New York City, 1977. Population approximately 7,071,639. On a good day, a lot can go wrong with that many people. On this day in 1977, it was anything but a good day.
“At approximately 9:21 PM on a hot and humid July evening, lightning struck four times over NYC. The lightning strikes came one after another, hitting some of Con Edison’s vital Power lines. Within a few minutes, power lines of neighboring electric companies “tripped out”, preventing them from supplying much needed electricity to Con Edison. By 9:41 pm, lights went out in all five boroughs of NYC and crime peaked in several areas of Harlem, Brooklyn and the South Bronx… Looters rushed to the murky streets smashing shop windows and stealing furniture, clothes and electronics wherever they could. Close to 4000 arrests were made, however many more escaped without any repercussions.1
The power was out for 25 hours!
By the time the power was restored … “arsonists had set more than 1,000 fires and looters had ransacked 1,600 stores, per the New York Times.
“Opportunistic thieves grabbed whatever they could get their hands on, from luxury cars to sink stoppers and clothespins, according to the New York Post. The sweltering streets became a battleground, where, per the Post, “even the looters were being mugged.”2
In 1965, NYC had a similar blackout but with different results. “Despite the challenges and hardships posed by the blackout, New Yorkers displayed remarkable resilience and community spirit. In many neighborhoods, people gathered on stoops and sidewalks, sharing candles, food, and conversation. Restaurants and bars stayed open, serving customers by candlelight. Impromptu block parties and sing-alongs broke out, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared experience.”3
As TIME put it, the 1977 blackout left the city powerless in terms of electricity and also powerless to stop the people who seized the opportunity to riot. “They set hundreds of fires and looted thousands of stores,” the magazine noted, “illuminating in a perverse way twelve years of change in the character of the city, and perhaps of the country.”4
How is such behavior explained? “The head of the National Urban League [said], “[The underclass] in a crisis feels no compulsion to abide by the rules of the game because they find that the normal rules do not apply to them.”5
Liberal and woke individuals defend the actions of rioters and looters by saying that they are opportunists and protestors looking for respect and equity in a damaged world. It’s their way of getting justice and sending a message. And since insurance companies will pay for the damage, what harm has been done?
NORMAL Americans who have their heads screwed on right say this is nothing but criminal action. The fear that is generated in such situations does nothing to promote America, community, family, or any other decent, positive value.
CHRISTIANS have an even more accurate take. John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” How else do you explain what happened in 1977? It was dark, the deeds were evil, end of story. The revelation of a man’s heart was exposed in the midst of darkness.
As a Christian, we are reminded in Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” How do we know that what is done is a work of darkness? Think about the truth of Ephesians 5:13 throughout today.
“But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.”
1https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/blackouts-night_of_terror.html
2https://time.com/3949986/1977-blackout-new-york-history/
3Swidey, N. (2015, November 8). What Can We Learn from the Great Blackout of 1965? The Boston Globe.
4https://time.com/3949986/1977-blackout-new-york-history/
5Ibid.
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