As some of you of a certain age might still remember from long ago, in August of 1968 the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago. Along with all of the delegates and guest speakers, an army of protesters showed up in the city and swarmed the streets outside of the arena. They were there to protest America's involvement in the Vietnam War. More than 600 people were arrested in one evening and countless injuries were sustained. The damage took months to repair. Now, in the middle of a season filled with a different type of protests, the Democrats have inexplicably chosen to hold their convention in Chicago once again. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as the Free Press reports, a recent meeting in Chicago hosted by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization should be giving them a clue.
In a room full of 450 far-left activists, a leader with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization kicks off a chant: “Protest is a right—not just for the rich and white.”
“Have you heard that the Democratic National Convention is coming to Chicago?” Joe Iosbaker asks the crowd. “Are we going to let ’em come here without a protest? This is Chicago, goddamn it—we’ve got to give them a 1968 kind of welcome.”
In 1968, the Democratic Convention in Chicago was a bloodbath, with 600 arrests in one street battle that was broadcast all over the world. And the group that met here last Saturday, in the local headquarters of the Teamsters Union, wants to repeat history when Joe Biden is named the presidential nominee at the DNC this August. They oppose the president they call “Genocide Joe” for backing Israel in its war against Hamas.
"We've got to give them a 1968 kind of welcome." Oh, my. That doesn't sound ominous at all, does it?
To be fair to the Democrats, it probably wouldn't change anything even if they canceled the event and moved the convention to another city. The pro-Hamas terrorists are showing up in every city and on every college campus. They are drawn to the media's camera like flies to honey. They would travel to wherever the convention wound up being held and their Soros-funded backers would no doubt cover their costs.
We have to wonder what sort of response the protesters will receive from the Chicago PD this time. In 1968, Mayor Richard Daley wasn't playing any games. He sent in the cops in force with riot gear and batons. They were beating down protesters in the streets, cuffing them, and tossing them in the wagons. Thus far in 2024, the reactions of public officials have been quite different. There haven't been too many serious injuries yet (except to Jewish students) and the cops have largely been held back with a few notable exceptions. Will Mayor Brandon Johnson have the nerve to send in the riot squad and maintain order in the streets or will he keep everyone on the sidelines and let the rioters run wild as we saw during the BLM riots?
Lost in all of this is the key difference between today's riots and 1968. Back then, President Lyndon Johnson had the ability to end the war in Vietnam. Nixon would go on to do so after he took over. Joe Biden can't stop the war in Gaza. He can undermine support for Israel prosecuting their war against their Hamas attackers and he has already done so for political purposes. But even if Biden wanted to completely cave to the demands of the rioters, that's simply not within his power. Of course, nobody has suggested that these leftist, Hamas-loving agitators were brimming with common sense. In any event, the coming drama seems to be nearly set in stone at this point. The Democrats and the entire city of Chicago need to brace themselves and get ready.
As a reminder, here is what it looked like in August of 1968. The Democrats need to be prepared for this or even worse. (You may need to click through to YouTube to view this because the video is age-restricted for some reason, despite being from the History Channel.)
