IF Negro rioters demeaned the cause of nonviolence, that was not in most cases their intent. The majority of plunderers and burners in American cities last week were about as ideologically motivated as soldier ants. Many, to be sure, were venting the longstanding resentments of black Americans in a white society. But the Negro looters were predominantly driven by a combination of self-help and help-yourself. What of Martin Luther King? "His death just gave us an excuse," said Ronald Rudolph, 22, in Pittsburgh. "I never did dig the man much when he was alive."...
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