By Leonardo Cervantes
Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the Boogaloo Bois seem similar, but are not and that confusion is causing everyday citizens to take up arms with scary results.
The BLM movement originated in 2013 due to the increasing number of police brutality against black people.
They believe in peaceful protest and demand change on systematic racism. In May of 2020, when George Floyd was killed by an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department.
BLM was brought back into the national spotlight as it began protesting worldwide. The nationwide protests lasted weeks and the media covered it extensively every day.
Antifa also participated in BLM protests around the country.
They believe in resorting to violence if necessary, which sets them apart from BLM.
Following the death of George Floyd, some of the protests got out of hand and riots ensued.
Antifa was blamed for the looting and property damage that occurred. People who believe in the idea of Antifa, are those that are opposed to the facisim.
President Trump went as far as saying they caused the violence and labeled them as a domestic terrorist organization.
FBI Director Chris Wray has said that Antifa is an ideology and not a terror group or organization.
The Boogaloo Bois were mostly an unknown group until they made a name for themselves during the George Floyd protests. They are rumored to be a dangerous group.
They are an odd group as their intentions are contradictory. Some of them supported the BLM and George Floyd protests, while others were against the cause.
They have shown to be a violent group. They killed a security officer at a federal courthouse and plotted to firebomb a U.S. Forest Service facility. People speculate that they just want to cause violence, since their views are inconsistent.
Civilians that are against the peaceful protests have decided to take matters into their own hands.
They support the police and are acting like police officers themselves and are fighting to ward off protestors. These gun-wielding civilians behave as if they hold the authority to shut down and harm protesters.
Following the Protest for Jacobs Blake’s shooting in Wisconsin, Kyle Rittenhouse 17, killed two people and injured a third person.
A kid that is still in high school decided that he had the authority to pass judgment on protesters just because he does not share their views.
On many occasions over the last few months, these gun-wielding civilians have gotten very comfortable with intimidating protesters.
Many videos have gone viral where peaceful protest take place while self proclaimed, helpful citizens have their guns high and proud staring at protesters.
Most, if not all these individuals are obsessed or fully support Blue Lives Matter. They idolize the police so much that they themselves began pretending to be like police officers.
BLM is the more recognizable organization as they’ve been in headline news for the past seven years.
During the last few years, different ethnic groups have decided to follow and support the BLM movement. They have demonstrated peaceful protest time and time again.