Barry, here's the problem. First, you can't separate the flag and the anthem from American values. If you disrespect the flag and the anthem, then you disrespect American values. People have a right to do that, but that doesn't give such disrespect merit and doesn't make it a good idea from a political standpoint. In fact, it's very stupid from a political standpoint, because it's polarizing. A massive number of people who might be sympathetic aren't even going to listen to somebody just because they disrespect the flag and/or the anthem.
Second, the cigarette dealer, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, etc. aren't smart cases to bring up for someone who truly wants to deal with the racial disparities and injustices that occur in the criminal justice system. In fact, they are diversions. Other than the Rice case, they all involve someone being uncooperative with police. Once you have that element, 80 percent of the public is going to tune you out. Furthermore, when police actually do act inappropriately, there is a remedy - discipline, criminal prosecution, and civil liability. The real injustices (poor access to counsel and resources, jury attitudes, punishments rendered, etc.) are almost never discussed, because they're tough to fix. However, because they're almost never discussed, nobody even tries.
