I understand why the crowd was upset at Raheem's death

Now let me start by saying that I thought Radio Raheem was a scumbag who would have likely murdered Sal had the cops not shown up. All that said, I understand why the crowd was upset at the cops murdering Raheem (and yes it was murder).

Raheem's murder was another murder of a black man by a white cop, in his own neighborhood, and nothing was going to be done about it. It was all too familiar for many residents in that neighborhood, especially the older ones. Had Raheem murdered Sal, he most certainly would have been arrested, charged, and convicted easily, where as the cop who murdered Raheem not only would never spend a day in jail, but is likely to have kept his job as well.

Does this condone burning down Sal's business? Absolutely not. But I could understand the frustration the crowd had. They knew Raheem's death was going to be covered up , and that justice would never be served.