There's two ways to change a system: From the inside and from the outside.
From the inside is slow, tedious, difficult and a test of patience.
From the outside is abrupt, violent and prone to going too far.
Historically, when people have worked to cause change from the inside, we've had improved voting rights, reduced class systems, a lot of good stuff. What makes it difficult is how much it relies on goodwill and philanthropy.
(The American government is mostly run by the rich and powerful, so in order to influence it positively, the rich and powerful must be incited to act in favour of the rest.)
It's tedious, and hard to defend because of the victims of 'inaction', but it is occasionally effective.
Riots and revolutions on the other hand, oh boy. The French revolution led to the deaths of many innocents, and eventually the crowning of an Emperor (seems a bit contrary to the intent of the revolution)
Riots often lead to the damage of innocent people's lives, with the police trying to keep people in check often being stuck between a rock and a hard place, made worse by the escalation caused by both policemen and rioters taking it that one step too far and opening a box of hurt.
When people in power see a riot, they rarely see people in need of help. They see enemies of their ideology attacking their livelihoods. They see a declaration of war.
That may be something that illicits change, but it's rarely for the better. Ghandi was right. Martin Luther King was right. It's not violence that lead to a better world. It's voices. But it's a lot harder to convince someone of your truth when someone considered your ally is throwing rocks.
But that's just the way I see it. I don't live in America, but I mostly see a lot of people advocating for violence with very confused messages. I find that terrifying.
The change I think needs to happen is that personal bias should be removed from the criminal justice system, which is something a good society usually strives to accomplish. Which means judging the actions of individuals on a case to case basis. America is big. America has a lot of crime. America has a lot of guns, which means the police is predisposed to be more violent if only because they're terrified for their life. Which means some policemen will find an excuse to take that violence too far. All those things considered, it's no surprise so many cases of innocent death happen, horrible as it is.
Being someone from the relatively peaceful Belgium, of course I'd argue against guns for the general public. That would also mean police needs less heavy equipment. But that's a whole other conversation.
