Here’s why some of the armed counterprotesters at the Alamo wore Hawaiian shirts – mySA

Posted By on June 3, 2020

Military-style groups brandished firearms to protect the Cenotaph in front of the Alamo.

Military-style groups brandished firearms to protect the Cenotaph in front of the Alamo.

Military-style groups brandished firearms to protect the Cenotaph in front of the Alamo.

Military-style groups brandished firearms to protect the Cenotaph in front of the Alamo.

Here's why some of the armed counterprotesters at the Alamo wore Hawaiian shirts

On Saturday, protestors marching in memory of George Floyd faced off with counterprotesters armed with assault-style rifles and sporting tactical gear.

Some of the armed group wore baseball caps or cowboys hats. Others wore something more unusual: Hawaiian shirts.

The men wearing the shirts Saturday were among those organized by groups like Texas Freedom Force, which urged its members to "defend the Alamo & Cenotaph if the need arises."

READ ALSO: Police investigating after graffiti was found on Alamo Cenotaph

The day before, anti-white supremacy slogans had been sprayed on the white-marble Cenotaph. Police formed a barrier between the armed protesters and the Floyd marchers.

Why were some of the armed group wearing Hawaiian shirts? The sartorial choice is the signature look for the "boogaloo" anti-government movement.Such shirts and leis became commonplace in crowds protesting COVID-19 lockdown orders.

The loose movement uses the name of a 1984 movie, "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo," as a code word for a second civil war, the Associated Press reports. Another derivation of "boogaloo" is "big laua" hence the Hawaiian garb.

"Whereas the militia movement, radical gun rights activists typically promote the boogaloo as a war against the government or liberals, white supremacists conceive of the boogaloo as a race war or a white revolution," according to The Anti-Defamation League.

While some boogaloo followers maintain they arent genuinely advocating for violence, law-enforcement officials say they have foiled bombing and shooting plots by people who have connections to the movement or at least used its terminology.

A 36-year-old Arkansas man whose Facebook page included boogaloo references was arrested on April 11 by police in Texarkana, Texas, on a charge he threatened to ambush and kill a police officer on a Facebook Live video.

I feel like hunting the hunters, Aaron Swenson wrote on Facebook under an alias, police say.

Mark Dunphy is a breakingnews and general assignment reporter for MySA.com |mark.dunphy@express-news.net|@m_b_dunphy

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Here's why some of the armed counterprotesters at the Alamo wore Hawaiian shirts - mySA

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