By Kisha A. Brown, Esq.
One Sunday worship service, my pastor, Rev. William H. Lamar IV, told the congregation that we were suing the Proud Boys, a far-right White supremacist group, who had trespassed on our church property and vandalized our Black Lives Matter sign back in December 2020. It would be years later when Rev. Lamar would share that the presiding judge ruled that the Proud Boys must pay our church, Metropolitan AME, $2.8 million in damages for their lawless actions and attempt at racial intimidation. By January 2025, Rev. Lamar was able to announce that the judge seized the Proud Boys name and trademark as restitution for failing to comply with the court’s order.
That’s right, the Proud Boys cannot use their own name or profit from its branding without the Black people of Metropolitan AME giving them approval. The Proud Boys used their name and logo to rally their base and the consistent use of certain colors, font, symbols and of course, the words of their name all constituted their intellectual property. They raised money and built a reputation using their intellectual property and, in turn, it had value. That value now belongs to Metropolitan AME Church. The symbolism is not lost on anyone who hears of this case and yet it is not our first time, nor will it be our last foray, as a people using the court system to fight back and press forward.
We’ve always used the courts to make advancements in our liberation. It has always been one of the most powerful tools in securing justice for the personal and systemic oppressions Black people encounter in America. From the minute Africans stepped foot on what is now known as the United States of America their spirits have never forgotten what it was like to be fully free and, as such, we have always used every resource at our disposal to fight for our freedom. This has always been a multi-front strategy that has always included the use of the legal system.
However, I must draw attention to the timeline of obtaining justice. In a fast and furious society we often want a wrong to be made right almost instantaneously, but the arch of justice runs long and it requires great endurance. From the crime to the court order took years and it required dedicated time and included hiring a legal team to lead the lawsuit and see it through.
Metropolitan AME would have never gotten this far if they first didn’t recognize that a harm had been done to them. Too often we take life’s challenges as par for the course, another roadblock, or something we just have to ‘get over’when –in fact– some of the most underused laws are designed to protect our civil and human rights. They protect us on the job, in public places and against physical harm, to name a few, and even though our current president may not understand the laws, it doesn’t change them and it is our rights as people of this country to assert our rights.
“They will not succeed. They’re already defeated. Hallelujah” -Rev. William H. Lamar IV
For more commentary on Metropolitan’s victory you can check out my Legally Driven video here.
The post Legally Written: Justice takes time: How Metropolitan AME used the courts to defeat the Proud Boys appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
