Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. speaks during a committee hearing on possible tariffs and the effect on the U.S. economy and jobs, Thursday, April 12, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photo : AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California is catching heat for posing in a photo with a far right activist throwing up what many anti-racism groups consider a white power symbol, The Fresno Bee reports.

The photo, taken at a private Nunes campaign event Tuesday night, shows Ben Bergquam and Josh Fulfer on either side of Nunes. Fulfer is clearly making a hand gesture, and other photos posted to Bergquam’s Facebook account show Fulfer repeating the gesture.


Bergquam is a member of the Proud Boys, a group classified as a hate group.

Here is some more background on the racist hand gesture, per The Fresno Bee:



The Southern Poverty Law Center also says the co-opting of the OK hand signal was designed to agitate or troll liberals, but it notes that white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis (“alt-right”) are beginning to use the gesture to identify their racist beliefs and possibly recruit others.

The gesture has gained increasing national exposure in recent weeks as people are called out for using it: Zina Bash was accused of using the gesture while sitting behind Superior Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh; a U.S. Coast Guard member was removed from Hurricane Florence relief duty for using it; and several Alabama police officers were suspended for making the gesture.


Nunes’ campaign has yet to comment on the picture.