Melodi
Disaster Cat
I mentioned this on another thread, but I wanted to make a quick and personal historical observation.
The Los Angeles Area, and sometimes other large US cities, tend to have a "riot-summer" about once a generation. At least since my childhood in the early 1960s. I'm not sure if the trend extends back further than that, but it wouldn't surprise me.
They seem to happen about once every twenty to thirty years - the early 1960s, the early 1990s, and now 2025. Just long enough for a new generation to get old enough to blow their tops under the right conditions and circumstances.
This time, I think there was a combination of that generational timing, combined with outside interests, and the timing of specific actions by the immigration department that together was like lighting a match beside a gas leak.
There is a move to spread these demonstrations, similar to the Rodney King riots, and sometimes it works better than others (Watts created a couple of long, hot Summers that didn't end until Kent State and the Chicago Democratic Convention). Those in 1992 were in San Francisco (I was there), but didn't become nearly as widespread.
This time, I think there is a combination of seething emotions all over the US waiting to boil over and be exploited, which might make this spreading more likely. If it does, it won't just be about immigration, and we are already seeing that in Los Angeles, where other groups with other agendas are joining the fray. Along with people simply out to engage in looting and similar activities.
The Los Angeles Area, and sometimes other large US cities, tend to have a "riot-summer" about once a generation. At least since my childhood in the early 1960s. I'm not sure if the trend extends back further than that, but it wouldn't surprise me.
They seem to happen about once every twenty to thirty years - the early 1960s, the early 1990s, and now 2025. Just long enough for a new generation to get old enough to blow their tops under the right conditions and circumstances.
This time, I think there was a combination of that generational timing, combined with outside interests, and the timing of specific actions by the immigration department that together was like lighting a match beside a gas leak.
There is a move to spread these demonstrations, similar to the Rodney King riots, and sometimes it works better than others (Watts created a couple of long, hot Summers that didn't end until Kent State and the Chicago Democratic Convention). Those in 1992 were in San Francisco (I was there), but didn't become nearly as widespread.
This time, I think there is a combination of seething emotions all over the US waiting to boil over and be exploited, which might make this spreading more likely. If it does, it won't just be about immigration, and we are already seeing that in Los Angeles, where other groups with other agendas are joining the fray. Along with people simply out to engage in looting and similar activities.
