Precisely right. We lived in the inner-city in Atlanta for 25 years, and I know that chaos very like what we're seeing now was always a possibility. The weak and vulnerable lived in fear--behind bolted doors whenever possible--and the fear was directed not just at strangers but at their own relatives and neighbors. What was missing were what the rest of us understand as "families"--married daddies and mommies who could raise children responsibly and instill self-control in them. Without that family structure, other sorts of community organizations and civic structures were either missing or existing only as empty shells.
These people are so impoverished in spirit that they do not know how to act or what to do without someone from the government there to tell them. They are like children in a school with no teachers and no principal.