Far-left activists charged with working for Russian agents; what's behind the Discord leaks?

Will Carless, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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Four U.S. citizens, including the leader of a far-left extremist group who is already facing state charges in Georgia, were charged this week with working on behalf of the Russian government.  Meanwhile, in Detroit a high-profile member of the far-right Boogaloo movement pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges. And with the gamer platform called Discord at the center of a huge leak of classified documents, we take a look at what Discord really is.

It's the week in extremism.

Americans charged with working for Russia

Four leaders of activist and extremist groups in Florida, Missouri and Georgia were indicted by a grand jury this week as part of a long-running investigation into a Russian malign interest campaign that was allegedly waged over the last few years.

  • The superseding indictment charges Omali Yeshitela, chairman and founder of the African People’s Socialist Party; Penny Joanne Hess, who served as the leader of a component of the APSP; Jesse Nevel, a member of the APSP and Augustus C. Romain Jr., aka Gazi Kodzo, leader of the Black Hammer organization.

  • The four U.S. citizens are charged with spreading Russian propaganda at the direction of Russian agents, trying to "create the appearance of American popular support for Russia’s annexation of territories in Ukraine," according to the Justice Department.

  • Romain, who founded the Black Hammer organization, is currently facing trial  in Georgia on kidnapping, racketeering, human trafficking and forcible sodomy charges.

  • In the same indictment, three Russian nationals were also charged.

The ASPS is an anti-colonialist, pro-communist organization that argues for reparations for people of African descent for "centuries of genocide, oppression, and enslavement of our people." The Black Hammer group was known for activism for Black separatism, including seeking the return of all indigenous land to non-white people.

Apparent members of the Boogaloo Bois speak to media during a protest outside of the Michigan State Capitol building in downtown Lansing on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021.
Apparent members of the Boogaloo Bois speak to media during a protest outside of the Michigan State Capitol building in downtown Lansing on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021.

Michigan Boogaloo Boi pleads guilty

Back on Facebook: Extremist Boogaloo Bois back on Facebook since Mar-a-Lago raid

Down the barrel of a gun: How Second Amendment activism can be a gateway to extremist ideologies

Timothy Teagan, a 25-year-old adherent of the "Boogaloo" movement from Plymouth, Michigan, pleaded guilty to drug- and gun-related charges Wednesday, following an FBI investigation.

  • Despite being investigated by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, Teagan was never charged with terrorism. He pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and making a false statement while acquiring a firearm.

  • Teagan was linked to the Boogaloo movement, and protested outside the Michigan state capitol in 2021 wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a signature symbol of the movement.

  • The meme-focused Boogaloo movement has at its core a deep distrust and hatred of the federal government. It has been tied to dozens of arrests and at least two fatal attacks on police.

  • As USA TODAY reported in September, the Boogaloo movement underwent a resurgence on Facebook last year.

This photo illustration created on April 13, 2023, shows the Discord logo and the suspect, national guardsman Jack Teixeira, reflected in an image of the Pentagon in Washington, DC. - FBI agents on Thursday arrested a young national guardsman suspected of being behind a major leak of sensitive US government secrets -- including about the Ukraine war. US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the arrest made "in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information."

What is Discord?

An explainer: What is Discord? And why does it keep coming up in news stories like the Pentagon leak?

Who leaked the Pentagon documents?: What we know about Jack Teixeira, accused of DOD leak

In a story published late last week, I explained the social media and messaging platform Discord, which was the forum a young National Guardsman allegedly used to leak hundreds of sensitive documents, for which he was charged last week.

  • Discord keeps coming up in stories related to extremism and other high-profile news stories, Megan Squire, deputy director for data analytics at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told me:  "I just a sort of forget about Discord for a while, and then another story like this pops back up and there they are again," Squire said. "It just keeps coming up."

  • Discord started as a messaging app for video gamers to chat to each other. But it has evolved into a far more sprawling social media platform.

  • Discord is popular among extremists, who benefit from its opacity and anonymity. Discord was used to plan the deadly 2017 Unite The Right Rally in Charlottesville. More recently, a man who killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket in a racist attack last year invited people to a private Discord "server," where he posted documents about the attack.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, sings at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.
Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, sings at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

Statistic of the week: 141

That's the number of drag shows that were targeted by protests and threats across the country last year, according to a new report from the LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD.

USA TODAY special report: A drag show, a protest and a line of guns: How the battle over one issue is tearing at America

Bomb threats and picture books: A transgender drag performer navigates a time of turmoil

Anti-drag protests and incidents occurred in 47 of the 50 states, according to GLAAD.

As we explained in a special report in 2022, drag shows — particularly all-age drag shows — have become the number-one target of far-right extremists, who have used the shows as gatherings to protest and threaten their opponents.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Black Hammer, Black separatist members charged as Russian agents