People tend to look for answers after a fire, but we’re rarely satisfied by the ones we get.
A few years ago, reporting on wildfires in Northern California, I arrived in Calaveras County just as residents returned and a painful quest for answers was beginning. Why did the wind carry the spark to my home but not my neighbor’s? Why did I survive while my friend died? Why this town? Why me?
So far this season there have been more than 800 fires burning across California, and all of them will leave some of these questions in their aftermath. Fires have this visceral, visual quality that shapes the stories we tell about them. A burning building is its own self-contained narrative, implying victims, villains and heroes within a single frame.
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Protesters stand on top of a burned LAPD cruiser. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters stand on top of a bus stop at the Los Angeles Civic Center to demonstrate for justice Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protestors turn on their cell phone flashlights at Los Angeles City Hall at 9 pm on Wednesday as part of a silent protest against the death of George Floyd. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts National Guardsmen as thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles to demonstrate for justice in the George Floyd murder by cop case Wednesday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters dance on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles Wednesday night to demonstrate for justice in the killing of George Floyd. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD Cmdr. Gerald Woodyard takes a knee with protesters and L.A. clergy during a march in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Khalil Mitchell speaks to protesters kneeling near a police line, preaching calm and working to preserve a peaceful protest on Monday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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In Hollywood, hundreds of protesters march Monday against police brutality. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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AJ Lovelace, a director and writer, and others keep potential looters from entering a dry cleaning store as they attempt to march peacefully. “We need peace and we need someone to talk to each other,” he said after the looters fled the scene. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators in Riverside retreat as county sheriff’s deputies fire nonlethal rounds on Monday after law enforcement announced an unlawful assembly. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Hollywood during a protest Monday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A demonstrator, injured while trying to flee the firing of nonlethal rounds, lies on the ground in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer arrests a looting suspect in an alley behind a Hollywood Boulevard store. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County deputies advance on demonstrators on Monday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Fireworks thrown by a protester explode at the feet of Riverside police. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco takes a knee with demonstrators. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A watch and jewelry store is looted in Van Nuys on Monday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A looting arrest in Van Nuys. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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AJ Lovelace, director and writer, tries to stop looters from breaking into a Walgreens in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer arrests a suspected looter in an alley behind a Hollywood Boulevard store. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Police advance on a line of protesters in Hollywood, firing rubber bullets. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Arrests are made of those out after curfew in Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A store is looted in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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People out after curfew are arrested Monday at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Arrests in Hollywood. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Protests in Westwood. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers help clean up the mess left by looters in Long Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Protest in Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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National Guardsmen outside Santa Monica Place. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Gilbert Haro and sons Richard, 8, and James, 6, help clean up in Santa Monica. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters face off with police in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Santa Monica stores were the target of looting on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Suspected looters in custody in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. County sheriff’s deputies in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Sake House employee Jared Settles can’t bear to watch as the restaurant burns in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Broken glass from a looted store covers the sidewalk in Santa Monica. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Cecelia Rosales, who said she was homeless, walks past a line of police officers in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A man guards a convenience store in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting erupted Sunday in Long Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Police and protesters face off in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer inspects the damage to a Santa Monica supermarket. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is treated after being struck by a rubber bullet. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting in Long Beach on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A suspected looter in Long Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Smashing windows in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People walk away with surfboards in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People rush out of a looted store in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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Cheers for protesters in downtown Los Angeles. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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City Hall on Sunday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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A shattered storefront on Melrose Avenue on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Smashed windows on La Cienega Boulevard. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Downtown L.A. on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People carry merchandise from a looted store. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A person carries items from a looted store in the Fairfax District on Saturday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple of protesters embrace on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles Saturday. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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People protest Saturday at Pan Pacific Park. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters gather around a fire in the middle of a downtown L.A. street on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police fire percussion rounds to clear protesters from Grand Avenue in in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester remains defiant after being pushed to the ground by police on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall on Saturday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters take to the streets Friday in downtown L.A. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are escorted off the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is escorted off the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters climb over a barrier during the May 29 protest in downtown L.A. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway northbound and southbound in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers assume a defensive stance as a protester approaches them on the 110 Freeway on May 29. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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During a May 29 protest, Los Angeles police patrol the 110 after having moved protesters off the freeway. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester rides a skateboard on the 110 Freeway. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway northbound and southbound in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts LAPD officers on Friday in downtown L.A. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester lies hurt on the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles on May 27. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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An injured man gets up with the help of emergency workers during a protest May 27 in downtown L.A. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
But the real narrative of wildfires offers no simple answers to its victims. The vast majority of wildfires are started by human beings: a utility company delaying repairs, a careless smoker, a sloppy camper. Homes are destroyed and people die because we keep building communities in areas we know will burn. And the biggest root cause is human-led climate change. The painful questions often had a painful answer: The fire burns because of us.
