Follower @SJamesC7 got our eyes on this tweet claiming that regions across the U.S. have been placed under martial law. But this actually isn’t true!
It is true that there have been protests following #GeorgeFloyd’s death in every single US state. And according to this chart from Forbes, 23 states have the National Guard deployed. forbes.com/sites/niallmcc…
However, martial law has NOT been enacted. As @PolitFact says here, martial law is used when civil forces are overwhelmed. That has not happened yet.
Martial law has historically in the U.S. been used rarely, only after major disasters like the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. metro.co.uk/2020/06/02/wha…
The National Guard has also been deployed after disasters like the blizzards in 2007. We’ve also seen the National Guard deployed during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and to accompany the Little Rock Nine in 1957.
Bringing extra troops in is NOT the same thing as declaring martial law and suspending ordinary law and order. Be sure to double check definitions with a keyword search before you share anything! These are two very different things and conflating them can be very dangerous.
So again, this is NOT legit. But thank you to @SJamesC7 for getting our attention about it! Remember to tag @mediawise and #isthislegit and we’ll check out any sus claims.
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