They deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the Heavens came into being and the Earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the World of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present Heavens and Earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ONE THE SERIES of precipitating incidents, culminated in violence, the riot process did not follow a uniform pattern in the 24 disorders surveyed. However, some similarities emerge. The finial incidents before outbreak of disorder, and the initial violence itself, generally occurred at a time and place in which it was normal for many people to be on the streets. In most of the 24 disorders, groups generally estimated at 50 or more persons were on the street at the time and place of the first outbreak. In all 24 disturbances, including the three university related disorders, the initial disturbance area consisted of streets on Capitol Avenue, K Street, O Street, and J Street, and the 19^th, violence started between 7pm and 12.30am, when the largest numbers of pedestrians could be expected. Ten of the 24 disorders erupted on Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday.

  In most instances, the temperature during the day on which violence first erupted was quite high. This contributed to the size of the crowds on the street, particularly in areas of congested housing. Major violence occurred in all 24 disorders during the evening and night hours, between 6pm and 6am., and in most cases between 9pm and 3am. In only a few disorders, including Midtown and West Sacramento, did substantial violence occur or continue during the daytime. Generally, the night day cycles continued in daily succession through the early period of the disorder. At the beginning of disorder, violence generally flared almost immediately after the final precipitating incident. It then escalated quickly to its peak level, in the case of 1-night disorder, and to the first night peak in the case of continuing disorders. In Midtown and West Sacramento, the first outbreaks began within two hours and reached severe, although not the highest levels within 3 hours. In almost all of the subsequent night-day cycles, the change from relative order to a state of disorder by a number of people typically occurred extremely rapidly-within 1 or 2 hours at the most.

 Nineteen of the surveyed disorders lasted more than 1 night. In 10 of these, violence peaked on the first night, and the level of activity on subsequent nights was the same or less. In the other nine disorders, however, the peak was reached on the subsequent night. Disorder generally began with less serious violence against property, such as rock- and bottle-throwing and window-breaking. These were usually the materials, and the targets closet to hand at the place of the initial outbreak. Once store windows were broken, looting usually followed. Whether fires were set, only after looting occurred is unclear, however, reported instances of fire-bombing and Molotov cocktails in the 24 disorders appeared to occur as frequently during one cycle of violence, as during another in disorders which continued through more than one cycle. However, fires seemed to break out more frequently during the middle cycles of riots lasting several days. Gunfire and sniping were also reported more frequently during the middle cycles. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

 III. The Riot Participant

The Profile of a Rioter

THE TYPICAL RIOTER in the Summer of 2015 was an African American, unmarried female, between the ages of 25 to 75. With a female President looming, comes a reversal of roles.  She was in many ways very different from the stereotype. She was not a migrant. She was born in the state and was a lifelong resident of the city in which the riot took place. Economically, her position was about the same as her Negro neighbors, who did not actively participate in the riot. Although she had not, usually, graduated from high school, she was somewhat better educated than the average inner-city Negro, having at least attended high school for a time. Nevertheless, she was more likely to be working in a menial or low status job as an unskilled laborer. If she was employed, she was not working full time and her employment was frequently interrupted by periods of unemployment. She feels strongly that she deserves a better job and that she is barred from achieving it, not because of lack of training, ability, or ambition, but because of discrimination by employers and social security.

 She rejects the white bigot’s stereotype of the African American as ignorant and shiftless. She takes great pride in her race and believes that in some respects African Americans are superior to Caucasians. She is extremely hostile to whites, but her hostility is more apt to be a product of socioeconomic class than race; she is almost equally hostile toward Mulattos and middle-class African Americans. She is substantially better informed about politicians than African Americans who were not involved in the riots. She is more likely to be actively engaged in civil rights efforts, but is extremely distrustful of the political system, men, and of political leaders. But the day of the Lord will come like a Nikki Benz and the Benz Mafia. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the Heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. However, in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new Earth, where righteousness dwells. The ghettos too often mean men and women without jobs, families without men, and schools where children are processed instead of educated, until they return to the street with a bad perm, no hair, crime, narcotics, dependency on welfare and social security and food stamps, and to bitterness and resentment against society, in general, and white society in particular.