Boys’ involvement in the insurrection.
He also said that he doesn’t believe that members of the organization should have smashed in buildings of the historic building but ultimately blamed the Capitol Police for “their inability to respond” to the attack.
On August 23, Tarrio will be sentenced and faces a maximum penalty of 180 days in prison and a fine of $1,000 for each count.
According to The U.S. Sun, Tarrio was born in Little Havana in Miami, Florida, and seemingly ignores his obvious Black Cuban roots.
As it relates to the widespread Cuban-American debate, Tarrio grew up with a disdain for the Communist leader, Fidel Castro, and was raised as a conservative by his parents.
He became a member of the Proud Boys after attending an event for Trump-supporting-journalist Milo Yiannopoulos and has experienced exponential growth within the organization.
He was reportedly drawn to the male-only group because it was similar to his childhood environment.
“My house, at like 7 o’clock in the morning, there’s like 20 people, in my house, talking about politics, roasting each other, just making fun of each other,” Tarrio said.
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Despite the popular controversy, Tarrio says alleges that the Proud Boys are not racist.
In an interview with WSVN-TV, he said, “I denounce White supremacy. I denounce anti-Semitism. I denounce racism. I denounce fascism.”
“I denounce communism and any other -ism that is prejudiced toward people because of their race, religion, culture, tone of skin,” he added.
However, the organization’s members have regularly used racist rhetoric.