I just submitted this letter to the editor of the Raleigh News & Observer *Lessons from the Riots of 1968* In 1968, I lived in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, which was to be the center of the riots following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death on Thursday, April 4. I was part of a community that was engaged in community reformulation in a 22-square block area. We lived in a one-square-block seminary campus; the seminary had moved to the suburbs as part of white flight. On the evening of April 5th (it was Good Friday), I watched out of a third-floor window as fires were lit one after another. They came closer and closer and eventually our building was set on fire—thankfully, we were able to put the fires out. Organizers had identified white-owned businesses, and these were the targets. The only grocery story in the neighborhood was burned—it would not be replaced for 10 years. Looting was rampant. The National Guard was brought in. It was surreal. Protests and riots are related but different. Riots it is said are the voice of the voiceless, but what a confusing and often destructive voice. Protest comes from anger, riots from rage and the desire for payback against a generalized other. In the 60s the civil rights movement, the Viet Nam war, and the intolerable deterioration of inner-city urban life tore into the American soul. Today pandemic, economic collapse, and blatant racism torch our collective anxiety and despair. Then Richard Nixon called on the “moral majority” to put down anarchy. There is little doubt in my mind that the chaos of the riots and protests or the late 60s led to the conservative turn in our nation, which began with Nixon. Protests barely make the news these days, but riots and violence do. Along with riots and violence come the widely divergent responses of the people. Compared with Trump, Nixon was a healer—he appealed to a mythical majority to restore order and decency. Trump appeals only to his base and incites rage to counter rage, division to counter division, and distraction to avoid addressing the serious problems we face. It will take a miracle for our country to come together, for decency and tolerance to reign. May those who engage in senseless violence cease, and those who take what is not theirs stop. May we give up our carefully constructed culture wars. May those who foment anger for gain come to their senses. We cannot afford another 50-year detour into us versus them. We are the *United *States and there is so much we need to do together. Herman Greene Chapel Hill, NC -- __________________________________________________ Herman F. Greene 2516 Winningham Road Chapel Hill, NC 27516 919-942-4358 (ph & fax) hfgreenenc@gmail.com