CIVIL UNREST IN AMERICA: IS 2024 A REPEAT OF 1968?
By Bob O’Brien, Jim Weiss, and Mickey Davis
“Not since 1968—a tumultuous year marked by assassinations,
division and widespread rioting—has the threat of political
violence loomed as large as it does today.”
Brian Michael Jenkins
For those who have studied terrorism and counter-terrorism for
any length of time, Brian Jenkins (quoted above) needs no introduction.
He has been called by some “a leading Terror-ologist.”
Highlights from his decades-long bio will shed some light on his
importance as an authority on terrorism and counter-terrorism
spanning the decades from the 1960’s to the present time.
During that time, he was with the U.S. Army Special Forces—Dominican
Republic, Vietnam War—and one of the earliest in academia
to take the topic of Terrorism seriously. His expertise in that
area led to the start of the Rand Corporation’s Terrorism
Research Program, and he was advisor to several US presidential
administrations as well as government agencies.
Brian Jenkins’ RAND Commentary
A Plan to Address Political Violence Before Election Day contains
the subsection “Addressing the Threat of Political Violence
in the 2024 Elections.” This 70-page summary report serves
as both a warning and a playbook for those charged with overseeing
public safety at the federal, state, and local levels.
To create it, Jenkins assembled a small circle of active and
former senior law enforcement officers, national security analysts,
and legal scholars who participated in a months-long workshop
in which they discussed the country’s readiness to deal
with political violence during the forthcoming elections.
Political Violence in America
Jenkins points out that Americans have gone to the polls more
than 100 times since 1788. But not since 1968— a “tumultuous
year marked by assassinations, division, and widespread rioting—has
the threat of political violence loomed as large as it does today.”
According to many historians, 1968 is considered a year of revolution
worldwide in a number of European nations and in America. In the
United States, the catalyst was the Vietnam War, with campus protests,
demonstrations, and riots. In urban America, the April 4, 1968
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King sparked widespread rioting,
often deadly, in cities across the nation. More recently, Jenkins
refers to the 2020 election with the deadly U.S. Capitol riot,
localized clashes in many cities, political polarization, and
angry rhetoric.
For those who doubt the extent of political violence in America,
Jenkins cites this startling fact: Eight out of the twenty-one
presidents elected since 1900 (more than one third) have been
shot or shot at. Two were killed.
The most recent was the attempted sniper assassination and wounding
of former President and current GOP candidate Trump on July 13,
2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Prior to that, the last time a president
was shot was Ronald Reagan in 1991, a full thirty-three years
prior.\
Assassinations: While it isn’t considered a politically
violent nation, the U.S. has had its share of political violence.
Consider that both 2024 and 1968 share another dubious distinction:
political assassination attempts.
In July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania, a sniper shot and wounded
former president Donald Trump. The would-be assassin was shot
and killed by a Secret Service Counter Sniper.
In June 1968 in Los Angeles, California, Robert Kennedy was assassinated.
The assassin was arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced to
life in prison. This was the second prominent figure assassination
in only two months. In April 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
was assassinated by a sniper who fled to Canada and then to the
United Kingdom, where he was captured. He was charged, convicted,
and sentenced to 100 years; he died in prison.
Both assassinations sparked widespread outrage, and after MLK’s
assassination, major rioting began in dozens of cities across
the nation. The assassination attempt on Donald Trump has also
sparked widespread outrage, but no rioting.
Riots 1968-2024
For those not familiar with the 1960’s, 1968 was the culmination
of one of the most violent decades in modern American history.
Many historians say 1968 was a year of near worldwide revolution,
including in the United States.
Due to the large number of incidents that took place that year,
several significant acts of violence are today, long-forgotten
footnotes of history, except to those who were involved or affected
by them. Both of the following incidents occurred in 1968 in Cleveland,
Ohio.
The Glenville Shootout and Riot, July 23-28, 1968
An estimated twenty-five heavily-armed Black Nationalist militants
engaged Cleveland, Ohio, police in multiple running gun battles
throughout several densely populated residential city blocks.
The Shootout began days of rioting, sniping, arson fires, and
looting. It claimed the lives of eight people including four police
officers, a citizen helping police, and three Black Nationalists.
Four more people were killed in the ensuing rioting.
Figures vary, but at least twelve more officers were wounded,
as were an unknown number of other people.
Glenville occurred three months after the rioting that engulfed
many cities after Dr. King was assassinated. However, only a very
few know that, as terrible as it was, Glenville inadvertently
prevented a much greater disaster. The original Black Nationalist
plan was to launch simultaneous multi-city armed attacks the following
day. Instead, the Shootout and rioting were confined to just Cleveland.
Rodney King Riot 1992
The year 1992 saw the deadliest riot in U.S. history since the
Civil War. It took place in Los Angeles after the acquittal of
four LAPD officers charged in the infamous Rodney King incident.
The LA rioting spread to a (thankfully) small number of other
U.S. cities. In Las Vegas, Nevada, police were able to turn back
a rioting mob headed to the famed casino Strip, thus preventing
a major disaster.
While the Rodney King riot was confined mostly to LA, its ripple
effect spawned immediate and widespread resentment and hatred
of police, including in cities thousands of miles away. In those
cases, while there was no rioting, police were widely subjected
to angry “Rodney King” shouts.
The Rodney King riots had a profound impact on police everywhere.
It was an impact that simmered for years, with periodic but isolated
spillovers in succeeding years.
