According to the current administration’s own Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the US election on Nov. 3 was the most secure election in US history. Despite findings from these agencies, dozens of Trump supporters convened at Terrace Park Jan. 2 to protest the outcome of the 2020 federal election.

The public event featured two self-proclaimed Proud Boys as speakers, as well as armed Proud Boys serving as “security” for the event.

The Proud Boys is a far-right, neo-fascist and male-only organization that promotes and engages in political violence. They are labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In 2017, former Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped organize the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ultimately resulted in the murder of a peaceful counter-protester, Heather Heyer. More than three years later, the attendance of the Proud Boys at a Republican rally demonstrates that our country has not progressed past permitting Neo-Nazis and KKK members to threaten our streets with violence under the guise of political ideology.

“The South Dakota GOP has yet to condemn the Proud Boys’ involvement in this rally,” said Heather Krause, president of South Dakota Young Democrats. “It’s disturbing that even when a terrorist organization shows up, rally participants still stick around and acknowledge no harm in the presence, including former Speaker of the House, Steven Haugaard.

“Aligning with the Proud Boys is openly accepting their white supremacist tenets and violent approaches into the South Dakota Republican party. The South Dakota GOP granted legitimacy to the Proud Boys by welcoming them at their event. The South Dakota Young Democrats vehemently oppose white supremacy. We believe that hate has no home in South Dakota” [Young Democrats of South Dakota, press release, 2021.01.04].