Getthesenets,

So you grew up just ahead of two of the major racial events of the past generation: the Rodney King beating and verdict and the OJ Simpson saga.

I'm glad to hear you did not experience any problems. You're extremely fortunate in that regard.

I feel like the early 90s re-opened many of the wounds from the Civil Rights unrest of the late 60s. Then fast forward to the past five years from George Zimmerman, to Tamir Rice (took place not far from where I work), to the events of the past week.

The social media age gives lots of people "beer muscles" to be more brash than they probably would ever dare to be verbally. Then again, some of the protestors just want to see how much media coverage they can get as the main objective.

These are very scary times. We have a divisive presidential candidate in Trump who fans the flames of extremism, intolerance, and prejudice. Then combine that with some rogue cops, ISIS, and citizens hunting cops and it's a recipe for disaster.

I'm heading out of town when the RNC circus pulls in next week. I just hope that there is a city to return to once they leave. And I certainly hope all of the violence stops regardless of the location.