A riot is like a high fever. It is destructive and dangerous in itself, but it is also a response to an internal disease that is threatening the overall health of the body. Treating only the fever does not cure the disease. In fact, it only makes the disease more dangerous and more destructive as one of the primary tools the body has for fighting it, destructive though it may be, is being suppressed. The riots may be destructive, but they exist for a reason and we cannot pretend that the prolonged and rampant disease of unjust police violence against black people in America is not their direct cause.

A riot is a symptom of underlying issues. If you condemn the riots without recognizing the systemic injustice, you're missing the bigger picture