Protests, some not so peaceful, have taken place in the country almost since its inception. Soldiers of the Continental Army rioted against Congress in the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783. From your history class you may remember references to Shay’s Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, the New York City draft riots, and the Haymarket riot. What typified previous protests in this country is that they were about the rights of a free people to protest actual injustice. Also, they accurately targeted the focus of their ire.

It was not until the modern era that many protests became the exclusive preserve of domestic terrorists, capering thieves, vandals, and arsonists. Taking place within modern memory, as the Left has taken compete control of these operations, we chronicle riots that have been more about looting, fires, and destruction than they were, and are, about justice of any sort.

5) Watts riots, August 11-17, 1965, Los Angeles, CA: Almost the template for modern rioting, here people supposedly upset about poverty and police abuse decided to burn down, loot, and destroy…their own neighborhoods? It still is a mystery to many how torching businesses in any area, be it in a downtown business district or in a downtrodden section of town, will bring about any societal change. All these kinds of riots act as a bonanza for thieves, sport for firebugs, and as a boon to liberal politicians and their press toadies. For those victimized by the riots, their hearts harden against the cause of the riots. For the police that have to put down the riots, a bitterness is built up that can explode at any time. The only winners are those who set out to loot and destroy.

4) The Long Hot Summer, 1967, all across the nation: 159 race riots broke out across America, as blacks egged on by radicals obscured the legitimate cause of civil rights with wanton destruction and robbery—again, mostly in their own neighborhoods. Like evil children at dangerous play, they were setting up future unrests they could not see through their own hate and ignorance.

3) The 1968 Democratic National Convention, August 27-28, Chicago, IL: The only riot on our list with a happy ending, this flower child extravaganza followed devastatingly violent riots in 1968 to commemorate the deaths of (you guessed it) nonviolent icons Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy. When various young communists, scruffy hippies, and toddler anti-war traitors showed up in Chicago to riot against the Democrats (well, can’t fault them there) the Chicago police let them go on for a bit. But when the children got out of hand, Mayor Daley’s boys in blue waded into them like a chainsaw through daisies. Jolly good fun was had by all, except the assembled uncouth and disgusting kiddie rioters.

2) Rodney King riots, April-May 1992, Los Angeles, CA: Here is where the Left really got into the swing of things. Almost every ridiculous trope we see today in justifying the insane savagery of the current riots was first trotted out, to Democrat and media fanfare, in this event. Rodney King was an idiot who tried to outrun cops who were only going to stop him for a mundane traffic citation. But when he took off like a bat out of hell, when the police caught him, to quote Chris Rock, “…if the police have to come and get you, they’re bringing an ass-kicking with them.” The cops who caught up with King were put on trial for alleged abuse and were acquitted. And the city went ka-boom. Did the riots change the police verdict? No. Did they make the police more gentle when motorists try to outrun them? No. Again, only the arsonists and looters gained from the event. The pattern of this type of rioting has not changed since.

1) I don’t have to recount the worst of the lot for you: You’ve read of the Floyd riots here, watched them on television, and perhaps experienced them yourself. My words would likely be mostly redundant. But beware, this won’t be the last time we see this kind of thing. It is now the preferred means of “transformational change” employed by the Democrats and their Antifa allies. We can only gird for the future and make sure that when they come, violent murderous rioters get a warm reception, preferably encased in a full metal jacket.