Long Island Community Responds to Proud Boys March with a Rally Against Hate

The right-wing hate group the Proud Boys marched through Rockville Centre, Long Island, on Saturday, Nov. 27. "About 20 members marched and handed out fliers near local businesses promoting messages such as 'minimal government,' 'anti-racial guilt,' 'venerate the housewife' and 'reinstate the spirit of Western chauvinism,'" reports the Long Island Herald's Tom Carozza. It was the third march by the group, which is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League, in recent months. They held similar marches in October in Patchogue and Bay Shore, Long Island.

The crowd assembled in front of Central Synagogue-Beth Emeth, on Demott Avenue, on Dec. 1 with flashlights to illuminate the “darkness” they said they had witnessed the week before. (TOM CARROZZA/HERALD)

The community countered with a much larger, anti-hate rally held by Rabbi Michael Cohen at the Central Synagogue—Beth Emeth on Wednesday, Dec. 1. As part of its "Exploring Hate" initiative, MetroFocus's Jenna Flanagan is joined by Rabbi Cohen along with ERASE Racism president Elaine Gross and Newsday reporter John Asbury to talk about the rallies and how leaders are dealing with hate groups in their communities.