Proud Boy Shows Up at UCB, Promotes East Bay Chapter

It makes it so much easier when a Proud Boy identifies himself in public, and on camera. We don't have a name, but we have a face. https://youtu.be/pCPHV7O1zOg?t=5107

The Bay Area chapter of the Proud Boys is still active. It appears the chapter wants to be known, using Charlie Kirk's speaking engagement at UC Berkeley as an opportunity to advertise.

The Proud Boys are a national organization, with chapters all over the county. The first chapter was formed in Brooklyn, New York back in 2016. In the past couple of years, here in California, the Proud Boys have been more active in areas like Shasta County, Stanislaus County, Fresno County, and parts of Southern California. There was a Proud Boy rally in San Jose back in February, but their activity in the East Bay has been essentially nil.

Proud Boys came to Berkeley in 2017 during a series of MAGA rallies, which were not so much rallies as they were excuses to engage in politically-motivated violence against Berkeley leftists. These clashes brought Proud Boys co-founder Gavin McInnes to make an appearance in Berkeley. During the events of Berkeley 2017, Gavin McInnes encouraged Proud Boy member Kyle Chapman to create a "tactical defense arm" for their group. This was called the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights (or FOAK). The events of Berkeley and the creation of FOAK escalated the violence associated with the Proud Boys. However, in the past couple of years the Proud Boys had been staying away from Berkeley.

In 2018, the FBI labelled the Proud Boys as an extremist group, which scared Gavin McInnes into quitting the organization. In 2020, Kyle Chapman attempted to take over as national leader of the Proud Boys. He was kicked out of the group, but not before taking enough money out of the the Proud Boys to buy 2 pieces of property in Boise, Idaho.

Various Proud Boys have been associated with the January 6th 2021 insurrection in Washington DC. There have been various arrests across the county of Proud Boy leaders and members who helped plan, organized or participated in the storming of the Capital. Some of these arrests have happened in California. Madera Proud Boy member Eddie Block was raided by the FBI for his participation on January 6th. Despite his legal trouble, he continued to associate with the Proud Boys, attending a rally in Fresno in March of last year. Brock's livestream video of that Fresno rally was used to identify Fresno Police officer Rick Fitzgerald as being associated with the Proud Boys.

Charlie Kirk has previously claimed that the group he represents, Turning Point USA, paid for buses that sent people to the Capital on January 6th 2021. He deleted Tweets that TPUSA had organized buses of people to "fight" for Trump. On January 4th 2021, he wrote that the event of January 6th would be "one of the largest and most consequential in American history". Turning Point USA also helped pay for hotel rooms for people who took a TPUSA bus ride to DC.

The East Bay Chapter of the Proud Boys keeps a low profile. Not much is known about who their members are, or where they meet. They don't hold rallies in the East Bay. They probably only train and raise money here, while participating mainly in actions outside the immediate Bay Area. At least one member of this chapter made an appearance at Kirk's event in Berkeley. This Proud Boy member was the last person granted a chance at the audience microphone. Given the circumstances, and the people involved, it may not have been a coincidence that he was the last audience member to speak.