I would say you doth protest too much. However, I know the counterpoint you are trying to make. Reminiscent of the Capitol protest where the Indigeous American and the White kid from Kentucky faced off, who actually did or did not do what?
Yes, there was not enough good information to make all the claims in the Atlanta situation in the hours or day. Similar to the sheriff deputy saying, what the killer said, that he "had a bad day". Getting the first words from someone who just murdered 8 people, that attempt to "absolve himself", isn't very helpful either.
However, killing Asian Americans at Asian American establishments or employing mostly of same heritage, during a time where many are getting targetted due to COVID is cause for concern. Would he have done this without such feelings out there as well. Maybe he would have shot himself without COVID? His explanation is not necessarily suffficient, either will other past evidence/explanations that seem to buttress the non-racist side of things because of the larger context.
Extracting his killings from the larger context is problematic, even if there was a lie detector that could actually give us the truth. Jumping on the bandwagon without proof is a bad thing, but without stopping the "real racist" Asian American attacks, it is hard to tweezer out the truth in these cases. We are talking about society as a whole at the same time we talk about one case, Twitter, Medium, etc. is not a courtroom trial.
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That is why I more sharply disagree about your George Floyd analysis. Do people exaggerate? Of course. Do people want to feel safe? Yes, but immediacy and long term safety are often two different things. (I know you get most if not all of this part, but I am also keeping Whitey abreast.)
Policing is required to stop crime. But why do Whites sell more and use as many drugs but don't get arrested at the much rates than Blacks? Some may say Blacks are more violent, but that is obviously a racist take. Generations upon generations of the forced segregation, and pervasive job discrimination created this problem. The police cannot be blamed for its groundwork, but they are like bandaids with a salt patch, covering a wound.
Cops do kill 3 to 6 times more Black Americans than White. Killing of unarmed is likely much higher than Whites too, 3 or more times?, but Whitey Republican establishment also doesn't like gathering good data, because crossing that intimidating blue line is a pants soiling and wetting event for them.
The over-policing protects some, but destroys much much more longer term. The prisons and jails hold 5 to 10 times more Black Americans as White Americans by percentage of population. Without greatly reduced the wealth gap, Whites have ten times as much on average, and income gap, it is unlikely the crime will go down. Reducing prison terms, equalizing them with how Whites are treated, stopping school to prison pipeline, and much more is needed. All the cops supposedly needed will mean more Black Americans are incarcerated and the cycle continues spiraling into the future.
That said, the defunding of police is a tactic to get people to sit up and listen to the big picture. Crime is scary, I dealt with it in Minneapolis, 1988-90, Lake St. And Grand as an apartment caretaker. But like crossing the Edmund Pettus bridge, sometimes you must do the extreme to get people to notice. I am also tired of incrementalism, and it has been worse than that for two decades now. Actually going backwards, include the Shelby Country v. Holder decision, gutting the voting rights act.
Long winded is my trademark. I hope you can find a smidgen of clarity in that cloud of smoke.
RTC
BTW I am not comparing what I did to crossing the Edmund Pettus. Just getting in that I am not totally unfamiliar with cops and crime: Confronted cocaine dealers, Disciple Gang members, stolen vehicle, police drawing guns, etc.
