Notice that many of the people saying "looting distracts from the REAL problem"

[StarfishSaver]

17. If you're so concerned about it being a distraction, why not stop being distracted by it,

stop spending so much of your time drawing attention to it and trying to get other people to spend all their time focusing on it with "yeah, but what about the LOOTING?! injections into threads that try to discuss the protests, and, instead, make more of an effort to draw attention to the racial injustice you claim to be so concerned about but don't think is getting enough attention?

And since you want Martin Luther King quoted in context, I will once again post his larger quote about rioting, which I've posted numerous times before but you seemed to have missed

But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention.

And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213496531