The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.
             Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
             Today, the United States stands as the strongest country in the world and from the outside, appears to be one of the best to live in. But, like all other societies on earth, we too are corrupt in many ways beyond solution. In the quote above by Martin Luther King Junior, a question comes to mind: Is direct action, like the riots in Los Angeles, an effective way to resolve or at least begin to resolve massive problems within our society? While reading Twilight this question was answered from multiple perspectives, quite a few in which brought up compelling points about the worthlessness and importance of direct action.
             Looking back on the riots today, have things really changed? Have we, as society taken a serious look at the matter of police brutality and made the essential adjustments our justice system is in dire need of? No, I don't believe we have. And from the accounts of the thousands of victims, it's nauseating that a change hasn't been brought about. If the three days of destruction did nothing in terms of change, what will make us realize the sorry state our nation is in? Maybe Martin Luther King Junior was right, violence doesn't change anything, it just drops us lower into a pit of barbarianism.
             "It can't be 'well, let's just do a couple of things for a few years and it will go away.'". (Otis Chandler, "Something Cooking Here", Twilight.) Chandler's point is so very true, and it's exactly what we, the United States, have done. We took this huge, built-up problem of discrimination, drew some media attention t...