America has never had their police force or their military force more armed and with more personnel than they have today, in which, Wikipedia.com states that: "in 2008, state and local law enforcement agencies employed more than 1.1 million people on a full-time basis," and further that in 2010, our military force consists of about 2.25 million people, including reservists. This total force of police which have become more and more militarized in its tactics, weapons, and equipment as well as our military force, which essentially has nobody to fight or to war against, except against third rate nations and insurgents, are well trained and have demonstrated in action that they will reign destruction on innocent or guilty, alike, without compunction, and without questioning orders as given by their superiors.
In the 1960s, we suffered the assassination, of one President, John F. Kennedy on November 23, 1963, one black nationalist, Malcolm X on February 21, 1965, the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, and one Presidential candidate who had an excellent chance of not only winning the Democratic nomination but the Presidency, Robert F. Kennedy, on June 5, 1968. The only assassination that led to any extensive rioting was the MLK assassination, of which, to the credit of the followers of MLK, as well as to other statesmen great and small, and citizens of all colors, calmness was the order of the day, and it was by that calmness by so many, that reduced the effect of the rioting that still occurred in many cities, of which, the biggest riots were in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington DC, in which the National Guard was called out, but considering that King was a remarkable, iconic, and an exceptional man, the greatest voice of his people, the overall negative reaction to his callous assassination could have been far, far worse, but it was not.
Today, though, should assassinations of this sort, of these sorts of great visionaries re-occur or be re-visited, the response, one fears, would be the type of chaos, rioting, destruction, violence, and the declaration of martial law, on such an unprecedented scale, never before seen in this nation. The difference that we have today as compared to the 1960s, is that the 1960s, represented for those that were oppressed a belief, that through the great society programs, through the recognition that blacks as well as other minorities, deserved and were due a place at the great table of opportunity in America, that indeed, these inequalities and these injustices, though they may take time, would eventually be overcome.
Unfortunately, we are fifty years removed from that place in time, and while there has been progress made, and there are indeed people of color in positions of power, in government, and in the private sector, the vast majority of minorities are no closer to the promise land than they were fifty years ago, and very strong arguments can be made, and are made, that they are even further away; for the justice requested, has been replaced with unprecedented high levels of minority incarceration, the job opportunities requested, have resulted in higher unemployment vis-à-vis the white majority, and more and more minorities being stuck in dead-end jobs with no opportunity to make a living or to have a meaningful life, in addition to the fact that schools that should now be fully integrated, are, in fact, separate, unequal, and too often absolutely abysmal for minorities.
The divide between the "haves" and the "have not" is greater today than it was back in the 1960s, and the faces of the "haves" while not 100% white are predominately the same class of whites that have been on top forever, and the faces of the "have not" while having some white mixed in, are essentially the same faces of color that it has always been since the first slaves were stolen from their homeland and forcefully taken to America.
So then, the real reason why today's police force is so militarized, and why our military forces are so plentiful, has little to do with foreign fears, but has everything to do with domestic ones, for America has given up on its minorities, given up on even the semblance of fairness, and will by all means necessary, put down via martial law, the oppressed that would have the audacity to think that they can rise up against the state.