I wish people would stop trying to glamorize or valorize the riots. They're riots. Acknowledging that doesn't mean you're siding with the police.

The problem is that you say "riot" and people immediately assign collective guilt to a community for it. A riot is a tragedy for a community, akin to a natural disaster. It's produced by outside conditions and triggers, not the moral shortcomings of the members.

But that doesn't mean the destruction a riot produces isn't largely senseless and directed inward towards the community itself. It's almost always something that causes significant suffering with very little benefit.

One of the reasons that you can know what's happening in Minneapolis right now is rioting is that it's impossible to have any confidence that there is anything anyone can do that will stop it. That's why it's crushing - there's a sense it will just burn on until it burns out.