All will admit that riots are destructive, whose results are costly, and are unlawful; however, throughout history, riots are considered as peoples' expressions of flagrant and public injustices gone unchecked by the national and/or regional legislative governance(s).
The fires in Minneapolis, Minnesota typify many frustrations and disappointments in the U.S., in which the victims, mostly African Americans, have been considered by the law as the criminals, and many are arrested for these expressions despite the injustices that continue mounting up throughout the country's history. In the photo, George Floyd was arrested due to being policed concerning a $10 bill alleged as counterfeit by a store clerk. Without resisting arrest, Floyd was forcefully apprehended and died after 10 minutes of the police officer's left knee and weight resting on Floyd's neck.
In a novels written by Walter Dean Myers (2009), titled "Riot", and another book written by Iverson Bernstein (1991), titled "Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War" ...both describe a riot started due to Black peoples' unrest but yet they become double-victims of the riot. Dean and Iverson describes, "... a long hot July in 1863, the worst race riots the United States has ever seen erupt in New York City. Earlier that year, desperate for more Union soldiers, President Abraham Lincoln instituted a draft–a draft that would allow the wealthy to escape serving in the army by paying a $300 waiver, more than a year’s income for the recent immigrant Irish. And on July 11, as the first drawing takes place in Lower Manhattan, the city of New York explodes in rage and fire. Stores are looted; buildings, including the Colored Foundling Home, are burned down; and black Americans are attacked, beaten, and murdered. The police cannot hold out against the rioters, and finally, battle-hardened soldiers are ordered back from the fields of Gettysburg to put down the insurrection, which they do–brutally." In Dean's writing, this is the context of a story told by a 15 year old girl (Claire) who is the daughter of a white man and black woman. She wars within herself trying to make sense of society as well as her own identity (2009). And this is also the confusion bestowed on many African American children borne in the U.S.'s 21st Century, whether they hold a love for their country, as it exudes injustices on their own Black people.
Personally, in my 50 year lifetime, I have lived through the reports of 6 riots due to African American's unrest with law enforcement's injustices, and I have experienced one riot personally. In Baltimore, Maryland, in 2015, riots erupted due to the unjust exoneration of officers after the death of a young black man, Freddie Gray, while being transported to the police station, riding handcuffed and unprotected in the back of the police van. Consequently, a mall and many businesses were ravished. While I understood the duress of my fellow African Americans, as well understood the presence of National Guards, I joined a group of 100+ clergy in a peace march on the west side of Baltimore, which assisted in comforting and/or quelling the rioting. However, if one reflects only on the most recent 20 years of governance, wars, policing, employment, housing, prosperity, healthcare, and public dignity in the U.S., although there exists an equal share of cultural contributions, there also exists a glaring tilt of favoritism given to the cultures whom are not minorities.
Simply, in the most recent 20 years, there has been enough public unfairness to justify unrest, disturbance, continual activism, and "acts" within the nation's minority generations whom are less than 30 years of age. A rhetorical question might be, "With a nation who exudes so much gross unfairness, how can we preach a gospel of God's favor to our children?" Rather than "God Bless America", we must say "God Help America". What is your opinion about recent rioting in the last 20 years in the U.S.?
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