Judge awards Black church $1 million after BLM banner burned by Proud Boys during protest

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has awarded more than $1 million to a Black church in Washington, D.C. that sued the far-right Proud Boys for stealing and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a 2020 protest. Friday’s ruling also bars the group and its leaders from coming near the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church or making threats against it for five years. Two Black Lives Matter banners were pulled down from Metropolitan AME and another church and burned during clashes between pro-Donald Trump supporters and counterdemonstrators. Proud Boys leader “Enrique” Tarrio later acknowledged setting fire to one banner and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor property destruction. He was sentenced to more than five months in jail.