Baltimore riots reveal US fault in social division, legal system

The standoff [By Zhai Haijun/China.org.cn]

Riots in streets of Baltimore is another piece of evidence that the United States is now profoundly divided, and its society has become increasingly unstable while its legal system fails to meet the expectation of its citizens.

Racial problem has cut deep in the United States and its law enforcement has played a large part in this because of its notorious history of abusing power against minorities.

What began as a peaceful protest over the mysterious death of a 25-year-old African American Freddie Gray has turned into arson, looting and violent confrontations with police.

This is hardly something new, as the exactly same incident had already happened last November in Ferguson, Missouri.

Even now, five decades after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the historical march from Selma to Montgomery and 150 years after the Union defeated the Confederacy, ending slavery across the United States, the country loving to brand itself as a land of freedom and equality is still looking for a way to bridge the profound division between the white and the minorities, without any promising answer in sight.

It is undeniable that racial discrimination against African Americans or other ethnic minorities, though not as obvious as in the past, still persists in every aspect of the U.S. social lives, including employment, housing, education, and particularly, justice.

Most of the Baltimore rioters are black youths, who live in poor neighborhoods without any chance to enter quality schools or to find decent jobs.