Actor Profile: Boogaloo Boys

The third installment in our new actor profile series reviews the latest data on Boogaloo activity around the United States. Access all data and additional actor profiles through our US Research Hub. Definitions and methodology decisions are explained in our US Coverage FAQs and our US methodology brief. For more information, please check the full  ACLED Resource Library.

The ‘Boogaloo movement’ is an important fixture of armed right-wing politics in the United States. Its impact on the perception of protests, the relative lethality of its adherents, and its focus on fomenting civil war are all dynamics that grew out of years of online organizing, and they are unlikely to dissipate soon. 

The potential for new gun restrictions and the Boogaloo movement’s ability to grab media attention through violence, as well as its armed presence and participation in demonstrations, has ensured its momentum post-election, albeit at a smaller scale. A reliance on social media organizing, which initially bolstered the movement, has now clipped the wings of its cells, as Boogaloo actors struggle to gain an immediate organizational foothold online in the aftermath of a deplatforming effort since June 2020. Though the threat of direct violence from Boogaloo adherents has waned, it remains imperative to monitor the movement for signs of a return to violent street activism.  

Ideology, Membership, and Structure

Ideology

Boogaloo adherents (often termed “Boogaloo Boys” or self-described as “Boogaloo Bois”) follow a diverse set of neo-dadaist aesthetics connected to the intention of setting off a second American Civil War, which they often regard as inevitable. The ideology behind Boogaloo is decidedly right-wing, though public commitment to right-wing ideals varies between adherents and cells, with some cells claiming to take a pseudo-left-wing position publicly (Bellingcat, 27 May 2020). The aesthetic and ideological tendencies of the loosely aligned movement is one of absurdity and disregard for one’s safety or life, combining a frustration with the current state of affairs with the notion of online culture. 

The earliest reference to the “Boogaloo” as a term for civil war or race war was in 2012 on 4chan’s board for firearms, /k/. However, the movement gained steam in 2019 motivated by “anti-government anxiety,” when the term was frequently used on far-right racist channels on Telegram (WIRED, 18 June 2020; Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 26 June 2020). The term has since gathered greater appeal among armed absurdist libertarian activists. In early usage of the term, the “Boogaloo” was explicitly in reference to a race war, though this etymology is one that some media-savvy Boogaloo actors regard as unimportant or untrue (Southern Poverty Law Center, 5 June 2020; Al-Jazeera, 16 April 2021).

The Wolverine Watchmen Militia: An Example of Cell Formation and Structure

The Wolverine Watchmen militia in Michigan, a close affiliate of the Michigan Liberty Militia that is perhaps best known for their plan to kidnap the governor of their state, is a Boogaloo-associated militia cell that exemplifies Boogaloo cell structure WWMT News Channel 3, 8 October 2020; Bridge Michigan, 9 October 2020). The group was largely active online, but members also attended a variety of anti-lockdown demonstrations and demonstrations associated with the BLM movement, where they attempted to conduct recruitment Washington Post, 1 November 2020). The Wolverine Watchmen Facebook page limited membership to “Boojahideen only” — a portmanteau of Boogaloo and mujahideen — exemplifying the individual-led recruitment process of becoming familiar with the ideology before finding a local Boogaloo cell Countering Terrorism Center, July/August 2021). The group, which included a number of people with disparate ideologies, then used Facebook and other communications platforms to communicate, organize, and schedule training exercises.

Boogaloo adherents have been involved in deadly events at a greater frequency than any other actor in the ACLED dataset. Boogaloo adherents are often armed, carrying firearms in at least 70% of the events in which they participate, leading to a disproportionate number of fatalities associated with Boogaloo-involved events. Across 105 events involving Boogaloo actors, at least 10 fatalities were reported, more than any other militia actor. The fatal events include violent demonstrations, armed clashes, and lethal police raids of booby-trapped Boogaloo adherent homes. 

Boogaloo attacks on law enforcement have at times turned into deadly armed clashes. On 29 May 2020, in Oakland, California, two members of the Grizzly Scouts,¹ a Boogaloo affiliate, conducted a drive-by shooting of two federal agents during a BLM protest, killing one. A little over a week later, on 6 June 2020, the primary actor in the previous attack, Steven Carrillo, an active duty Sergeant in the US Air Force, opened fire on two police officers who came to his father’s house in Ben Lomond, California, during their investigation of the previous incident. Over the course of the two shootings, two law enforcement officers were killed and two others were seriously wounded. 

Armed Boogaloo members were also present in Kenosha, Wisconsin on 25 August 2020, when Kyle Rittenhouse killed two demonstrators at a demonstration associated with the BLM movement. A Boogaloo adherent claimed that as many as 32 other armed adherents were present in Kenosha that evening Chicago Sun-Times, 31 August 2020). The same adherent is seen in pictures walking abreast Rittenhouse near demonstrators while both carry assault rifles Southern Poverty Law Center, 15 September 2020).