Ferguson, Mo., went up in flames Monday night after a grand jury declined to indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in the shooting death of Michael Brown, an African-American youth.
It will be Staten Island's turn in the spotlight next, when a borough grand jury renders its decision in the police-custody death of Tompkinsville resident Eric Garner.
As with Ferguson, the whole nation will be watching to see whether the officer involved – Daniel Pantaleo, in our case – will be indicted.
We don't know when that announcement will come, but we hope that GOP District Attorney Daniel Donovan was looking at Ferguson on Monday night. There were valuable lessons there in what not to do.
For instance: Why did St. Louis County prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch choose to announce the grand jury decision at 8 p.m. local time? If he thought that announcing the decision in the night would mean fewer people would be on the street to potentially cause unrest, he was sadly mistaken.
And Mr. McCulloch protested too much when he blamed social media and the 24-hour news cycle for spreading misinformation about the Brown shooting and making prosecutors' work more difficult. It's Mr. McCulloch's job to sift through the ground noise and deliver justice, no matter what someone might be saying on Twitter. Deal with it.
We understand that many aren't happy with the Ferguson decision. But this is what the American justice system is all about: Ordinary citizens make a decision after being presented with the evidence.
And those who slam Mr. McCulloch's office must also remember that the U.S. Justice Department has been in on the Ferguson case practically since Day One. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have taken a personal interest. With that kind of scrutiny, it's hard to imagine any prosecutor's office doing anything but playing the case right down the middle.
And let's not forget that the Justice Department is still carrying on its own probe. Ferguson isn't over.
Either way, there was no excuse for the mayhem seen in Ferguson on Monday night. Peaceful protest is one thing. But setting fire to cars, including police vehicles, smashing store windows, looting businesses and throwing rocks and bottles cannot be tolerated.
And, as has happened before in past incidents of violent demonstrations, the "protestors" rampaged through a minority area, damaging and looting minority-owned businesses.
How does that honor Michael Brown? How does that advance the cause of racial justice? It's not protest. It's lawlessness.
We also wondered what protestors were thinking as they marched near the White House chanting "no justice, no peace." Did they think that Mr. Obama, the nation's first African-American president, needed the reminder? It sounded more like protest for the sake of protest to us.
Given Staten Island's history, including how residents here have already reacted in the wake of Mr. Garner's death, it would be a surprise to see the same explosion of vandalism, looting and overall mayhem here that has left Ferguson smoldering, no matter what the Garner grand jury decides. Staten Islanders have marched. They have protested. They have not rampaged.
The community did not riot when a grand declined to indict the officer involved in the 1994 death of Ernest Sayon.
We were encouraged by the fact that there were no protests, violent or otherwise, on Staten Island on Monday night, as the Ferguson decision was coming down. Given the warm weather, it would have been easy enough for protestors, those of good will and otherwise, to gather at the Garner site in Tompkinsville. A protest by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network was sparsely attended in St. George on Tuesday.
We hope that the incendiary events in Ferguson do not unduly influence those serving on the Garner grand jury. They must work to ensure that justice is done. They must follow the evidence wherever it leads. They shouldn't let the events in Ferguson influence their decision, one way or the other.
After all, the nation will be watching.