New ‘Alt-Right’ Gang Vows To Protect Free Speech—With Violence If Necessary
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Sam Kestenbaum April 28, 2017
Members of the “alt-right” claim to be forming a fraternal gang in order to better defend their free-speech rights — with violence if necessary — when police fail to do so.
“Our emphasis will be on street activism, preparation, defense and confrontation,” Kyle Chapman, a California activist known online as “Based Stickman,” wrote on Facebook on April 21. “We will protect and defend our right wing brethren when the police and government fail to do so.”
“This organization is for those that possess the Warrior Spirit,” Chapman wrote, dubbing his new group the “Fraternal Order of Alt Knights.”
Chapman was arrested earlier this month in a clash in Berkeley, Calif. between anti-fascist protesters and pro-Trump demonstrators. He named his new group the “tactical defensive arm” of the Proud Boys, another group that shows up at pro-Trump rallies and has clashed with counter-protesters, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center report.
Proud Boys organizer Gavin McInnes — a co-founder of the website and magazine Vice who now moves in “alt-right” circles — called his group a “pro-Western fraternal organization” for men who “refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.”
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @skestenbaum
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