>This was my experience so when people tell me they were "peaceful protests" or the news says "statistically, they were 99.99999999% peaceful" but I look at wha

>This was my experience so when people tell me they were "peaceful protests" or the news says "statistically, they were 99.99999999% peaceful" but I look at what I saw with my own eyes, and also what was on TV in other cities... I can't be convinced that they weren't violent, destructive, and plainly, evil, no matter how much other people tell me what to think. Your point is well taken. I live in a large city. The area where I live, while mixed, is majority minority. My own experience was quite different. No one assaulted teachers from my local school. I saw no businesses burned. I don't know anyone who was directly impacted by the months of daily BLM protests. Those are my experiences. Why are you telling me what I should believe? I mirrored my experiences against yours to point out that your anecdotal experience is not the whole of the story. Nor is mine. Now for some facts that neither you nor I actually experienced: Where I live there were a few instances of violence against police (and in every single case, nearly all the folks involved were both white and from out of town). There were also numerous instances of police instigating violence against peaceful protestors. There were a few instances of looting, and the police and local government addressed them quickly and harshly, as just about everyone, including the protestors (many of whom were captured on video chasing would-be looters away) was horrified and angered by such actions. There were (and are) violent miscreants who should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. However, those folks were a tiny group compared to those who peacefully protested. When you hear folks say the protests were "mostly" peaceful, they are empirically correct. Something like 20,000,000 people around the US peacefully protested against police violence. At most, a few thousand people committed acts of violence and vandalism. Let's say there were even 10,000 (a high number, I suspect) folks who committed violent/destructive acts alongside the peaceful protests. If that's correct, 99.95% of people protested peacefully and 0.05% of folks were violent/destructive. I'm not sure how that could be construed as anything other than "mostly peaceful". in fact, I'd characterize it as "overwhelmingly peaceful". I'm most certainly not telling you what to think or believe. Just presenting my own experiences and a few facts. Don't take my word for it. I'm just some random asshole on the Internet. The facts speak for themselves.