I am confused. Years ago I learned about a large group of people who felt disenfranchised by the people governing them and they started a riot that grew into a revolution. These folks felt their “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” were being taken away by a distant power intent on exploiting them for monetary gains. That’s what I was taught in a small South Carolina classroom many years ago.

As I matriculated through higher education here in Virginia, I learned that revolution is really evolution. It is mankind’s basic desire to be prosperous, productive and happy regardless of race, color, ethnicity or gender. So it should not come as a surprise that people get angry and explosive when they are made an asterisk to a social, political and economic covenant, which says we weren’t talking about you.

I do not condone violence or the destruction of property, but sometimes it has become the only voice of those who feel violated. It becomes the cry from those separated from democracy and full citizenship. Sadly, violence focused the nation’s attention yet again on this ongoing and systemic disconnect.

Please note that I have not used the words African-American or black. This is a universal and historical struggle. It gave birth to the Arab spring, to Gandhi’s movement in India and to Nelson Mandela’s long suffering in South Africa. The struggle is echoed in 20th century revolutions in Russia and China. Particular to us is the American Revolution, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, which was to make true the words “all men are created equal.”

So I am still confused how a nation and its people “can long endure” under a cloud of mistrust and broken promises. How can America keep seeing the “chickens come home to roost” and miss the call for political, social and economic justice? How can we hold any truth as “self-evident” after being lied to time and time again?

CLARENCE CHAPMAN JR. Richmond