The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic Black church in Washington, D.C., has filed a $22 million lawsuit against the Proud Boys. The lawsuit, filed against the Proud Boys organization and five of its leaders and allies, stems from a “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C. on Dec. 12, 2020.

That’s when the far-right group vandalized several historic Black churches in D.C. and tore down their Black Lives Matter banners.

“We wanted to make a statement, that we will not shrink in the face of this,” Rev. William Lamar told Judge Neal Kravitz according to HuffPost. “We know that this [Proud Boys] activity continues — and we have an opportunity to be clear that this is unacceptable, it is illegal, and it cannot continue.”

Lamar said the case is not just about a vandalised banner.

“It’s more than doing violence to a sign — they seek to continue the violence their ancestors visited upon our ancestors,” Lamar said on a conference call with congregants in 2020. “They don’t want to just ruin signs. They want to destroy lives. They want to destroy hope. They want to erase history. We won’t let them do that.”

Arthur Ago, director of the criminal justice project at the Lawyers’ Committee, said “The ultimate goal of this is not a monetary windfall.”

“It’s to stop the Proud Boys from being able to do what they do,” Ago told HuffPost. “They continue to raise money … and that money’s being used to do the things we saw on Dec. 12, Jan. 6, and now at drag queen story hours in Ohio and New York and Maryland. That’s what we want to stop.”