http://www.city-journal.org/html/11_3_what_really_happened.html
Parts of Miami and Atlanta would meltdown too if a police related event occurred there. Hell, even Cincinnati had a riot in 2001. The article I linked to was written in 2001, is a little long, but sums up perfectly what is more rampantly occurring now in these other cities currently. Years of desired ignorance, personal irresponsibility and intentionally govt created "cradle to grave" multi generational dependence, coming home to roost.
The Race Industry/Business empowering the political elites ("hacks") to further expand the policies that actually produce such behavior. "HOPELESS" would have been a more honest political campaign message in 2008.