Alexandra,
To the degree that there is to be a new look at racism in the US, I would suggest it needs to be in the form of a dialog: an honest listening by BOTH sides.  To be clear, of COURSE I believe that injustices should be fought, resisted and overturned wherever possible.  The question may well become HOW to do that.

I think it important to DRAW people into that dialog.  And whether fair or not, right or not, violence, riots, destruction of property (etc.) will do little to draw people into that dialog.  In today's politically correct media environment, there are legitimate issues that simply cannot be brought up, and I think that too restricts dialog.  In your post, you did something I see often, when you stated "Yes, the violence is deplorable. But..."  To many, that comes off as an often used "end justifies the means" argument.  In the end, Ferguson gets left behind, poorer and more isolated.  FYI, the specific "leaders" to whom I was referring were the Al Sharpton types.