"I'm not surprised that the world's eyes are focused on police issues in the U.S.,"
Right, because in Russia and China the guy who got it on camera is tracked down and his family imprisoned.
It's kind of ironic to have a poll with two possible options. This is an incredibly complex issue and answering either 'Yes' or 'No' feels completely wrong.
My feelings about violent protest are contextual. The entire premise of America is that everybody is equal and we don't need violence because we have populist political processes in place that allow anybody to get justice regardless of their social status. When America lives up to that premise, violence is absolutely not acceptable, but it should be blatantly obvious to everybody that it does not live up to that premise. You can point to successful peaceful political changes in the past, but Tibet is still part of China. And it's not just black people who don't have access to justice because of their social status, it's poor people, or anyone without generational wealth. Peaceful protests might make a politician look bad but it won't motivate the wealthy people behind the politician to hand over fewer dollars.
But, that also doesn't mean every time a person or group is denied justice they're morally justified in going on a looting spree. Moral judgments in this area are very grey and incredibly contextual. And you would hope political actions taken surgically target only the things causing harm and keep any kind of violence to an absolute necessary minimum.
So I'm just going to say, I dunno if it's justified or not. I just dunno. I hope we get the reform and the justice that we need.
