Stores & Riots

[klkla]

The looters at this time seem to be targeting high priced items. They want electronics, televisions, expensive clothes, etc. Groceries are not the thing they are after.

FoodMaxx was not looted while Best Buy was looted.

The Rodney King riots was destruction that was more local. For example tearing up their own neighborhood businesses. Now it is target the rich.

There have been supermarket lootings here in LA this time. Whole Foods and Vons come to mind.

Also, the Rodney King riots were over a broad area of Los Angeles.

There is some sort of organized effort to this particular event, however. Reporters from KNX radio and NBC witnessed how it happened in Santa Monica. The looters did not come from within the protestors. They came from the opposite direction packed in multiple cars and made targeted strikes. They came together and their actions were planned in advance.

[Alpha8472]

This has happened in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stolen cars from the impoverished Central Valley filled with looters have driven to the affluent suburbs to loot the high end stores and then drove back to the Central Valley.

[rwsandiego]

Appears the La Mesa, CA Vons was looted then set on fire.
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/may/31/p ... after-la-/

A Sprouts was looted too. Sprouts?? The only stuff of value in there is the vitamins and even that I am not sure is worth much given how few people use so many different SKUs. What's next, looting a Dollar Tree?

Both the Chase and Union Bank branches in La Mesa were burned to the ground. However, the vaults (where the money is kept) are still intact.

[Alpha8472]

The Oakland Police said the looters were coming 20 to 30 cars at a time from Stockton, Merced, and other Central Valley areas. They were very organized. Arrests show most looters were from out of town.

Cities are fighting back. Sun Valley Mall in Concord put up traffic barriers and the Police came out in full force. The looters were driven away. There were so many Police SUVs.

Walnut Creek Police fought back tonight with tear gas. The looters were no match for them.

[storewanderer]

Here is a bay area list. I am glad to see some list as the media is not spending much time reporting on all of the retailers that were looted. Maybe I am biased because I am interested in it and the general public could care less, I don't know. But I think this looting is absolutely unacceptable. These stores did not do anything to these people (probably even employ some of them). These stores are not the Minneapolis Police or affiliated with them in any way. The fact that so many people think it is okay to go loot stores like this is very troubling.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/01/ ... ea-stores/

This list is not even complete. But at least it is something. In Emeryville I saw video of dozens of people looting a Uniqlo and an Ulta among others.

[storewanderer]

Looks like a forklift was secured tonight to break down the entryway of a Best Buy in Fairfield, CA.

Best Buys usually have the big garage door type thing inside the glass doors so I guess the forklift breaks that?



Also reports of Hilltop Mall in Richmond, CA being looted around 10 PM Monday night.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/ ... ltop-mall/

[veteran+]

I was on the rooftop of my apartment building in the heart of Hollywood during the RK riots (Hollywood Bl. & Wilcox Av.)

What I saw shook me to my core. It looked like a news video of Beirut. In my area I saw mostly hispanic families and some white adults looting stores by the rack full (very few black folks). This of course was a micro view of what was going on elsewhere in Los Angeles.

THIS...............is different! It feels different!

As many of you noted and by my own observations, something else is going on here independent of the "legitimate" protesters.

There is a clandestine underbelly to this. It is more organized, targeted and subversive. I strongly believe there may be several players in this with specific agendas. Anyone who knows me knows I am categorically NOT a subscriber to conspiracy stuff.

Players (agitators) from other areas and foreign influences seem to be involved. Extreme right wings groups have been identified by some national intelligence agencies. Rogue law enforcement people (no visible badges or emblems)seem to be in the mix agitating and disappearing. I don't know what to believe.................

Add all that to many people being so enraged and already compromised by this pandemic along with hundreds of years of disturbing history.......................

Moderator.................if I have crossed the line with my expression...........please delete. I understand

[bayford]

Here's a map of what stores (and other businesses) were looted, set on fire, and/or destroyed in the Twin Cities.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 35546&z=10

[mjhale]

THIS...............is different! It feels different!

THIS...............is different! It feels different!

The US has been divided politically and socially for a while. We've had two political parties that have been at war with each other since the 2016 election. We have people living lives simply to impress people on social media and emulate the "stars" they see on reality television. And somehow in all that we managed to have an economy that was running on all cylinders. Record low unemployment in general and assuming the statistics are correct record low minority and lower income unemployment numbers. When you have money to support yourself and your family you have hope and you have a sense that the future could get better little by little. When you can get the nice things that you see your "richer" friends, neighbors, TV Stars, etc buying you feel like you've moved up in the world. All of a sudden and seemingly overnight our entire lives were ripped out from beneath us by coronovirus. Whether you believe severity of the virus or not our entire lives, our ability to work, support our families and to feel like we can have those nice things too was ripped out from beneath us. Overnight entire swaths of the economy were shut down throwing people out of work with no warning. Even with the pay while businesses were closed and the stimulus it exposed our complete and utter lack of preparedness when it comes to financial distress. The government mandated closings hit lower income and less educated folks especially hard. The hourly workers that we hear so much about. These are the exact people who need hope and feeling that life will be better tomorrow to fell good about today. Our ability to interact, to be social, to enjoy our freedoms are severely constrained. The virus scared us and weaponized social interaction with the you aren't wearing a mask, stay back six feet missives and more. We all wonder if yesterday was better than today. And then George Floyd was killed. That event was the match that lit the powder keg.

Since we are so divided, so interested in me and what I believe in, so much if you aren't with me you are against me. Families being torn apart because of politics. Our trust in government is at an all time low. Our trust in each other was upended by the fear put in us by the virus. Are you infected? Did you have it? Do I have it? Are you asymptomatic? Am I asymptomatic? We were already rattled, upended and thrown far out of routine by the virus, by job loss, by forced societal change, by long standing grief, disbelief and disenfranchisement. Everyone has their own grievances that boiled to the surface. And everyone had an opportunity. Some took that opportunity to protest the killing, some took that opportunity to spend time with family and some took time to try to find some routine in their life. But others sensed a huge crack and divide to exploit by looting, agitating or worse. The goal seems to be to exploit, warp and reinforce beliefs and sow doubts in others. We have ripped apart the institutions that we need the most now. The ability to gather, to meet, to work, to support ourselves and our families. Until those attempting to guide our towns, cities, states and the country in some sort of direction allow us to come together like humans should - physically and in person - solutions will be few and far between. Now more than ever we need to know that tomorrow will be better than today. It seems that none of us have control over anything in our lives anymore. No hope for the future. Those who are supposed to be leading us are pushing in every direction for what purposes we sometimes don't know, understand or trust. And those that want to split us apart are taking advantage of every moment. Where we go from here I do not know. But what I know is that we all need to have those institutions, those feelings of comfort, the hope for the future if we are going to proceed from here. What was taken away is essential to our healing. Our healing will only start when we all feel like we are back on a path that leads us to a better tomorrow than the today that we are living.

[marshd1000]

When we all started on this page, who would have thought that we would be talking about a pandemic or social unrest? Especially the toxic combination of both? . What a freakin bizarre world and times we find ourselves in! It is scary, sad and kind of terrifying!