by Jordan Bondurant
The violence in Portland and Seattle, in Minneapolis, Kenosha, Wisconsin and all across America over the last few months in connection with Black Lives Matter protests has dominated the headlines.
In places like Portland, the streets have become battlegrounds between local and federal police and leftist demonstrators, with arrests being made and deterrents like tear gas being used.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, has come out against his own police force and banned the use of tear gas effective September 10, even as the number of consecutive days in which protesting and rioting continues to climb into the triple digits.
Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, praised the work federal police are doing in Portland, and recently said the moral and legal duty to protect federal buildings and property and hold accountable will never be abdicated.
As Tucker Carlson has repeatedly posited on air, so long as the elected leaders in office in these cities – who are overwhelmingly Democrats – enable those who want to destroy America from the inside out, these riots will continue into the foreseeable future.
But rioting isn’t to the Pacific Northwest. A recent study by the Princeton University-backed Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) indicates that 48 out of the 50 largest cities in America have experienced some sort of rioting event linked to Black Lives Matter protests.
The study found that between May 26, the day after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota and August 22, ACLED recorded “over 7,750 demonstrations linked to the BLM movement across more than 2,440 locations in all 50 states and Washington, DC.
The study notes, “Though reported events associated with the BLM movement have gradually declined since their peak in late May and early June, ACLED still continues to record dozens of demonstrations each week.”
In Virginia, riots have occurred sporadically in Richmond since early June. The data indicates eight riots have taken place from June 14 to August 29, and have done nearly $4 million in damage to local businesses.
The study also cited a June article by FiveThirtyEight that said “42% of respondents believe ‘most protesters [associated with the BLM movement] are trying to incite violence or destroy property.’”
Rioting has also occurred in Detroit, Columbus and Nashville. The only cities on the list of 50 largest cities by population that haven’t experienced rioting according to the study is Mesa, Arizona and Fresno, California.
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Jordan Bondurant is a reporter for The Virginia Star. You can follow him on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Rioting” by Brett Weinstein CC2.0
