Were George Floyd protests in 2020 a good thing?

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In year 2020, the killing of black man George Floyd by a policeman in the U.S. triggered mass street protests, which turned polarizing, especially Democrats vs. Republicans. Were these protests a good thing?

George Floyd protests in 2020 were a good thing

Arguments for

Pro The protests highlighted an important long-term problem by which black people are disproportionately targeted or treated harshly by police force, as part of systemic racism.

Arguments against

Con The protests took place during time of COVID-19-driven lockdowns and restrictions, and at a minimum should have been deferred until a later point. The supporters of the protests ended in a contradiction: on one hand, saving lives from COVID-19 was so critical as to justify shutting down many businesses and schools, yet allegedly not critical enough to warrant deferring street protests until later. Assuming the problem is systemic, long-term and continuing, there will be no shortage of other similar occasions later.
Con The protests neglected the fact that many more black people are killed by black-on-black violence than by white policemen, implying that a black life ended by a black is less valuable than a black life ended by a white policeman.
Con The protests involved mass looting and burning of businessess, an illegitimate means of protest, targetting entities not involved in any way (causally or otherwise) in the increased or unjust policing of blacks by the white police force.
Con The protests revealed the Orwellian/openly misrepresenting nature of certain mainstream media, which verbally reported the protests as mostly peaceful while at the same time showing burning businesses on screen.
Con The protests, rather than effectively protecting black lives, led to more avoidable deaths during the protests, including those of black people or white people. See also Wikipedia: Violence and controversies during the George Floyd protests#Deaths and Wikipedia:de: Proteste infolge des Todes von George Floyd#Todesfälle.

George Floyd protests in 2020 were a good thing

Arguments for

Arguments against

Further reading

See also