I understand the original protests. But now it's just people starting fires and vandalizing. There may be a few BLM supporters in these late night crowds but ALL BLM leaders in Portland have denounced the nightly violence and have distanced themselves from the anarchists that have hijacked their movement and made it about nothing but chaos. Minority businesses are even being vandalized by these people.
I support the BLM movement 100% and agree that the police are getting away with murder in many instances and the racism across the nation is systemic. But these vandals and that's what they are, have nothing to do with BLM and what has happened to young men at the hands of police across the country. The only reason any of these protesters are getting arrested is because they're breaking the law with acts of vandalism, looting, and arson. They're also throwing rocks and bottles at the police.
The entire defund the police is ridiculous. What are you going to do when there are no police and meth crazed lunatics run rampant across cities. The people involved in the nightly violence and that's what it is. It's not a protest it's violence. They might want to but 99% of the rest of us don't want to live in a world resembling Mad Max.
We might agree on some things but apparently not everything and there is nothing wrong with that. Civil discourse is good. Violence is bad. Ghandi, Martin Luther King both changed more with peace than any of this violence is going to change.
It's not that I disagree with the goals. It's the method I can't support.