"Note: This is not a judgment of _either_ the rioting or the non-rioting but an observation. A tentative (partial) interpreation. Rioting is an important political manifestation, but at 'higher' levels of political consciousness spontaneous riots are less apt to occur."
Or as my father pointed out, driving me (at nine years old) around Watts as it was burning down, national guard on every corner, people running everywhere clutching TV sets: "This is the difference between a riot and a revolution: in a riot, people break into stores and steal TV's; in a revolution they take over the radio stations and the police stations."
He caught hell from my mom when we got back; but he was a student of history, and he thought it was important that I see what was happening. The memories are still indelibly printed in my mind.
Joanna