accusing you of anything. He was pointing out that every time something like this happens, there is definitely a rush to discredit the notion that maybe there is a systemic issue underlying it all. I think that is right, even if you're just repeating what you read with an honest motive.

I also think it's fair to say we don't know if race really motivated the cops to act the way they did in this incident. Apparently Chauvin has a history of violent behavior and anger management issues and Floyd just happened to be the one he caught on a bad day. That's possible too. But the fact is, this sort of thing keeps happening, and it is grossly disproportional in how it affects black communities. There are assumptions built into American culture that black men are potentially violent and dangerous that makes it more likely even a cop who isn't outwardly racist (or is even a minority himself) perceives a heightened threat based on skin tone and responds accordingly, with more force than he would otherwise. That is the real systemic problem, IMHO, not that Officer Klanzanski is out there looking for darkies to lynch and murder (although they still exist) but that Officer so-in-so is so trained to think black men are violent killers he feels compelled to draw down and shoot someone during a traffic stop or so brutally restrains a guy accused of paying for a box of cigarettes with a fake $20.

That is what is being protested, and what must change. And we're even getting to things like overpolicing and mass incarceration now, which is just flat out wonderful and long overdue.