There was an inevitability about the violence that is gripping parts of StLouis, Missouri, and threatening to spread to other centres as people vent their fury at a grand jury's decision not to indict a white officer for the killing of 18-year-old Michael "Big Mike" Brown.
The fatal shooting in the mainly black community of Ferguson in early August triggered days of racially charged protests, violence and looting, swamping the local police force and leading to the deployment in protest hot spots of the National Guard.
The shooting - 12 shots were fired at the unarmed Brown, who is said to have menaced and then attacked a police officer in his car after being told to walk on the pavement and not the road - has promoted intense soul-searching about the relationship between the police and minority communities.
At the time of the shooting, 50 of Ferguson's 53 police officers were white, but the community is 70% black. This makes no sense.
The shooting also demonstrates that the police need urgently to review their procedures for dealing with suspects. There is something terribly disproportionate about firing 12 shots at an unarmed man, even if he is extremely aggressive, 1.98m tall and weighs 130kg.
For a few perilous days after the shooting it seemed that the land of Barack Obama had been dragged back to the Los Angeles of 1992 and the shameful beating by the police of Rodney King. But America today is definitely a better place, even if the Brown shooting has inflamed old wounds and torn through the facade of racial unity.
Ordinary Americans from all backgrounds turned out in huge numbers to vote Obama into power, and then keep him there. The ethnic vote was crucial to his success.
As in South Africa, Americans now need to stand together to tackle their pressing problems, starting with opening the economy to all communities.
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