Are Baltimore rioters the beginnings of ISIS in America?

Counter terrorism officials observing the recent rioting in Baltimore should be concerned that those responsible for the mayhem could be co-opted by ISIS and unleash home grown violence reminiscent of the race riots in the late 1960’s or worse.  The parallels between the ISIS zealots and the Baltimore rioters are noteworthy. These rioters are fundamentally rootless and are untethered from society having little or no ties to family, culture or faith.  In a classic case of trying to extend one’s own values to another segment of society, media pundits incessantly admonished the mothers and fathers. The media is right, of course, that IF the rioters did come from a strong family environment, they would be less likely to be thugs. On the other hand, the more likely scenario is that they come from single parent homes, a mother struggling to support her family, family members involved with drugs and criminal activities/incarcerated – or all of the above. The erosion of the family in the Black community has been well documented, and the Baltimore riots are yet again a consequence.  Institutions and other organizations that should be trying to fill this void have not.  What sort of school is teaching these kids that it is OK after classes to go on a rampage at the local mall? The only difference between these thugs and the ISIS fighters is that ISIS is better armed and organized.  The situation would seem to be a huge opportunity for the radical Nation of Islam.

Philosophical differences between ISIS and the Nation of Islam are almost indistinguishable. Ironically Mayor Stephen Rawlings-Blake during a press conference stood alongside the leader of the local chapter of the Nation of Islam and thanked them for helping her deal with the riots. Last November  in a speech about the Michael Brown case, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, told the crowd: “We’ll tear this ******* country up! We going to die anyway, let’s die for something.” This sounds a lot like the tweet urging the Baltimore high school students to go on a “purge”. The fact that the Nation of Islam has long standing ties to Lybia increases the likelihood of ISIS co-opting and channeling the anger and violence of untethered black males in our major cities.