12/8/2022 0 Comments Twitter riot civil unrest![]() "Yet … the origins of the upheaval are very much in their control." "All of these politicians that get completely overwhelmed and outraged from this level of chaos in their cities during these upheavals seem surprised," Heather Ann Thompson, a historian at the University of Michigan who's studied America's 1960s riots, previously told me. They are, instead, a serious attempt at forcing change after years of neglect by politicians, media, and the general public. ![]() Historians and experts argue that these types of riots aren't solely random acts of violence or people taking advantage of dire circumstances to steal and destroy property. Riots are caused by genuine anger, not solely opportunists looking to loot A person looks at burning wreckage during the Baltimore riots. But as tensions remain high in Charlotte, Baltimore, and other US cities, acknowledging the lingering rage and feelings of neglect that led to the riots as genuine political viewpoints is important not just to understand what would compel someone to burn down or loot local businesses, but also how to prevent such events from happening again in the future. ![]() This doesn't mean that people should go out into the streets and destroy their communities. We see some of this in media coverage today: When Baltimore burst into riots after Freddie Gray died in police custody, its policing problems received a lot more attention by the press - and even led to a US Justice Department investigation that found a local police department plagued by racist practices.īut riots don't just lead to more attention - other urban upheavals in the 1960s and 1990s led to real reforms in local police departments and governments, and the Justice Department is now pushing the Baltimore Police Department into reform following its investigation. What's more, riots can lead to serious attention and change. They might be catalyzed by one particular cause - such as a police shooting - but they're also the result of long-held angers - broader police abuse, residential segregation, economic inequality, and racial tensions, generally, in America. Riots are the culmination of these underlying issues. Related Charlotte protests erupt over police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott
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