A heated battle broke out at the Proud Boys sedition trial on Monday over an internal "initiation ceremony manual" that the federal government wants to show to jurors, but which a defense lawyer says is too "politically incorrect" to be in evidence.
The manual was seized by the government via search warrant two years ago, but was only just made public, according new court papers filed in the US District Court trial in Washington, DC.
Prosecutors in the case allege that five men who were Proud Boys leaders conspired to violently storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to block Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 Presidential election.
The recently revealed manual details how a Proud Boys chapter leader must run the group's meetings, or "meet ups." It includes the language for calling meetings to order and a required reading from Pat Buchanan's "The Death of the West," which calls on "Western Man" to stop apologizing to "race racketeers" about slavery and colonization.
The Anti-Defamation League considers the Proud Boys a violent, right-wing extremist group whose members commonly engage in misogynistic, Islamaphobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration rhetoric.
The manual instructs Proud Boys on the wording of such drinking toasts as, "To guns," "To housewives," and, "to the greatest civilization on earth and the men who built it."
It describes the extremist group's politics, including a commitment to "rebuilding the patriarchy" and a belief that, "All other cultures are not merely different than us. They are worse."
Oddly, the guide also includes the lyrics to "Proud of Your Boy," a heartfelt solo by the title character from the Broadway musical "Aladdin." In the ballad, Aladdin seeks his mother's approval.
Apparently, the Proud Boys consider the ballad "our anthem."
"It is healthy to sing our anthem at least once a night but this isn't always possible," the manual tells novice Proud Boys leaders before helpfully supplying the words for a rousing sing-along.
"Ideally, we seek out venues that have a jukebox with this song available," the manual advises.
But as proud as the defendants may be of their rituals, a defense motion seeking to bar the manual from being shown to jurors acknowledges that many would find it repulsive.
"The document is riddled with politically incorrect remarks and assertions which would cause most or many Americans to recoil in anger, hatred and disgust," wrote Roger I. Roots, attorney for defendant Dominic Pezzola.