Young white men with long guns at George Floyd protests likely affiliated with far-right group Boogaloo

MILWAUKEE -- In recent days, people protesting police brutality in Milwaukee and in dozens of other cities around the country have been joined by young white men carrying assault rifles and flying “Big Igloo” flags. Some of the men have engaged with the marchers, saying their goal is to protect everyone’s First Amendment rights. Some have stayed on the sidelines, quiet about their intentions but unmistakable in their intimidation.

It’s likely both groups are affiliated with a movement known as the Boogaloo, according to experts on far-right organizations. Members are not united in their goals, with some seemingly determined to protect protesters and others hoping to provoke violence.

“They believe that in this current moment, the chaos that surrounds us is signaling the potential for an impending second civil war which, believe it or not, they are hoping for because they believe that will rid the United States of all its problems,” said Devin Burghart, executive director of the national Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.

Boogaloo adherents grew up on social media and the meme culture, according to Burghart and Alex Newhouse, digital research lead at the Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism.

“Taken to a more radical level, they actively want to start violence with the state,” Newhouse said. “This is way more about confronting, escalating and trying to be at the place where the supposed revolution or the civil war starts.”

'Just the way they were acting was weird'

People believed to be affiliated with the Boogaloo were first spotted in Milwaukee Wednesday evening. Community activist Vaun Mayes said he encountered a handful of men with assault weapons as he helped lead a march near the lakefront early Wednesday evening.

In addition to carrying guns, the men displayed a black-and-white striped flag with an igloo and a palm tree.

“They claimed to be with … us, but it did not seem that way,” Mayes said.

Mayes and Frank Sensabaugh, an activist who uses the name Frank Nitty, insisted the armed men walk in front of them. The men agreed, but kept looking back over their shoulders as they walked, Mayes said.

“It was weird,” he said. “Just the way they were acting was weird.”

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter encountered four armed men near the intersection of North Farwell Avenue and East North Avenue the same evening.

None of the men would give their names. One told the Journal Sentinel reporter they were independent and not affiliated with any group. The man, who said he was part Puerto Rican, denied they were white supremacists. Another man said they were there to help with the demonstration.

They then met up with several more people, who said they were providing security for the protest.

One of the movement's followers, who goes by Troy Allen but would not give his last name, said members attended Wednesday's protest to dispel the misconception that the Boogaloo is a hate group.

"We're trying to build PR and make a big stand that we are not that," said Allen.

The movement's followers, known as "boojahideen," openly carry weapons — which is legal in Wisconsin — because they don't feel they can count on police, he said.

"You’re your own first responder," he said. "You can't wish someone is there to protect you."

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Followers carry long guns, wear Hawaiian shirts

In addition to attending recent marches against police brutality around the country, Boogaloo followers have made their presence known at rallies demanding the end to stay-at-home orders imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adherents are relatively easy to spot. All carry long guns. Many wear Hawaiian shirts under body armor or black shirts with “Big Igloo” or “Big Luau” patches.

Hawaiian shirts have been worn by military Special Forces overseas as a symbol that they are American and will continue to do their military duty no matter where they are, according to Burghart.

“They have stolen that, as they have their whole regalia and their appearance,” he said. “They think that by putting on the costume, that makes them Special Forces. Perhaps they’ve spent too much time playing Call of Duty,” he said, referring to the militaristic video game.

The similar-sounding terms Big Igloo and Big Luau sprung up as a way to circumvent social media moderators trying to prevent incendiary posts that use “boogaloo,” according to researchers.

Boogaloo movement is evolving

Across the country, members of Boogaloo Facebook groups and online message boards span a continuum, experts said.

On one end, members want to embrace multi-racial anti-government advocacy and are “legitimately libertarian in an individualism-above-all-else-including-race kind of way,” Newhouse said.

Another contingent views Black Lives Matter protesters as violent anarchists and thugs, he said, while the far edge consists of neo-Nazis who want to use the Boogaloo movement to start a race war.

So far, no one affiliated with the Boogaloo has taken violent action at a protest, according to Newhouse, who has tracked the movement online.

The closest they’ve come to doing so was in Las Vegas, where three men were charged with federal felonies after they were arrested Saturday on their way to a demonstration protesting George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The men, who were part of the Nevada Boogaloo Facebook group, had planned to cause violence at the demonstration, according to a criminal complaint.

At the time of their arrest, one of the men was wrapping strips of red cloth around glass bottles filled with gasoline to make Molotov cocktails. The men also had purchased fireworks they planned to attach to cans of hairspray, which they believed would work as an accelerant, the complaint says.

Online calls for violence

Boogaloo followers inclined toward violence have posted online that they want to target police stations and government buildings, according to Newhouse's research. They also have called for the murder of looters and protesters as a way to provoke police and demonstrators to kill each other.

Whether or not they espouse violence, most of the people linked to the Boogaloo want to be perceived as willing to kill government officials who try to take their guns or silence them, he said.

“This movement is evolving and their views are very much in flux. The next few weeks will show where they are,” Newhouse said. “But white supremacy is part of this movement. Even as they try to navigate away from it, it’s always going to be there in the background.”

Many people posting in online Boogaloo groups are expressing confusion about why protesters aren't "welcoming them with open arms," Newhouse said. He believes it is because most of the affiliates who have been showing up at demonstrations are those on the fringes.

"They're talking about race war and killing Jews and Jews being behind the protests. It's really difficult for activists to tell the difference between the ones who want to protect them and the ones who want to spark violence and a race war," he said. "That's not something the activists should have to do, ever. That’s the big challenge and the big danger right now."

Bill Glauber and Cary Spivak of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Gina Barton at (414) 224-2125 or gbarton@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @writerbarton.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Boogaloo: Members of far-right organization showing up at protests