While I did not participate or necessarily condone the riots that occured in 2018 I am able to understand them. When a system oppresses you for so long and wrongs you time and time again, at what point is it “ok” to respond in a “wrong way”. Our nation’s past is so full of hate and injustice that I am able to understand why so many reacted the way they did. 2018 was supposed to be a time where we are all equal, where extreme injustices are not supposed to happen anymore. The African American community has been at the mercy of the police force along with the government system for so long that in my eyes it is easy to see why so many snapped. The tough part of the conversation is the innocent people who had their businesses impacted by the looting and other forms of rioting. While I feel for them, I believe in some ways that this had to happen. There had to be a response to the trial that would without a doubt get the attention of the American people. I don’t believe that the “high road” would have been the right response. So many people have felt so helpless for so long and the riots in my eyes were people taking some of the power into their own hands and it’s hard for me to condemn that. At the end of the day I do not condone crime or violence but I do not think that this is an issue without a right and wrong answer. There is too much emotion and too much history for that. I just hope that our system can correct itself and learn from this situation in hopes of ever having to go through something of this magnitude again.