Judging by extensive photo and video documentation from the scene, the looters and arsonists in Minnesota were up to one half white, largely of the (forgive the crude expression) "scrawny commie stoner" variety.  The same is true with respect to the latest mayhem in Atlanta; New York; and Washington, D.C.  These events have little in common with the race riots of the 1940s and 1960s.  The majority of these young people, of all races, seem to be having a good time.

Let's back up a few generations.  There is a common perception that the (white) protests and riots of the 1960s and early 1970s were antiwar protests and riots.  If that is the case, then what was the driving force behind similar events, some of them much more prolonged, violent, and socially and economically disruptive, in France in 1968 and in many other countries around that same time?  France by then had given up its empire, was no longer involved in any wars, and was enjoying a period of unprecedented prosperity.  Likewise, what was the Prague Spring about?

It is more likely that the coming of age of the first postwar generation, and the unrealistic and unfulfilled longing for a sci-fi socialist utopia among its more fortunate, better schooled, middle- to upper-class members created a rage and a desire to cast off the ordinary, which came to a head in many countries at around the same time.  National commentators then worked backward to over-attribute these events to some specific "local" cause.  The protesters and rioters aged, developed their careers, and became bestselling authors or captains of media or education, in which positions they furthered a grand historical narrative of pursuing some holy grail or resisting something or other.  In every country (and with every country having its own unique circumstances), it was fundamentally the same.

The conclusion here for our purposes is that the mayhem in Minneapolis and its rapid spread throughout the country has little to do with police brutality.  The police have always been brutal and in fact are less brutal and corrupt and racist today than ever before.  At the same time, most black Americans today have homes and mortgages; many have cushy government jobs; many have businesses; and overall they and their children are invested in "the system" in a way that would have been almost unimaginable when Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed.  Although there remain many foci of poverty and dysfunction, the deep, all-encompassing pool of total indigence, disenfranchisement, and hopelessness from that period has been substantially drained.  Thus, I would venture to say that in simple manpower terms, large-scale mayhem (of the sort that causes police to abandon their stations to arsonists) in most American cities is now impossible on strictly "racial" grounds, without participation from the "Antifa" crowd and various other opportunists and adventurers, flash-mobbers, posers, hangers-on, and random selfie-takers with nothing better to do.  It is simply no longer a minority phenomenon.

What I am getting at is that the kids are going crazy.  Don't believe me?  That's fine — just sit back and watch CNN's headquarters in Atlanta getting attacked.  That's right, the Social Justice Warrior channel, being swarmed by hundreds of angry youths calling for justice.  Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

For two and a half months, all the colleges and college towns, all the nightclubs, bars, concert venues, swimming pools, and amusement parks have been closed, and even house parties have been prohibited in many jurisdictions.  People have been too afraid even to find dates.  Now that we know with absolute certainty that the Chinese coronavirus does not seriously harm the young 99.99-plus percent of the time, it is time to let people stretch their legs.  The alternative, as you can see, is things going downhill fast in other, non-virus directions.