Watching London burn puts me in mind of the riots across the US in the mid 60s

[Stinky The Clown]

I have no idea if there is any causational correlation, and do not claim to see any.

The similarity I see is in the images of residents burning their own neighborhoods. It is so awful to contemplate. I don't wish to make more of the comparison than the simple fact that riots are leading to destruction of whole neighborhoods.

[emilyg]

1. I remember it well.

[emilyg]

2. I remember it well.

[kiva]

3. I was thinking the same thing today.

The scars of people destroying their own communities lingers for a very longs time, and the fear that is generated can create some negative consequences, such as the Silent Majority.

[Chorophyll]

4. Very sensible post.

I don't understand the contingent on DU that longs for unrest. We need effective protest here, not riots.

[OKDem08]

8. I think it's derived from a legitimate desire to shake up

the system...the way it's playing out is less than desirable, though, to be quite honest.

[Chorophyll]

9. Agreed on both counts. nt

[Warpy]

5. I was in a couple of those. One I didn't realize was a riot

until I got home and saw it on TV. I'd just seen a bunch of people milling around when I got off the subway. The other one I was on the third floor and the riot only got as far as breaking into the lobby. It was a bank on the first floor, so the cops came fast.

Had the punks taken more of their rage out on the fancy neighborhoods instead of their own, I might have a little more sympathy, but very little.

This started as justified rage and ended as looting.

The main thing the late 60s riots accomplished was having necessary businesses like supermarkets leave those neighborhoods. They still haven't moved back, which is why those neighborhoods are now called "food deserts."

[BarbaRosa]

6. Had the same thought, seems were headed back that way.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Was thinking the same thing today.

Don't know whether the causes are related but I clearly remember those riots of the '60s.

[WCGreen]

10. I remember my dad carrying with him a baseball bat and a sword

when he drove into Cleveland..

I was ten when this all went down the first time.

There were two rounds of riots in Cleveland. The scars are still there more than 40 years on...

[Waiting For Everyman]

11. I was thinking that too.

I saw the riots in Baltimore and D.C. Some neighborhoods weren't rebuilt 25 years later.

Remember this ditty about it?

Trouble Every Day, by Mothers of Invention

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiVFfOOm_GI

[chill_wind]

12. Quite a lot of history here on the Detroit riots (photo, video, website collections at the end),

http://www.enotes.com/topic/1967_Detroit_riot

Much in there I never knew.

[FarCenter]

13. Most of the stores and businesses are not owned by residents of the neighborhoods

This was true in the '60s. Part of the grievance of the residents was the high prices charged by white business owners and landlords in the stores.

[pintobean]

14. Haven't you heard?

Americans don't riot. Those riots were produced by the same studio that faked the moon landing.

[WinkyDink]

15. HERE is our Civil Unrest history, if anyone cares to research further. NO, not like the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_civil_unrest_in_the_United_States#1960s

The American 60's/70's "riots" were mainly about Civil Rights/racial issues and the VietNam Conflict. And mostly were people's reactions to the illegal invasion of Cambodia; the killings at Kent State; the assassinations of the Rev. MLK, Jr., Medgar Evers, and others; etc.