When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

[Annamaria14]

Can you believe that Trump has just tweeted this comment? He is talking about the protests about George Floyd's death. He has also called the protestors "thugs".

Twitter has put a warning on his twitter post, saying that it "glorifies violence". It is also racist!

The "historical context" is a reference to the late 1960s, when the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" was coined by Miami Police Chief Walter Headley, in reference to his aggressive policing policies in black neighbourhoods.

As with those on later shifts, though, I wouldn't quite have called them bystanders ... they're there to do a job

And given US employment laws (well, the lack thereof) refusing to walk through a war zone will see you back in the labor market PDQ.

I think that the pressured circumstances means some of the reporting isn't very clear, and there are also some people out there trying to lead us to the conclusion that anyone who got hurt shouldn't have been there.

It's all very difficult.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought there were curfews in the flashpoint areas?

What I gather from some of the responses on various social media sites, some of those curfews weren’t put into place until 10 minutes before curfew or only televised on the news and even then some weren’t said until after curfew. If many people are already out in the nice weather and not watching the news, how would they know about a curfew and how are they expected to get home in short notice?

@DGRossetti

As with those on later shifts, though, I wouldn't quite have called them bystanders ... they're there to do a job

And given US employment laws (well, the lack thereof) refusing to walk through a war zone will see you back in the labor market PDQ.

Yup. I haven't looked at the US legislation, but I am.assuming it's going to have exemptions for going to work for essential occupations, just like out coronavirus lockdown legislation does.

But that doesn't mean the police are going to stop and ask burly Joe Smith on his way to his min wage job at the hospital.

Yup. I haven't looked at the US legislation, but I am.assuming it's going to have exemptions for going to work for essential occupations, just like out coronavirus lockdown legislation does.

I think most of it is up to the states - so that's 50 sets of laws I know each state has it's own view of "essential" ... apparently Wrestling is essential in Florida.

Wow, US social media must be absolute chaos as people try to clarify what they are and are not allowed to do in their specific state.

This woman was shopping well within curfew. VERY NASTY PIC IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE...it's gory.

i.redd.it/ns0uj557x0251.jpg

NYPD have been running over peaceful protestors and trampling people with their horses. Tear gas has been fired into peoples homes. Videos of officers visibly using white supremacist gestures.

mobile.twitter.com/JimMFelton/status/1267025377857241089

I pray for the USA
😥
🙏

White bloke has been arrested for destroying a historic building in Tennessee.

m.facebook.com/burtstaggsnews/photos/a.339731556186984/1643065355853591/?type=3&source=48

Camera man working before curfew, targeted by police

twitter.com/bbcjonsopel/status/1267340463087984641?s=21

Here is footage of the CNN reporter who got arrested whilst doing nothing wrong.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/31/what-the-arrest-of-a-black-cnn-journalist-on-air-taught-us

www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/05/29/omar-jimenez-cnn-minneapolis/

Footage

Lonelyfemale if you are in the UK you will almost certainly have used forged money.

What are you going to do to yourself about that?

Yes there have been dozens of cases of journalists being targeted and shot at. Holding up their credentials and yelling press, and you see the police still attack them. That is very unusual and concerning. But not surprising considering Trump and his supporters have been demonising the press for years now.

It is clear that in some cities the police are really out of control. They have not been trained properly and their use of force regulations are way too lax. Contrast it with other cities where you see the police acting far more restrained and as a result there has been much less violence and destruction.

Weirdly, having just finished Ken Burns excellent documentary about Vietnam, this all seems terribly familiar ...

A BBC camera operator was rammed and almost forced to the ground on a BBC news segment earlier.

DGRossetti Why? For those of us who haven't seen the documentary.

The aspect of the last few days that brought the Burns documentary to my mind was the shooting into peaceful crowds - at the anti war demo at Kent University, 4 students were shot dead by the National Guard. But there were years of protests, many peaceful, but also often violent (including some bombings), met with violent police responses. (It is indeed a brilliant documentary - and quite eye-opening as to just how much turmoil America went through in the 60s and into the early 70s.)

I think CaraDune pretty much nailed it . It also covered protests against the US involvement in Vietnam across the world. Including UK protestors being tackled by police horsemen outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square.

Of course Vietnam was a war outside the US, not inside. But sadly a lot of the racial elements haven't gone away - or indeed improved.

The racial aspect of the Vietnam war was central to, for example, Mohammed Ali's conscientious objections - why should he, as a Black American, be sent abroad to fight in an imperialistic war by white power structures and government?

They still had the draft (conscription) during Vietnam, meaning anyone (male) over 18 could be called up and sent to Vietnam, involuntarily. There were many ways of avoiding the draft but it is well documented that it was much easier for white men to get out of having to serve.

A friend wrote and essay last year