$2.7 Million Judgment Against White Supremacist Group is Important Accountability for 2022 Boston Violence

A federal court awarded a judgment of $2,755,000 plus attorneys’ fees against the white supremacist group Patriot Front, its leader Thomas Rousseau, and a number of its members related to violence they committed in Boston in July 2022.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA),  previously organized the successful legal effort to hold accountable the white supremacists responsible for the 2017 Charlottesville violence and advised the Patriot Front case in her role as a senior advisor on extremism at Human Rights First. Spitalnick released the following statement:

“Accountability matters, especially in this moment of rising and increasing normalized extremism. Today’s decision sends a message that there will in fact be consequences for violent hate.

As we saw in our Charlottesville case, civil lawsuits like this can have direct financial and operational ramifications for these hate groups and their leaders.

I was proud to have helped advise this effort through my work with Human Rights First. Charles Murrell – who survived racist, violent hate at the hands of these extremists – deserves our gratitude for courageously bringing this case.

Of course, accountability like this must go hand-in-hand with the broader policies necessary to truly confront the threat of hate-fueled violence and broader anti-democratic extremism. That requires leaders on all levels of government and civil society to unequivocally reject this hate. As we look towards the months ahead, with the prospect of increasingly emboldened extremists, we will not give up on this work, which will only be more urgent.”

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