I certainly see the causal relationship between systematic racism and police brutality leading to the protests that we see today, but I'd ask you then to what extent do the ends justify the means? Especially taking into consideration that there is no clear set of demands being made by the protesters and no single leadership, you could argue there are no ends in which to even judge the means.

Are these protests then just a release of tension, anger and frustration at a broken system?

If there is an end goal, it needs to be well defined enough that people can people can a) judge when it has been satisfactorily achieved and can, b) see if what we are doing to get there has become too costly. If pursuing a loosely defined notion of racial justice involves burning down black businesses and sending those businesses owners into a bankruptcy from which they will perhaps never recover, that seems like the protesters are cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Alternatively, there is no end goal, but you argue that that's ok. In this case the key factor here is not policy outcomes, but public perception. If people continue to see the movement as being defined by looters and rioters (regardless of how true that statement really is) then the outcome of these protests might leave us in an even worse position than we began.

Not that it should be necessary to state for good dialogue to occur, but I do wholeheartedly support the BLM movement. What I'm looking for however is real, sustainable change. To that end, I'd be devastated if in a few years from now America is back to its old tricks and no real shift has occurred. And, if protests continue as they currently are, I can see that being the case.