I think the same is true for the fires that burned in cities across America this past week as protesters took to the streets to demand justice for the death of George Floyd while in the custody of four police officers. They happened because of us.
And as the protests continue, I see us again searching for easy answers.
We try to paint the police officers involved as the perfect monsters, and George Floyd as the perfect victim, because it’s easier for us to believe that this violence can be explained by the moral failings of individuals, rather than by the racist systems that enable these behaviors across the country — systems that we ourselves enable.
So it was not hard for us to condemn Derek Chauvin, who on Friday was charged with third-degree murder, after we saw the clip of him slowly strangling Floyd, handcuffed and helpless on the ground.
And when the protests began, we could acknowledge that black communities around the country are justifiably angry at a criminal justice system that demonizes them, treats them as subhuman, and has done so for centuries. But then the protests turned violent — a manifestation of that anger — and some of us thought, well, we can’t support violence.
And because we can’t comprehend an anger that justifies the destruction of property and businesses, we decide that it can’t be justified — rather than trying to understand the magnitude of the anger. We describe the violence as senseless, but it is not.
We ask the protesters to wait for an investigation because we want to believe that our court system can deliver justice, but we can’t accept that for black Americans it never has.
These fires burn because of us. And to understand what’s happening, we need to try to deny ourselves the easy answers and understand these incidents as part of a larger story of how racism fuels American policing and inflicts daily violence on black people.
I know that the families who lost money and property during the riots in downtown Los Angeles and the Fairfax district this past weekend don’t want to read this. I can’t think of a less deserving target for violence than small businesses, exhausted from battling the twin existential threats of the coronavirus and a quarantine-led recession. I understand why they ask the question, “Why me?”
A common sentiment I hear is that rioting is not the answer. But the painful truth is that rioting is not supposed to be an answer to anything. It is explicitly an expression of anger and frustration, a fire whose sparks land indiscriminately. A city burning is what happens when people have abandoned hope for answers.
In Los Angeles, many residents remember what it’s like to try to answer the questions that images of a burning city raise. And if we have found a meaningful answer to the questions raised by the 1992 riots, or the Watts riots, or the Zoot Suit Riots, I’ve never encountered it. Every few decades in this city, violence reminds us that we have not solved these problems. And when we focus only on the fires and why they ignited, we fail to grasp that they have been burning for centuries.
The ‘92 riots can’t be understood through a few days in April. And I don’t think what’s happening around the country can be understood through a few video clips.
Videos on social media are becoming the primary way we form our understanding of incidents like this, and their power as a medium is both a blessing and a curse. They offer us an inarguable account of what is happening, and bystander videos have brought attention to issues of racial injustice that would otherwise be ignored and downplayed. But the story of a protest is complex and long, and images of burning buildings are just a small part of it. And these images contain embedded, repetitive narratives that lock us into the same tired debates, with the same easy answers.
There will be more violent images and videos to pore over and interpret in the coming days and weeks. It’s important to think hard about what the videos of burning buildings show, and don’t show.
They don’t show the generational trauma of racism and the pain of countless lost brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. They don’t show the brutality of the police violence that black communities live under. And they don’t depict all the protesters trying to get the looters to stop, or the thousands of people who demonstrated peacefully, or the people who show up the next day to sweep up broken glass and offer a shoulder to cry on.
I don’t point this out to excuse violence, but to prevent it. The fires we’re seeing were lit when our nation was founded, and they won’t be extinguished until we can understand why they burn.
