New Wave of Riots Causes Portland Courthouse to Be Turned Into a Fortress Once Again
Riots are back. And it makes us wonder if they’re going away anytime soon.
After the continuous string of riots that befell America last summer followed by the Capitol incursion in January, it’s clear the country has had its fair share of violence in the streets.
Yet again, Portland, Oregon, has become a focal point for the violence as rioters vandalized the Mark O’Hatfield Courthouse over the weekend.
According to Fox News, fencing around the courthouse, which had been removed on Wednesday, has once again been installed around the courthouse.
City workers constructed the non-scalable fencing in an attempt to keep out violent protesters, repeating precautions taken during last June’s riots.
Workers today putting back fence, concrete barriers outside Mark O. Hatfield US Courthouse in downtown Portland – after windows broken, graffiti on front facade pic.twitter.com/afMGsxvFay
— Maxine Bernstein (@maxoregonian) March 14, 2021
Portland came into the spotlight multiple times due to riot activity last year, particularly following the May 25 death of George Floyd. But it’s just one of the cities nationwide that have been hit by mobs bent on destruction.
Almost 10 months after the death of Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, and more than a year after the March 13 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor during a police raid in Louisville, Kentucky, leftists still fan the flames of violence.
Fox News reported on the widespread rioting in West Coast cities on Saturday, the one-year anniversary of Taylor’s death.
In addition to Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles saw mobs battling police officers, smashing store windows and looting restaurants and other businesses, according to Fox.
Thanks to @briansflood for covering out latest study proving that the media have been ignoring the ongoing left-wing Antifa violence in Portland since they start of the year. https://t.co/ykugKCTcZ3
— MediaResearchCenter (@theMRC) March 15, 2021
This speaks volumes about the state of our nation, and says nothing good about the future.
Last year, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden posed the question of whether the country would be more peaceful if then-President Donald Trump won a second term.
Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 31, 2020
But Biden’s inauguration hasn’t stopped the riots and the left has done nothing to prevent more from occurring. So, what will?
[firefly_poll]
It’s simple to say that relationships between divided parties must be fostered from the ground level and then moved upward, but enacting such policies proves more difficult.
Is our solution, then, to elect big government politicians who seek to embolden an already failing system?
Regardless of who holds the office of the president, riotous rhetoric begins within these communities, within the media, and can only be perpetrated or criticized by those holding office.
Ironically, the same political candidate who threatened to “beat up” Trump also criticized the former president for his “divisiveness” and called for unity upon his own presidential victory.
However, Biden’s calls for unity are fruitless discourse at best.
It’s too easy to denounce violence while supporting the same rhetoric that gave rise to the same identity politics and divisiveness that led to the violence in the first place.
Now, in America, the collective mindset pits one side against the other, treating opposing viewpoints as adversaries, and — overwhelmingly for leftists — treating political discourse as a literal battleground, instead of an avenue to exchange ideas.
Rioting is not the answer and never will be.
It brings innocent bystanders into an equation where they don’t belong: Decimating communities, destroying livelihoods, and harming — or even killing — individuals who fall outside the spectrum of blame.
Maybe we can achieve unity someday, but it’s safe to say it won’t come from those who perpetuate this animosity.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
