Is Post-Election Riot Threat Real?

October 17, 2012 by Bob Livingston 

The “Twitter-verse” erupted this week withthreats to riot or assassinate Mitt Romneyshould President Barack Obama lose the Nov. 6 election.

This brings up a few questions. Is this a reflection of real outrage being felt in the black community? If it’s real, does it reflect the sentiment of a small or a large segment of the black community? Or is this manufactured outrage being used for a broader purpose?

Americans have rioted before for lesser reasons. Simply having their favorite team win the Super Bowl or World Series has led to riots in cities like Boston, Detroit, Denver and Los Angeles. In Lexington, Ky., fans of the Kentucky Wildcats were setting fires and firing guns within minutes of watching their team win the NCAA Basketball Championship in April.

In Cincinnati in 2001, people rioted for three days after police shot 19-year-old Timothy Thomas. Riots broke out in more than 100 U.S. cities in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Those riots came just three years after the infamous Watts riots in Los Angeles that began when a small crowd began throwing rocks at a California Highway Patrol officer who had stopped a drunk driver. People rioted in Newark, N.J., over an incident that never happened after a rumor began that police had killed a black cab driver they had in custody.

There’s no denying that blacks saw a rise in their self-esteem and the reinforcement of America as a land of equal opportunity following Obama’s 2008 election. Obama’s defeat after just four years could be seen as a major blow to that self-esteem and a pivot back toward black oppression.

Add to that divisive rhetoric from both political parties, a voting base ginned up over the ongoing loss of freedom (real), and the threat (just imagined) that Republicans are going to take away entitlements, ongoing economic hardships and a high rate of unemployment (for whites 7 percent, for blacks 13.4 percent), and you have the makings for trouble.

I have written before that food stamps and welfare are all that are staving off riots like those that have occurred in Greece and Spain. Those who live in or near congested areas should take extra precautions of the prevailing mood as Election Day draws near. If real, the outrage could lead to days and weeks of unrest. If manufactured, the outrage could be serving a broader purpose of pushing the United States toward martial law.

http://personalliberty.com/2012/10/17/is-post-election-riot-threat-real/