Taboos around violence for political are one of the crucial building blocks for a functioning democracy. If those taboos are broken, even for a good cause, you set a precedence that violence works. And the next cause won’t be as good. One only has to look at the lessons of the Roman Revolution that started with the murder of Grachus, and ended with an Emperor who everyone acclaimed as they were so tired of the bloodshed.
The non-violent protests of Colin Kaepernick were mocked and used to rally the other side and just weren't effective.
The problem here is not the violence, but a policing system that is so fundamentally damaged and has not been effectively reformed fast enough.
The MLK quote is trotted out pretty often, but "a riot is the language of the unheard".
I am deeply critical of this line of thought. There are so many negative consequences of properties destruction and looting that counterweight the benefits.
As far as I am concerned this is an argument that only someone that did not have a riot outside of their own house can espouse.
I apologize for the hyperbole of that argument, but it is something that I would personally say to everyone condoning the destruction, the looting, and the violence; even knowing that in some instances I will be wrong.
I a couple of months there will be one less evil cop around and also quite few stores destroyed, livelihood evaporated, family savings lost, destroyed buildings in historically minority and poor neighborhoods.
Once the dust settles hundreds of people will be in far worse conditions that they would have been otherwise AND those will not be the protesters, those will be the people, families, kids, that had the protest happen around them.