The ongoing travesties of justice that poor communities face are a disgraceful monstrosity of abuse, no doubt. The scale of disenfranchisement from mainstream society is hard to even get a sense of for most. Riots are in some senses a product of that disenfranchisement (people with nothing to lose, and a lot of pent up collective rage are likely to act out), and point to serious problems we need to grow up as a society to face and manage. Yet, the riots create conditions that make that progress more difficult. We live in an incredibly screwed up society.