Five years ago, during the Baltimore conflagrations after Freddie Gray’s death in BPD custody, this author mused:
“…rioting as the de rigueur reaction to perceived injustice—[] contra to \(or even because of) the progressive tenets that declare it justified presents the much bigger threat to public order…Grievance-driven riots are far more likely to have been deliberate rather than spontaneous, evidenced by the the direct targeting of the forces of law and order and general infrastructure as opposed to victims of opportunity. This adds an element of intent and thereby amplifies the degree of criminal responsibility…It therefore makes sense that more draconian quasi-military responses are necessary because these deliberate riots are less likely to stop in and of themselves.”
The inevitable cries of “racist!!!” that ensued from (the few) critics who assumed that this excused “sports riots” ostensibly primarily driven by white youths showed that the critics deliberately ignored the logic, if they’d even read the piece.
But now even that point is moot: as the most currently riot-ridden city—Portland—is also one of the most lily-white un the US, the grievance-driven riot industry has now proven to be a multi-racial enterprise, just as much white as non-white.
