This issue, like so many, breeds so much polarization. It's like there are two camps, and you have to be in one or the other, there's no middle ground.
I think that it really handicaps the discussion, both in this forum and in the nation as a whole. Yes, blacks are systemically oppressed in some serious ways--statistics on police brutality are complex and tough to wade through, but things like
sentencing bias are, if you will pardon an awful pun, pretty black and white.
Alternatively, BLM and many of its supporters have curiously and, to me, infuriatingly stripped themselves of a sense of agency. For instance, the breakdown of black families (particularly fathers) caused by absenteeism, births out of wedlock, and other examples of irresponsibility contributes to their sky-high rates of violent crime, low educational attainment, poverty, on and on and on. (See sources earlier in the topic). There is no external force to blame:
it is a failing of the community and can only be corrected by the community. But where is the outrage? Where is the sense of 'we need to, together, lean in and tackle this problem'? If it's present, it certainly hasn't been very visible.
Protesting and civil disobedience can be important in effecting change. Perhaps equally important is to lean in, fight, beat the odds, raise a successful career and/or family, and then lead by example.