Oakland Riot 2009 and Ferguson Riot 2014
America was under siege, with the country’s police receiving
most of the blame and hate—blame and hate that had been
building steadily since 2009, and even more so since 2014.
The reason? Controversial incidents involving the use of force
that resulted in the police being blamed and demonized. Rioting
was mostly localized to Oakland, California (2009) and Ferguson,
Missouri (2014).
Oakland in 2009 was where, for the first time, rioters consisted
of both largely white radicals/militants, and also black street
gangs. Downtown Oakland saw rioting that lasted for weeks. Fires
were set, stores and vehicles had their windows smashed and vandalized,
and there were attacks on police.
Oakland would prove to be a preview of Ferguson, Missouri in
2014. Yet in both Oakland and Ferguson, daytime protests and demonstrations
remained mostly peaceful. It wasn’t until nightfall that
the trouble started in both cities.
The reason was that there were two very different types of protesters
and demonstrators involved. In the daytime, they were exercising
their constitutional right to peaceful protest. However, nighttime
saw an influx of those with very different intentions. These usually
started with demonstrators setting fires, throwing objects at
police, breaking windows, vandalizing, etc. Then when police responded
by making arrests and meeting violence with chemical and less
lethal force, the situations would erupt into full-blown rioting.
(In Ferguson, the nightly rioting turned especially dangerous,
with suspects shooting at police who needed the protection of
their Armored Rescue Vehicles.)
The Ferguson rioting lasted weeks, continuing into 2015. It’s
believed many/most, of the rioters were not from Ferguson, and
while some were from nearby St. Louis, many others reportedly
were from out of state.
In the Oakland incident, a police officer was convicted and sentenced
to prison. In the Ferguson incident, the officer involved was
cleared of any and all criminality.
And yet, the protests continue to this day. The tenth anniversary
of the Ferguson incident saw protests, most of which were peaceful,
until nighttime when a group of protesters tore down a portion
of the fence protecting the Ferguson Police Station, rushing inside,
damaging property, etc. A police officer received severe brain
damage when tackled by a violent protestor.
This attack prompted the new Ferguson Chief of Police to ask, "What
are you protesting? The Ferguson Police Department has completely
changed since 2014."
George Floyd Riot 2020
Consider 2020, an election year that saw America essentially
in lockdown due to the Covid epidemic. However, it was also a
year that saw the most controversial police incident since Rodney
King twenty-nine years prior.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, it involved the arrest and death of
George Floyd, resulting in immediate outrage and rioting, leaving
much of Minneapolis burning and scarred. This included the fact
that Minneapolis Police were ordered to abandon a besieged police
station that was promptly invaded, taken over, and vandalized
by rioting mobs.
The rioting soon spread to other cities across the entire nation.
The worst rioting—besides in Minneapolis— took place
in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Seattle rioters
took over entire city blocks, including a police station that
police had been ordered to vacate. Portland would see almost nightly
rioting for many weeks and months afterward. Many more cities
were engulfed in rioting, violent clashes with police, looting,
arson, vandalism, and unprecedented curfews and lockdowns.
Unrest Today
Typical of many presidential election years, 2024 has proven
to be a contentious, and at times, tumultuous election year. In
this case, the protests and demonstrations have centered on the
Israel vs. Hamas war in Gaza.
The war began when on October 7, 2023, without warning, Hamas
invaded Israel, killing over a thousand Israelis and capturing
two hundred hostages. Israel responded by activating its military
and then attacking Hamas in Gaza.
At the time of this writing, the war still continues ten months
later, and is precariously close to expanding to include Hezbollah,
Lebanon, and potentially Iran.
While the U.S. has supported Israel with armaments and humanitarian
supplies, the attack on Israel and subsequent Israel vs. Hamas
war in Gaza has had a profound ripple effect in America. Numerous
protests and demonstrations have occurred, particularly on college
and university campuses nationwide.
While it was Hamas who attacked Israel, the protests and demonstrations
have mostly been anti-Israel, pro-Gaza, and by inference, pro-Hamas.
Many college and university campuses have experienced protesters
occupying tents and blocking entrances to campus buildings?—with
some college buildings taken over by protesters—along with
violence and vehement anti-Semitism directed toward Jewish students.
In 2024 at Columbia University in New York City, dozens of protesters
invaded and took over buildings. Attempts to remove them failed,
and the university called in NYPD to remove them, which they did,
making a number of arrests.
About the Authors
Mickey (Michele) Davis is an award-winning, California-based
writer and author. Her young adult novel, Evangeline Brown and
the Cadillac Motel, won the Swiss Prix Chronos for the German
translation. Mickey is the wife of a Vietnam War veteran officer.
She served as a California fire department volunteer.
Lieutenant Jim Weiss (Retired) is a former Army light infantryman,
school-trained Army combat engineer, a former school-trained
(regular Army) Army military policeman, former State of Florida
Investigator, and a retired police lieutenant from the Brook
Park (OH) Police Department. He has written and co-written hundreds
of articles for law enforcement and safety forces magazines,
most notably Law and Order, Tactical Response, Tactical Edge,
Police Fleet Manager, Knives Illustrated, Police, Police Marksman,
Counter Terrorism, Tactical World, and Concealed Carry Handguns.
Sergeant Bob O'Brien (Retired) Cleveland, Ohio Police Department
SWAT Sergeant. CPD SWAT Unit co-founder. Law enforcement
consultant, instructor, writer. Bob is a US Army Vietnam War
veteran. He has been published in LAW and ORDER, Tactical Response,
Tactical World (co-written with Jim and Mickey); in the past
had a SWAT column in Police magazine.
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