I am a first responder in a diverse city who has seen all of this first-hand. The United States is a police state.
Police in the United States are, for the most part, completely unaccountable. Police unions have applied pressure to politicians who refuse to criticize or reform them, and prosecutors who need good relationships with police so they rarely prosecute accusations. It is lucky to have a cop fired, let alone charged and convicted. Officers who do face consequences are often times rehired by other departments. Police in the US are famous for brutality, acquisition (legalized theft) of private property, and proven racial disparity in terms of arrests, aggressive policing, use of force, and murder. Justification for police murder is often times based on vague things such as the fear of the officer. Civil rights and First Amendment violations are not terribly uncommon, and rarely have consequences. All of this is perpetuated by a for-profit prison industrial complex, military industrial complex that profits off of police militarization, and an inhumane war on drugs. Cities are spending millions (sometimes billions) of dollars on police budget inflation as social services suffer, with no proven impact on crime.
The protests/rioting you are seeing in the news are a result of ALL of this, in addition to socio-economic conditions created by decades of austerity and exacerbated by an inept response to coronavirus. Currently, we are seeing widespread and disturbing police brutality in every city across the country, with pretty much no signs of accountability. It is a massive escalation of state violence on peaceful protesters. Use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and physical violence is rampant.
Get triggered by this, I don't care. Needs to be heard. Won't be debating, it'll just get shut down anyway.
If you love your country, you must be willing to criticize it.
Black Lives Matter ✊