Talk to Me Like I'm Stupid: London Riots and Race

I've been preoccupied this week, but I have a very basic question: Are the London riots about race? I've only seen this at a distance but this doesn't look like a kind of vague amorphous outburst of violence, with race somewhere in the mix, but not particularly dominant. Am I seeing this wrong? 

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/08/talk-to-me-like-im-stupid-london-riots-and-race/243449/