being there, I was struck by his visible frustration and guessed that it didn't just rise up in the last month or so. Similarly, I reflected back on the vast numbers of BLM protesters this past summer and their own "last straw" reactions...sometimes thoughtless and violent (too). Two ends of our American political spectrum and equally agitated...could there be a common element in their "root causes"? BTW, while it's patently obvious that these are highly complex situations involving political philosophy, racism, etc., my early career role leading Failure Analysis investigations motivated me to give it a try.
That FA process requires broad observations of the 'problem' and testing them for relevance. In this case, I couldn't help but notice that virtually all of the participants were from similar economic strata, which immediately conjured up thoughts of Income and Wealth Inequality...then I did a little research and found the following study...which did indeed imply a correlation between economic inequality and political polarization/unrest.
https://www.dallasfed.org/~/media/documents/research/papers/2014/wp1408.pdf
While not wanting to jump to any conclusions - which the FA process is built to avoid - I believe that this issue needs to be a priority for the incoming administration...and hopefully a topic for this Forum...to that end, I've also attached a Pew Research Report (see link) that goes into greater detail...well worth reading as a "jumping off" point.
Comments?
Link: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/