''Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not … stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire.”
That’s a key passage from Alan Paton’s fine 1948 novel—Cry, the Beloved Country—about race relations in South Africa. In America, periodically, not the setting sun but deliberately set fires make the streets turn red. That’s what happened Saturday night in at least 75 cities. This is probably the most widespread urban protest and destructive opportunity since the 1968 riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Then, as now, many pastors imitated Christ and urged their followers to put aside torches and weapons. Many poachers imitated the Joker in Batman comics and movies, using the opportunity to steal and burn. The resultant photos—exultant backlit destroyers standing on cars and waving their arms—went quickly...
