KALAMAZOO (MICH)- Proud Boys. They are the latest attempt in the spread of white supremacists hate groups. In light of months of protests against police killings of unarmed black citizens such as George Floyd and Brianna Taylor, groups like these are cropping up to take advantage of an already volatile climate of racial unrest in America. Now, one such group has plans to bring their hate speech and radical ideals to Kalamazoo. As their social media shares of their plans, the City of Kalamazoo has responded to the possible anxiety this organization posts to the Kalamazoo community. Jeff Chamberlain, Deputy City Manager provided a statement to the media regarding the possible protests and counter-protests scheduled for the weekend of August 14th.
The statement is as follows:
“The City of Kalamazoo is aware of unconfirmed social media posts related to a possible protest in downtown Kalamazoo this Saturday by a group known as the “Proud Boys”, as well as possible counter-protests. The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is monitoring this situation and will respond as needed to ensure the safety of our community. Bigotry and hatred in any form is not acceptable in Kalamazoo – nor is violence – and the City is prepared to act quickly if necessary.”
Local resident Laura Sprague shared this information with the Kalamazoo Community Foundation who plays a vital role in healing racism in the community. Her email states:
“This note is to alert you to a big fascist rally that is happening in Kalamazoo next Saturday, August 15th that threatens the safety and security of our city. The group that is coming is called the Proud Boys and they have put out a national call to their group to come to Kalamazoo for this rally, very much like the alt-right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, which has its anniversary this coming Wednesday (Both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union has classified the Proud Boys as a hate group https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys)
Why Kalamazoo? One of their communications called us a liberal shithole, but also I would say since we have extremely influential people here, five billionaires at least, that may have something to do with it. This has been thoroughly researched and it is really happening. Fortunately we have so many lovers of freedom and lovers of humanity here in Kalamazoo that hopefully we can contain this group or at least keep them from doing too much damage. There will be a prayer vigil in Arcadia Park where they have planned to do their rally, so if you come for the prayer vigil, please know what you are coming in for. We also would like to make a wall of people down Kalamazoo Avenue so that the crowd of fascists cannot get through to the north side, so that is another direct need.
We are hoping to have 600 to 700 people show up to Arcadia by 1:30 next Saturday. if this doesn’t sound like something you can do, I 100% understand that!!! There are many other things you can do, like spreading the word and spreading awareness about this group. That’s really important.
As police departments across the country mobilized to “contain” nonviolent protesters (oftentimes using militarized-style tactics on peaceful protesters) citizens will be anxious to see how the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety will respond.