The protests are a necessary and moral response to decades of over-policing and mass incarceration. If anything, they need to expand to encompass justice reform. Reduce sentences, abolish life without parole (default parole in 10-20 years unless the inmate is someone like Manson and a parole board votes affirmatively to keep them jailed). Abolish laws against victimless crimes, or at least deprioritize their enforcement.

This shows where the priorities of many Americans are — they like their authoritarianism and are happy to pay good money to not be reminded of how screwed up our system is. The violence at the protests is a real issue, but I’d argue that it was being deliberately provoked. When the random mercenary types left Portland, things calmed down a few notches.