Last week, a suspected anti-government extremist was charged with the killing of a California federal security officer. Air Force Sergeant Steven Carillo allegedly shot dead David Patrick Underwood, who was guarding a building in the city of Oakland, during Black Lives Matter protests in late May. 

Carillo also faces charges for allegedly opening fire and killing Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputy Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller in the climax of an eight-day manhunt. Both Carillo, a member of an elite military security force, and the man believed to be his accomplice, Robert Justus, have been linked to the boogaloo movement.

The boogaloo is not a conventional organization. Rather, it is a decentralized grouping, following in the footsteps of numerous leaderless resistance, patriot and militia movements on the American far right. Its culture is rooted in an internet meme that has somehow managed to convince a significant number of people that starting a second American civil war would be a cool thing to do. Now, boogaloo adherents appear to be latching onto anti-racist protests in major U.S. cities.  

Taking its name from the 1980s dance movie sequel “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” the movement had up until recently been a largely online phenomenon. However, over recent months, its ideology has grown in visibility, owing to a series of heavily armed protests against lockdown measures in cities across the United States. In the past six weeks, at least six men connected to the movement have been arrested on various charges, ranging from murder to conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.