You don't just "win" a war. You lose people too. Who are you willing to sacrifice to sate your bloodlust?
It may come down to it, but we shouldn't want or encourage it.
^^^ This.
And, as a relatively comfortable white male I can say that. But I do think of how black folk, who have seen their brethren shot dead for far, far less
or nothing at all, think of how all this transpired. I can tell you, were I an African American, I would wake up each day with a white hot anger at how people with black skin are treated in this country.
Now, the nub of this dilemma is not to have responded to these right wing bozos with more lethality, but to extend the same patience of inclusion and respect to our black brethren, for we are ALL citizens of the United States of America, and are due the same level of respect.
That said, I wish the entire coterie of right wing pundits and politicians who, by their craven lies incited these . . . children . . . to act out in the very worst way possible, would be held to account.
But historically, this almost never happens. In war, such as WWI, millions of grunts die for nothing under the LIE of patriotism, while the old men who have sent them to their death write their fucking memoirs, insulated by their wealth and privilege.