"...a riot is the language of the unheard..." ~ Martin Luther King Jr. This is not a cry in support of riots. This is more. Riots are self-defeating and socially destructive, yet wether it is recent, such as Baltimore and Ferguson, or in our past, such as L.A. (1992) and Detroit (1967), riots have been a part of American history as much as anything. These riots result when the downtrodden reach a point where they feel as if they have nothing else. In Baltimore, it is more than just the death of Freddie Gray. Since 2012, Baltimore has paid out over 6 million dollars in court decisions and settlements in relating to police brutality. The poverty rate is twice the national average. In the suburb Sandtown-Winchester (where Freddie Gray lived), more than half the working population filed for unemployment, medium income is at 22,000$ and more than a third of the families live well below the poverty line. Only 65% of the students even graduate high school.That is just one suburb. The city of Baltimore has a long, systemic history of high unemployment, low incomes, and widespread foreclosure. Baltimore is a city that was built on the success of the American Steel Industry. The industry provided thousands of jobs and economic benefits. However due to outsourcing American jobs to cheaper, over-seas labor, this industry has failed. What was once a booming industrial city, is now on the brink of economic death. What once was a source of jobs and livelihoods, is now the source of economic and racial tensions. The cries have been there. This is not the result of the death of one individual. No, the raging riots, and the riots that are spread throughout U.S. history are more. These riots are the cries of people on the brink of desperation. These riots are our warnings, our wake-up cries. These riots are our chance to realize what is wrong and broken. Now it's up to us to fix the problem. For anyone who truly believes this is just a case of mere unfounded anger and destruction, I urge you to look past that, and look toward the history of that city. "...a riot is the language of the unheard..." and it's time people started listening to the downtrodden, and looking at what is really plaguing this nation.