Disregarding the rhetorical question regarding…well, rhetoric: I think you hit the nail on the head here — the fact is, there’s been a public backlash to a wholly nonviolent act of resistance (at the end of the day, he’s just a man kneeling down, he’s not calling for escalation of tactics, he’s really just looking for people to listen and discuss issues of police brutality further), arguably more than, say, the burning down of that CVS in Baltimore post-Freddie Gray. I think it just goes to show that ANY resistance regarding race in America will be dealt with swiftly and negatively.