Riots: Good or Bad?

While I can see how riots can be considered a bad thing, I personally believe the opposite. Riots are a form of expression from people who have gone unheard for too long. The fact of the matter is that that no one’s immediate response to a situation is to riot. It takes a lot for dozens, or even hundreds, of people to collectively decide that a riot is the next course of action and to actually participate in it. Our society can barely get people to recycle to save the planet they live on. If a situation goes on for so long that this many people our outraged by it and are willing to leave their homes and riot, I beleive the situation is probably dire. Many times, a riot is the only way for specific groups of people to be heard and actually listened too. I’m not sure where “Land of the Free” came from, because our country is absolutely tangled in oppression. With systematic racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and so much more, I can see how riots can become the only source of expression for these groups.

Further, I believe that riots are a good thing for our society as a whole. Big, risky movements are how we advance. Without expression, including riots, from people in our country, there would be nothing to draw attention to the big issues we have to overcome.