Marco Rubio called them ‘extremists.’ They’re really Miami rappers. They want a retraction.

When cops arrested Marco Antonio Lopez on allegations that he vandalized patrol cars during a protest in downtown Miami, the arrest report noted he was part of a group known as the “Southern Slaves,” which “actively recruits people to violently protest the government.”

That drew the attention of U.S. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who tweeted the arrest was evidence of “extremist groups” organizing to cause mayhem at protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality.

But the Southern Slaves aren’t an extremist group. And they are not monitored by the FBI or listed by hate-group trackers like the Anti-Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center.

They’re a group of aspiring hip-hop musicians from Miami’s Flagami neighborhood, buddies uploading their music online, doing shows at open-mic nights and spreading a message of what they consider government overreach.

“We’re not terrorists. We love America. What we don’t love is systematic oppression and police brutality,” said Alonzo Martinez, 23, whose stage name is “Zo The Atlantean.”

As Lopez remained in jail, his fellow members and manager spoke publicly this week to defend the group — and went on Twitter to demand an apology from Rubio, a Republican from Miami who is a prolific user of the social media platform. They say that after his tweet, they have been flooded with online venom, even threats, from his supporters.

“We want Marco Rubio to retract his message,” said the group’s manager, Anthony Hernandez, 24. “We believe if something happens to us, he will be responsible. He has 4 million followers. What can we do against 4 million followers?”

Rubio’s press office did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday morning.

Lopez’s arrest was the first criminal case built against so-called “agitators” who police say turned peaceful protests into clashes on May 30 in Downtown Miami. The protest was one of the first in South Florida over the death of Floyd, the black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer drove his knee into the man’s neck.

Detectives said Lopez, 21, broke into and damaged two Miami police cruisers with his skateboard — one at South Miami Avenue and Eighth Street, and one along Northwest Third Avenue and Fourth Street, near the rear gate of the Miami police headquarters. He also spray painted “Southern Slaves” on a third cop car, police said.

According to an arrest report, an off-duty officer witnessed one of the car break-ins, and surveillance video captured the others. Video of one of the acts was also uploaded to Instagram, the report said.

Lopez, whose stage name is “Quincy Atomz,” is charged with criminal mischief, inciting a riot and resisting an officer without violence.

What drew the most attention was that Lopez allegedly told police that Southern Slaves “actively recruits people to violently protest the government” and “walking around the city won’t do anything, sooner or later you have to turn to violence,” according to police. The arrest report makes no mention that Southern Slaves is a music group.

Lopez insists police misconstrued his words, according to his defense lawyer.

“These kids are not terrorists. They are not affiliated with any such groups,” said lawyer Mac Morey. “The way they have been portrayed is very unfair. They are young people who are frustrated with the status quo and they want to see change through strong and peaceful social advocacy.”

So who are the Southern Slaves?

They are mostly Hispanic — black and brown, Cuban and Nicaraguan — and have known each other since grade school. They bonded hanging out at Miami’s Kinloch Park, where they listened to rap artists such as Tupac, 36 Mafia and KRS-One. Why the name?

“We’re all slaves to something,” Martinez said. “Slaves to the system. Slaves to the bank.”

Up until the arrest, they’ve rapped mostly in obscurity, playing at open-mic nights at bars in Wynwood and Little Haiti. They also played a show at Catalyst Hip-Hop, a South Miami-Dade rap venue for at-risk youth. Their songs have names like “Special EDition,” “USA” and “Psychedelic Pimps.”

Members say he was arrested not long after he and the group uploaded to Instagram a music video that featured video from the protests, as well as others across the United States. The video, called “Scars of Wisdom,” shows clips of police brutality, heavily armed cops in tactical gear — and looting and fires set during protests.

The following day, after Miami issued a press release about the arrest, Rubio’s tweet echoed other elected officials across the county, who have blamed largely unnamed “organized agitators from a variety of extremists groups” for civil unrest.

Afterward, members say, they began receiving direct messages and comments on Twitter and Instagram accusing them of being part of Antifa, an “anti-fascist” movement vilified by the right and President Donald Trump. Commenters also accused them of being funded by George Soros, a frequent and debunked conspiracy theory pushed online.

“We had to do research on them. We had no idea about George Soros or any of that stuff,” Martinez said. “We had to do research about Antifa.”

Southern Slaves tweeted back, calling Rubio’s tweet “disgusting, irresponsible, and potentially dangerous.”

They’ve also started a GoFundMe page to raise money for Lopez’s legal fees. He’ll be arraigned on July 6.

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 11:36 AM.