The BOOGALOO MOVEMENT, or the boogaloo bois: Another One to Beware

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

                      The boogaloo bois were noticed in 2019.  Here they are at this VCDL Lobby Day gun rights demonstration on January 20, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia.   They usually wear fatigues and Hawaiian shirts in good weather.  The term boogaloo alludes to the December 1984 cult sequel film Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Following the film's release, the phrase "2: Electric Boogaloo" became a verbal template appended to a topic as a signal.  In the movie, The three main dancers from Breakin' – Kelly "Special K" Bennett (Lucinda Dickey), Orlando "Ozone" Barco (Adolfo Quinones), and Tony "Turbo" Ainley (Michael Chambers) – struggle to stop the demolition of a community recreation center by a developer who wants to build a shopping mall. Viktor Manoel, Ice-T, Lela Rochon and Martika also appear as dancers.  From that simple plot we get the boogaloo bois who are out to create the Civil War.  Go figure!  They must think they are saving the country.  

"The boogaloo movement, whose adherents are often referred to as boogaloo boys or boogaloo bois, is a loosely organized far-right, anti-government, and extremist political movement in the United States.  The movement has also been described as a militia.

 Boogaloo adherents say they are preparing for, or seek to incite, a second American Civil War which they call the boogaloo.  Boogaloo has been used on the imageboard website 4chan, an imageboard known for the posting of illegal and offensive content, since 2012, but it did not come to widespread attention until late 2019.  

Adherents use boogaloo, including variations so as to avoid social media crackdowns, to refer to violent uprisings against the federal government or left-wing political opponents, often anticipated to follow government confiscation of firearms.

Some are white supremacist or neo-Nazi groups who believe that the impending unrest will be a race war.

 There are also groups that condemn racism and white supremacy, although attempts by some individual elements of the movement to support anti-racist groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter have been met with wariness and skepticism as researchers are unsure if they are genuine or meant to obscure the movement's actual objectives.

" The movement primarily organizes online, and participants have appeared at in-person events including the anti-lockdown and the George Floyd protests. Heavily armed, boogaloo members are often identified by their attire of Hawaiian shirts and military fatigues."  They were gathered together in Virginia.  Virginia is right outside Washington DC.  Are they Vets or did they buy those fatigues at the nearest Army-Navy store?  

Supporters of the boogaloo movement, among others, were reportedly present and wore emblematic gear or symbols during the riots and the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. After breaching or being let through multiple police perimeters, these groups occupied, vandalized, and ransacked parts of the building for several hours. Supporters also echoed themes associated with and used related terminology to express their readiness for "the boogaloo."