It Really Is Different This Time

America was jolted out of its pandemic stupor this week by a dramatic cycle of police violence, protests, looting and retaliation-one that quickly jumped from city to city and crashed, literally, against gates of the White House.

In some ways, this wave feels familiar: It echoes what happened in Ferguson, in Baltimore, in Los Angeles and in every other city that has exploded in anger after a police killing. The sweep of the current protests-in hundreds of cities across all 50 states, lasting more than a week so far-and the sense that a moment of national change might have arrived have drawn comparisons to other waves of social unrest dating back at least to 1968.

Despite the echoes, it's also hard not to feel like we're living through something disorienting and new. The protests and response have taken on complicated dimensions: the unprecedented backdrop of a global pandemic that has left people scared, pent-up and unemployed; the reported involvement of far left and far right groups, or people posing as such to sow confusion; plus, the chaotic, confrontational politics of the Trump era and its blur of real and fake claims. Oh, and it's a presidential election year.