Why do Black People Riot, Loot, and Destroy Their Neighborhoods?

It's a great question that I never knew how to answer

Watch this video where Kimberly Jones lays it all out in an analogy we can understand. Her emotion builds all the way to the end, where she points out why we should be grateful all that Black people want is equality.

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The question comes up, especially last summer when demonstrations were in full swing, about why things have to get out of control and rioting and looting set in. It's a great question because we want to know "what are we missing here?" It's a question that is asked by liberals and conservatives alike.

During those protests and demonstrations last summer, Kimberly Jones was helping a friend conduct interviews with protestors when she had a moment of clarity and recorded the above video. In it, she makes a powerful case and lays out what has happened over the last four hundred plus fifty years and how we have come to this point.

To break it down, she explains that when there is civil unrest, there are three types of people out there; protesters, rioters, and looters.

Protestors are there because they care and are speaking out for change. It's as simple as that.

Rioters are angry and want to make a mess out of things. They are fed up, and destroying property is a way to vent that frustration. After protesting for literally decades and nothing changes, rioting is the next step. If the nation won't listen to peaceful protests and make changes, the volume needs to be dialed up. What is louder than a peaceful protest? A riot.

Looters are the everyday people who can never seem to get ahead. They see a chance to take what our culture waves in front of them, which they can't afford to have because of economic disparity. We live in a consumer society. All of those nice things advertised as "must-have" possessions are unobtainable for the economically disadvantaged. One of the ways to get those things is to take them. And if the opportunity presents itself in the way of a broken glass window, in the moment, they take it.

Black people in America, for the most part, are poor. They are broke and have no hope of having the nice things we flaunt in front of them. Looting is their one shot at having some of those things that we (white people) take for granted.

Kimberly addresses the idea that often gets tossed out there about people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Black people were brought to America for economic reasons. To work agriculture in the south and mills in the north. But they didn't gain anything for their labor. The earnings from their work were always taken from them. That is slavery.

Then, after abolition, when they did build communities, the communities were burned to the ground. Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Rosewood, Florida are tragic examples of how whites have oppressed and kept self-sufficient Black communities from existing. That is oppression.

When someone asks, "why do they riot and loot their neighborhoods?" It comes down to the fact that every time Black citizens have worked to build a community and be self-reliant, it has been destroyed. Therefore, they don't own anything. They don't own the businesses, or where they live, or where they work. When a black person goes into a store to buy something, they buy from a white-owned company. When they pay the rent, they are paying a white landlord. And when they go to work, they are working for a business owned by white people.

Black people in this country feel like there is no way to win. The game is fixed. White people make the rules, and when Black people are catching up or getting ahead, we change the rules. So why not riot? They don't own anything; it's not their neighborhood; it is owned by white people. Let me say that again. Black people own nothing. When they are rioting and looting, they are not destroying their neighborhood. They are destroying things owned by white people.

The flashpoint comes when the police kill another Black person. It seems like the confrontation is almost always over something minor, too. Or worse yet, nothing at all. Protesters protest because they care and want change. Police come in to manage the protesters, things escalate, and the rioting begins. Then the looting happens, because why not? It doesn't make it right. It's just the prospect of a bleak future. If you are Black, or more so if you are a Black man, you are probably going to jail no matter what you did or didn't do. There is a chance you will be shot and killed before even going to jail. So why not loot? If you are Black, the chances of being accused of a crime are high, so why not loot? Why not?

What did I miss here? If you watched the video, you probably picked up on some things I didn't see. Let me know your thoughts in the comments or an email. I appreciate and grow from the feedback. Thank you for taking the time to read.

I appreciate you.

Martin