Cartoon: Baltimore Riots

BACKGROUND
More than 3,000 police from Maryland, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, and National Guard members in helmets, took up posts in front of businesses and hospitals in Baltimore a day after the worst rioting in the United States in years. Shops were looted, buildings burned to the ground, 20 officers injured and police arrested more than 250 people in the violence that erupted following Monday's funeral of a 25-year-old black man who died in a hospital on April 19 a week after sustaining injuries in police custody. The death of Freddie Gray gave new energy to the public outcry that flared last year after police killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City and elsewhere. Full story >>

THE CARTOON
The cartoon by Chappatte from the International New York Times shows a group of heavily-armed National Guardsmen standing behind an armoured vehicle as a riot unfolds a short distance away. On of the guards tells his companions, "We lost Iraq and Afghanistan. We can't afford to lose Ferguson and Baltimore."

LANGAUGE NOTES
1. To lose is an irregular verb: lose, lost, lost.
2. If you can't afford to do something, you must not do it because it would cause serious problems for you: We can't afford to make any mistakes at this stage in the project. 

ALSO SEE
• Baltimore Riot Cartoons (Cagle Post)