(The Atlantic Monthly)
America has just endured another riot. And just as the L.A. riots could not be understood apart from both the beating of Rodney King and the decades of policing that shaped the relationship between the LAPD and the black community, Monday's riot in Baltimore, Maryland cannot be understood apart from both the death of Freddie Gray and years of misbehavior by Baltimore's police department.
Why do so few conservatives grant that?
It isn't as if conservatives must focus on denouncing the rioters as though no one else is doing it. In Baltimore, no passersby were pulled from their cars and beaten nearly to death; there may have been as few as two or three arsonists; many of the looters are better described as impulsive high-school knuckleheads than rotten criminals. Even so, condemning their actions is a near consensus position in U.S. politics.