We need to use the tools we have to enact real change. It’s our responsibility to all become informed activists by educating ourselves, working in campaigns, and voting with purpose.

It was a typical day driving through downtown Cairo, Egypt — meaning my cab driver, Abdo, and I were stuck in traffic. Abdo was someone I met when I first arrived in January of 2009, and we became good friends throughout the nearly two years I lived there. While traveling through an unimaginably impoverished neighborhood, I posed a question to him, “What must change in Egypt for the country to be prosperous and her people hopeful?”

He thought for a moment and then said, “For Egypt to be strong and for people to have hope, Egypt must first burn to the ground. Only then can she rise from the ashes like a phoenix.”

Fast forward one year to January 28th, 2011, and there I was, standing in Tahrir Square on the “Friday of Anger,” witnessing a revolution unfold around me.

When I posed that question to Abdo originally, the significance of his answer was largely lost on me. But that changed as my evacuation flight ascended from Cairo International Airport. The view from my window sent chills down my body, Cairo was on fire.

Smoke billowed out of hundreds of buildings and vehicles across a city four times larger than Los Angeles. All I could do was think back to Abdo’s answer, “Egypt must first burn to the ground.”

After decades of oppression, poverty, and life without hope, Egyptians rose up and overthrew a tyrant. But for Egyptians, burning the city to the ground was the disastrous consequence of the only option left: a revolution.

I share that story not to illustrate how activism can spark a revolution — I think America established that quite unequivocally during the Revolutionary War — instead I share it to draw a contrast between Egypt and America.

America is currently suffering from serious economic, cultural, and moral problems that are impacting the very fibers of our nation. Nowhere is that more evident than in Baltimore, Maryland.

But whether you ask, “How do we restore opportunity and prosperity to Baltimore?” or “How do we ensure equality and justice for every citizen of America?,” the answer is not, “We need to burn it to the ground.” And shame on those who have suggested or practiced such.

Unfortunately, that counterproductive sentiment has played out recently in a few of our urban communities following the tragic, high-profile deaths of young men. Rioters have acted like a revolution is the only answer to injustice and plight. They’re wrong.

Unlike Egyptians, Americans — thanks to the U.S. Constitution — have the tools at their disposal to enact real change. That should not be squandered, for it’s our responsibility to all become informed activists by educating ourselves, working in campaigns, and voting with purpose.

Most importantly, we must accept that we are not the victims of government, but instead the victims of our own apathy.

Unnecessary and meaningless destruction and riots in a free society serve no purpose, they just further embolden the government by giving credibility to aggressive, militaristic responses. But we also should not let these deaths be lost in vain.

Out from this darkness, our attention must be drawn to the issues that continue to plague these communities, including the systemic poverty faced in our inner cities, the failure of our education system to educate, and the moral voids created as a consequence to both. These deaths must serve as a catalyst for positive reform.

Activism matters because it’s how we can facilitate that reform, while ensuring that the power remains in the hands of the citizens and not transferred to a hostile, oppressive government. It’s how we prevent from ever having to answer the question with, “America must first burn to the ground.”

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