That is what officials in cities that have been devastated by rioters, looters and arsonists are saying to businesses whose investments in those cities have gone up in smoke. Steve touched on this earlier, but I want to amplify the point. The following are just three examples of many that we will see in the coming weeks.

From Chicago: Mayor Lightfoot Pleads With Walmart, Other Retailers To Not Abandon Chicago.

…Why, exactly, would major retailers choose to rebuild and re-open stores that were burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed by rioters? What is there in the current response to riots by big city politicians that provides any assurance that the same thing won’t happen again? If you owned a store in an area that was destroyed by rioters, would you invest more money in the same location? Why?

Here is another instance, Louisville, as reported in Salon: “As groceries board up amid protests, food inequality worsens for communities of color.”

The article concludes with the following statement and editorial cartoon:

What is a “food desert”? A food desert is an area where crime, shoplifting and, as here, looting and arson have made it unprofitable to operate a grocery store. There is no such thing as a food desert in a law-abiding neighborhood. Here’s a news flash: If you burn down the grocery stores near where you live, you might have a hard time buying groceries.

Riots are terribly destructive, but most of the damage does not occur overnight. It plays out over a period of years. Sadly, much of the progress that has been made by minority business owners and by minority neighborhoods in recent decades has been wiped away by rioters, looters and arsonists.

Michael Ramirez summed it up well, if brutally.

Elections matter. The only way the looting and riots stop is if the people participating are held accountable. Pay attention to who is running for office in your city or town.