They are, rather, the signs of a decaying and dying society. When the people of any land prostitute human dignity in every conceivable manner they can expect the thin veneer of civilization to disappear and barbarity to return to the streets. Until America comes to its senses we will have more and more of what we have had. It is a common buck passing practice to blame racial discrimination and poverty for the wrecking, burning and plundering that is going on. We would like to blame others for our own failures.
Any sensible person knows that the causes lie deeper than that.
There are, and have been, countless millions of poor people who did not feel called upon to run amuck because they were poor. Plundering, and burning, and beatings and murder do not spring from poverty. Racial discrimination does not make one race turn upon its own kind like a mad dog. Pilate may try to wash his hands, but he cannot escape the indictment of history. When a nation turns away from God, and rejects eternal verities of moral conduct, the Sodomitish atmosphere soon manifests itself.