#TalkRadio – February 11: Confronting Hate, Overcoming Adversity, Stepping Out on Faith!: ‘Proud Boys’ Trademark Now Owned By African American Church

SPEAKERS:

Reverend William H. Lamar IV: 12:15 PM – 12:45 PM ET
Pastor of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC since 2014

INTRODUCTION:

Hi Igniters For Change! The Igniting Change Radio Show on Tuesday, February 11th, 2025, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time, entitled “Confronting Hate, Overcoming Adversity, Stepping Out on Hate: ‘Proud Boys’ Trademark Now Owned By African American Church”,,  with Radio Show Co-Hosts and Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) Co-Leaders Attorneys Barbara Arnwine, Esq. and Daryl Jones, Esq. will feature a one-on-one exclusive interview with Reverend William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC since 2014. This show will discuss the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church gaining control over the Proud Boys trademark and delve into Metropolitan’s legal victory.

Co-Hosts Arnwine and Jones will open the show with a focus on many current events affecting racial justice in our country, including the status of fights against adverse actions by the Trump Administration.

December 12th 2020, the Proud Boys led a demonstration down the streets of Washington D.C. and attacked and vandalized Metropolitan AME Church and tore down its “Black Lives Matters” flag. This mob involved in this attack was led by Proud Boys’ then-National Chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio. On January 4th, 2021, the law firm of Paul, Weiss and co-counsel the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a landmark lawsuit “on behalf of the church seeking to hold the Proud Boys accountable for their ‘violent and racist attack on the church’. In June 2023, Superior Court Judge Kravitz issued an opinion finding the Proud Boys and their leaders acted with an evil, discriminatory motive based on race and that their conduct was reprehensible to an extreme degree. Judge Kravitz awarded the church more than $2.8 million, including $1 million in punitive damages against the Proud Boys entity and its leaders…” (Source: https://www.paulweiss.com/practices/pro-bono/news/paul-weiss-files-new-lawsuit-to-enforce-28-million-judgment-against-proud-boys?id=52131 ) Subsequently, the law firm and co-counsel sued to enforce the judgement.

On February 3rd, 2025, Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ruled that the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. was awarded the trademarked name and symbols of the Proud Boys. The judge’s ruling means that the Proud Boys can no longer use their name or symbols without the church’s permission, and any profits from merchandise sales will go to the church. Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was pardoned by former President Trump, criticized the ruling and called for the church’s nonprofit status to be revoked. (source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/us/politics/proud-boys.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare )

As pastor at Metropolitan, Rev. Lamar has extended the church’s historic legacy into the contemporary moment. Under his leadership, the congregation has grown, and its ministries’ have achieved significant impact in the local communities it serves. Most recently, Rev. Lamar helped to design Metropolitan’s Sankofa Christian Parenting project, an initiative funded by the Lilly Endowment, to promote parenting practices that are rooted in Black faith and cultural traditions.

A native of Macon, Georgia, Lamar earned the bachelor of science degree in public management with a minor in philosophy and religion and a certificate in human resource management (magna cum laude) from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1996. In 1999, he earned the master of divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School. Lamar is currently a doctoral candidate in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary, one of the oldest seminaries in the country.

Prior to his tenure at Metropolitan, Lamar served congregations in Florida and Maryland; and from 2008 to 2011, he was the managing director of Leadership Education at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, where he convened and resourced executive pastors of large churches, denominational finance executives, young denominational leaders, Methodist bishops, and the constituency of the Lilly Endowment’s Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Program.

Lamar has long been actively involved in community organizing and currently serves as the founding board chair of the Just Power Alliance, a collective of organizations from the Midwest to the east coast that focuses on building multi-racial, multi-class, multi-generational, and multi-faith world that is joyful and just for all. Rev. Lamar has also collaborated with Repairers of the Breach, Poor People’s Campaign – A National Call for Moral Revival, Center for Community Change (CCC), and People Improving Communities through Organization (PICO) to enact social and economic justice and to exhibit a real embrace of the beloved community.

An avid reader and writer, Lamar has published essays and chapters in outlets from peer-reviewed journals and books to articles and essays in the public sphere. His Washington Post op-ed from December 15, 2020, published after the Proud Boys desecrated Metropolitan by vandalizing church property, was a clarion call that culminated in a $1 million judgment for punitive damages against the white supremacist group for their criminality. His efforts to embody justice in community have been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, US News and World Report, and the Afro-American and on WNYC’s “The Takeaway,” NPR’s “1A,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” MSNBC’s “The Reid Out,” and PBS’s “News Hour.” Lamar has preached, lectured, and facilitated peer learning groups for denominations, judicatories, universities, seminaries, colleges, and local churches. He is the former Cohost of the Can These Bones podcast; and his book, Ancestors: The Names That Bless Us, Curse Us, and Hold Us, will be published by Broadleaf Books in June 2025.

Lamar is honored to serve Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he seeks daily to extend Metropolitan’s nearly two centuries-long legacy of bearing witness to and ushering into this world the reign of the living God. Under his leadership, Metropolitan remains committed to worship, liberation, and service. He is married to Dr. Dana A. Williams, Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University.

QUESTIONS:

CURRENT EVENTS SEGMENT- 12:00 PM – 12:13 PM EASTERN TIME

[The show will begin with Co-Hosts Arnwine and Jones discussing many current events affecting racial justice in our country, including the status of fights against adverse actions by the Trump Administration.]

12:15 PM – 12:45 PM EASTERN TIME- Reverend Lamar

• Welcome to Igniting Change! The nation has been abuzz about your church’s, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Washington, D.C., recent victory regarding the Proud Boys trademark. It’s Black History Month! Both Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks have connections to the AME Church. Tell us about the unique history and philosophy of your church. 
• Let’s go back to December 12th, 2020. Tell our audience what happened.
• There was another church also attacked that day but they did not sue. What made your church decide to sue?
• At the time of the judgement in 2023, the judge ruled that the Proud Boys had engaged in “acts of terror with the intent to intimidate members of the church”. What did those findings mean to your church?
• How difficult has this 5-year battle been?
• Even though you won a judgement in 2023, everything was not over, correct?! What happened that you had to file to enforce the judgement? 
• What has the judge’s ruling last week awarding you the Proud Boys trademark meant to you and the church congregation?
• What are some of your thoughts about what to do with this trademark?
• How have the Proud Boys responded and how do you think they’ll continue to respond?
• Nationwide, African Americans and justice-loving people everywhere have been celebrating your church’s victory. How has this elevation into this new national spotlight affected you?
• What are the next steps?
• I hear you have a new t-shirt. Tell our audience about the t-shirt and how they can buy it.
• How do people join your church?
• What are your one-minute final thoughts to our listeners?
• Thank you for all of your hard work. How do our listeners get in contact with you?

12:45 PM – 12:57 PM Eastern Time

[Co-Hosts Arnwine and Jones will discuss upcoming TJC events, like the re-enactment of the  Selma-to-Montgomery March; updates on the Arbery case that have occurred since the last show; a thank you to recent donors and call for people be sure to donate and view our Black History Month Series on VotingRightsAlliance.org]

[TJC will continue to vigorously defend the rights of all Americans and will fight the implementation of Project 2025 and our future shows will continue to cover any hate crimes and how we effectively protect ourselves while advancing our agenda for justice.]

[Daryl and Barbara may share their favorite books and encourage people to donate towards TJC’s giveaways of banned and affirming books.]