They are doing some damage but not really leveling their entire town. Nothing will change IMO if no-one does anything. I will agree that long term sustained rioting is not useful and that the riots should turn into sustained peaceful protests on a large scale that bring the issue to the forefront of our national consciousness. I think what happened in Ferguson needed to happen, if there was no rioting no-one would even know about Mike Brown. It is time the country dealt with the issues of over-militarization of police and the fact they are apparently above the law. People are sick and tired of this bullshit and people deserve to be very, very angry over all the needless police killing.
Yeah, leveling the town is an exaggeration. at the end of the day though, they're damaging businesses that had nothing to do with what happened. I really hope they all had insurance, because a lot of people's lives could be ruined. The one that really stuck out to me was the destruction of the store where he stole from. What did that guy ever do wrong? His business could be ruined for good.
One of the big issues I see with all of this is the whole black/white debate. All it does it split the people, everyone needs to get on the same page. No where near as much outcry with this shooting:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/3/justice-dillon-taylor-after-white-utah-man-fatally/ . Just read a few of the comments, now I know it's the internet, but until people learn to get along, the police and government will continue to push their agenda.
As you say, the right thing to do is a large peaceful protest, only then will the masses come together. Of course the police will continue to poke the bear though for a reaction, and they're getting it. People need to take a deep breath and calm down. We all know that breaking shit doesn't work. Most people just look at you like an idiot.
The shooting hit news up in Canada pretty fast, then again, I follow a lot of media that isn't considered mainstream. So not really sure if the rioting was necessary.
Not really sure how to tackle the over militarization of the police force down there. I know a lot of Americans are arming themselves with as much as they can, but is it really the answer? If it gets bad enough, I imagine they will just send in the military, then things will get interesting.