When I was in college, the town had a pumpkin festival. Young adults (from multiple schools in the area, including mine) used jack o lanterns as an excuse to start a riot that resulted in vandalism and flipped cars.
Can you guess that I went to a mostly white college?

This riot over a pumpkin themed party weekend came just a few months after (the spark of) unrest in Ferguson, due to the shooting of Michael Brown.

The pumpkinfest riot was pointless, and just one example of white people rioting over stupid shit. The unrest in Ferguson around the same time just highlighted how much white people get away with.

Politicians out there want to say rioting is always bad, but they don't condemn these acts of pointless rioting as loudly as they condemn peaceful protests that are often forced to become riots.

Oh, and guess how many people were injured or killed by police (and SWAT) during the pumpkinfest riot? None, to my knowledge, despite crowds taunting police to "bring out the bearcat" (because the police owned an armored vehicle). Most were just refered to as crazy kids partying.

Although I wasn't involved in the pumpkinfest riot (I was in a dress rehearsal for Equus at the time, and also frightened by normal parties), I know that I had the privilege to participate in a pointless riot without fear of long lasting repercussions because of my skin.

Had the pumpkinfest riot happened in an area that wasn't prominently white, I don't think it would be viewed by the media the same way. No politician called the rioters out as "thugs".

I don't know what my final point is with this thread. All I can say is white people protest over stupid things with very few lasting repercussions. Yet politicians and media talk about these protests that become riots as if they are worse.

And there are so many more repercussions for those involved in these protests. This includes many lost lives, whether they are lost during riots, or whether they are the spark, such as Michael Brown or George Floyd.

"A riot is the language of the unheard". So keep speaking up for justice.