AMERICAN RIOTS

I was a soldier on my way home when seeing the aftermath of the Tet Offensive. Ho Chi Minh City was in shambles. The

year was 1968. Two months later, in my own Country, riots began to erupt along with demonstrations. Social unrest seems to be the key requirement for riots. America has a terrible record for riots!

Los Angeles riots in 1962 were the biggest. Property damage, fires, looting, killings seem to destroy our society. In a riot there are no "guardrails." All hell brakes loose. When Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated in April of 1968 riots broke out in over 100 cities. It seems poverty is a blood brother to a riot. Big cities are vulnerable to crime.

Detroit, Miami, Washington, DC, Newark, Baltimore and Chicago are amongst biggest cities having a riot history. The grandady of riots in Colonial times  was the Boston Tea Party where but 7 people were killed. Riot squads in America call out the National Guard, the U.S. Army and the thousands of city police restoring "Law and Order."

It's kind of scary watching the San Francisco scene last night and today. Are we in for a "long hot summer?/ Are Americans fed up enough to rebel? Will Cleveland be the hot spot of our summer? Maybe a little revolution is good... maybe not.