GOP congressman pleads ignorance after name-dropping a slain ‘boogaloo boy' to deny police racism

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) posited during a congressional debate last week that not enough attention is being paid to white victims of police shootings, such as Duncan Lemp, who was fatally shot during a police raid at his home in March.

But as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out, a pro-gun right-wing organization mentions Lemp's name quite often, namely the "boogaloo" movement. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Lemp's killing "helped solidify the nascent boogaloo movement into a defined online subculture."

According to Grothman during the debate, focusing on Black victims of police violence will only "racialize the issue."

"You don't hear about it talked by anybody in [the House of Representatives], or anybody on national TV," Grothman said, referring to Lemp. "And you know why they don't talk about it? Because they want to tear this country apart. They don't want to talk about when white people are killed, because they want to enrage Black people and they want to make white people feel guilty and not like America."

But in an interview the following Friday, Grothman denied knowing anything about the symbolism of Lemp's case as it relates to the boogaloo movement.

"I never heard of him and I never googled the boogaloo boys," Grothman said. "I just picked Duncan Lemp. Apparently I picked the wrong guy."