Montage: As Seen on TV! 38 Excuses for Rioting in Baltimore

From the lack of a quality education to the subprime mortgage crisis, there’s no shortage of ways pundits rationalized rioting and looting

News & Politics

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Almost as soon as the looting began, media talking heads, politicians, activists, and politicians helpfully explained the “root causes” behind what to TV viewers appeared senseless violence and mayhem.

Of course, nearly everyone prefaced their comments with the obligatory “There’s never an excuse for violence,” which was invariably always followed with, “but …”

After sifting through the many hundreds of news clips we’ve posted about the riots, we’ve compiled 38 different excuses for the violent reaction Americans saw in Baltimore:

1. “Destroying” as a medium for protest [Stephanie Rawlings-Blake] 
2. Bad public policy the last 50 years [Joe Scarborough]
3. Failure of leadership [Mika Brzezinski]
4. When anger + despair + opportunism combine  [Wes Moore]
5. “Problems” that have simmered for “years and years” [Baltimore Sun columnist]
6. Poverty [Al Sharpton]
7. Unemployment [Al Sharpton]
8. Being mistreated by those in power [Brittney Cooper]
9. Under-education [Nick Mosby] 
10.  Bad experiences in school [Billy Murphy]
11.  Lack of proper “educational structure” [Nick Mosby]
12.  Being “starved” of a good education [Elijah Cummings]
13.  The media covering the riots 
14.  Theft of urban capital from post-industrial structures [Michael Eric Dyson]
15.  Lack of economic opportunity 
16.  Drug laws
17.  Broken people 
18.  Lack of a future [Mike Barnicle]
19.  Institutional inequities
20.  Black people who’ve died in the streets [Marc Lamont Hill]
21.  Despair [Harry Reid]
22.  Hopelessness [Harry Reid] 
23.  Some stores preyed on the community 
24.  Police harassment [William Murphy Jr.]
25.  No summer jobs [William Murphy Jr.]
26.  The system is not fair [Harry Reid]
27.  Everything is not OK [Harry Reid]
28.  No path from poverty [Harry Reid]
29.  Lack of future among protesters [Michael Eric Dyson]
30.  Lack of prospect among protesters [Michael Eric Dyson]
31.  Vacant homes [Jesse Jackson]
32.  Bailed out banks [Jesse Jackson]
33.  Subprime mortgages [Jesse Jackson]
34.  30 percent unemployment [Jesse Jackson]
35.  Reaganomics [Nick Mosby]
36.  Iran Contra(band?) [Nick Mosby]
37.  Stop and frisk [Nick Mosby]
38.  Mass incarceration [Nick Mosby]

P.S. Make it 40! We forgot lead poisoning and wealth disparity.