I feel like "Black lives matter" is important as a community spirited thing which reaches way beyond police brutality into medical malfeasance, hiring decisions, housing, etc.

BUT the most completely selfish take I could possibly have is that the unlimited freedom police and other white supremacists have to harm African-Americans is a warning to those of us who aren't Black; that curtailing police power protects all of us, since anyone who isn't Black quickly becomes fair game once we step out of line, namely - if we're protesting. (Right wing protests don't count, as societal double standards always keep them both protected and audible.)

I feel like the whole Rittenhouse crime and trial could be interpreted as (okay, let's be blunt here, I think it IS) one more heavy handed statement from the establishment that protesting isn't safe, that they will gladly harm any and all of us as they please, that consequences are for left wingers and Black folks. Doesn't matter the subject of the protest - eviction, war, gentrification. We're being told that it's just fine and good with the authorities that not just the police but random dudes considered the right side can click the safety off and cut loose.