This is a continuation of a Facebook post but a digression from the intent of the post. It is mere postulation of what could happen if the police brutality goes unaddressed by the government.
If left undealt with, to my discernment, one of two things will happen.
1) The People give up. They determine that continued protesting is not worth the risk of the bodily harm and very lives of so many people. They disperse. The putrid status quo is maintained. No justice is served.
2) Things escalate. The People determine a violent overthrow of the government is warranted and obligatory. People take sides. Civil war erupts. Hundreds of thousands die.
2.a) Horribly outmatched in terms of firepower, the freedom fighters lose. An undisguised authoritarian government is cemented. The essence of America is extinguished. The Great Experiment ends.
God only knows what happens then.
2.b) Outmatched in numbers, the government is overthrown. American is reborn. However, without the firepower held by the other side, the victory is narrow. Not hundreds of thousands, but millions die. It is a war that dwarfs the Civil War of 1865. "Victory" is an ill-fitting word, for while one side has won, both sides have lost.