Trevor Noah gives a powerful and persuasive argument about looting and the breakdown of society when law enforcement deems itself above the law.

Here's a link to the embedded video which starts around the 8 minute mark:
https://youtu.be/v4amCfVbA_c?t=492

[transcript]

What is society? And fundamentally when you boil it down society is a contract. It’s a contract that we sign as human beings amongst each other. We sign a contract with each other as people whether it’s spoken or unspoken and we say ‘amongst this group of people we agree on common rules common ideals and common practices that are going to define us as a group.’ That’s what I think society is - its a contract.

And as with most contracts, the contract is only as strong as the people who are abiding by it. But if you think of being a black person in America who is living in Minneapolis or Minnesota or any place where you’re not having a good time, ask yourself this question when you watch those people, ‘what vested interest do they have in maintaining the contract?’ Like, why don’t we all loot? Why doesn’t everybody take? Because we’ve agreed on things. There are so many people who are starving out there, there are so many people who don’t have - there’s so many people - there are people who are destitute, there are people who when the virus hit and they don’t have a second paycheck were already broke, which is insane but that’s the reality. But still think about how many people who don’t have, the have nots, say ‘you know what, I’m still going to play by the rules even though I have nothing because I still wish for the society to work and exist.’

And then, some members of that society, namely black American people watch time and time again how the contract that they have signed with society is not being honored by the society that’s forced them to sign it with them.

When you watch Ahmaud Arbery being shot and you hear that those men have been released and were it not for the video and the outrage those people would be living their lives, what part of the contract is that in society? When you see Georgy Floyd on the ground and you see a man losing his life in a way that no person should ever have to lose their life - at the hands of someone who is supposed to enforce the law - what part of the contract is that?

And a lot of people say, ‘well, what good does this do?’ Yeah, but what good doesn’t it do? That’s the question that people don’t ask the other way around. ‘What good does it do to loot Target? How does it help you to loot Target?’ Yeah, but how does it help you to not loot Target? Answer that question! Because the only reason you didn’t loot Target before was because you were upholding society’s contract. There is no contract if law and people in power don’t uphold their end of it.

And that’s the thing that I think people don’t understand sometimes, is that we need people at the top to be the most accoutable because they are the ones who are basically setting the tone and the tenor for everything that we do in society. It’s the same way that we tell parents to set an example for their kids. The same way that we tell captains or coaches to set an example for their players. The same way you tell teachers to set an example for their students. The reason we do that is because we understand in society that if you lead by example there is a good chance that people will follow that example that you’ve set. And so if the example that law enforcement is setting is that they do not adhere to the laws, then why should the citizens of that society adhere to the laws when in fact the law enforcers themselves dont’.