To the editor:

“To be or not to be” remains a legitimate question. To riot or not to riot should never need to be asked. Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, St. Louis, whatever city is next.

I cannot think of any family, neighbors, people in my neighborhood or town who would ever choose or did choose to riot. I grew up in a family and U.P. community where there was a given totally understanding of respect for each other that such action was never dreamed of.

I never felt like I was entitled to take or destroy someone else’s property or hurt another person. I knew what was private and sacred. My friends thought similarly. As we got older, some of us became protestors about certain things, but rioting never came up as an option.

This current age of entitlement now whether by rioters or millennial is off the charts.

Stop.

I hear Black Lives Matter and other groups claim that stealing is justified, burning, too. After all, they are taking what is, in their view, rightfully theirs, because this business or corporation has something they think they should have had and could not or did not have. Really? Is it family breakdowns in urban areas that old-fashioned values are no longer taught?

I wish that leading Democrats and minority athletes and celebrities would simply come out and say, “stop this crap.” It is certainly okay to sympathize with the causes that are so in need of change, but the antics and rhetoric of Antifa and too often, BLM, are too often simply inflammatory and destructive.

Please do not try to justify it and tell me and others that we don’t understand the plight and pain.

Sympathizers on the Left–this rioting does not help your cause. I know that the mainstream media play it down, but even Democrat city mayors are getting nervous and less placating. Protestors and cops and innocent bystanders are being killed. Law and order got Nixon elected and made Rudy Guliani a hero.

And to think that minority business owners see their businesses ransacked, too.

During the Baltimore riots a few years ago, a mother made news when she ran into a crowd of rowdies and grabbed her 17-year-old sun by the ear and pulled him out of the crowd.

Carry a sign. Vote. Write letters. Sign petitions. Reason. Pray. Talk. But, don’t defeat your own purpose. Get a grip.

Editor’s note: On Aug. 31, Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke about the violence sweeping the nation.

He followed these statements up with another speech on Friday where he condemned the violent riots that rock American cities.