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.

The found the links twitter but I will try and find them & post them here! I should have saved them at the time but didn’t think to do that.

@NewYorkStateOfMind

Yes, so much of this. When the controversy around Colin Kapernik was happening I was working with an American who was a staunch Trump supporter (such fun) And he was so angry about it, I was shocked at the way his peaceful protest was twisted to make him look 'unpatriotic' and my favourite 'ungrateful'!!!!

I think that peaceful dignified protests achieve more, particularly in terms of changing attitudes towards black people.

No, they really really don’t. Peaceful protests haven’t changed a thing.
2020 and STILL black people are being lynched out on the streets, STILL being shot dead by police while sleeping in bed.
Brutal murder after brutal murder.
It won’t end until something drastic happens. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end.

They've arrested a black CNN reporter reporting on the riots for no reason, while his white counterpart not far away from him of course was not arrested. The police said they were ' just following orders'. It's like Nazi Germany.

twitter.com/NewDay/status/1266315061209030658?s=09

You're welcome Cara I liked the one you posted too.

It has been proven how white police officers have started fires around the city to blame the protestors. They targeted affordable housing

Do you have a link please, @coldlighthappier or @AKissAndASmile ?

Since it's apparently been proved, I'd hope this is something we can all get our voices behind

The US was forged in the fires of civil unrest turning into revolution. A process which has put Trump - and every president before him - in power.

I think that peaceful dignified protests achieve more, particularly in terms of changing attitudes towards black people.

Their peaceful protests have achieved fuck all.

Changing attitudes towards black people? They shouldn't have to be protesting, peacefully or otherwise, in the first place. They're doing it because of prejudiced attitudes towards them, based on nothing more than the colour of their skin. I'd snap too.

It's not on the black community to be proving anything to anyone. They're human fucking beings, they should be treated as such. Why should they have to protest for that to be recognised?

I saw the video of George Floyd being murdered. I wish I hadn't but in an odd way I felt like I owed it to him and to every other POC that has been killed at the hands of the police/state in the US.
I felt physically sick and I've really struggled to get it out of my mind. I don't really agree with violence and looting, especially the latter because it distracts from the real message but I understand why they feel like they have no other choice. They've tried peaceful protests and it hasn't worked.
I feel so desperately sorry for Mr Floyd and his family. He didn't deserve to die at the hands of people who are supposed to protect citizens.
As for Trump's tweets today. The man is an absolute disgrace to his office and position. I really hope he doesn't get in for another term.

Watching what is happening in Minneapolis makes me think that America isn't the "Land of the Free" they're living in a virtual police state.

Undercover police inciting riots

twitter.com/GypsyEyedBeauty/status/1266162964727562240?s=19

I thought Breonna Taylor must be the woman who was killed by a police officer while she was playing video games with her nephew in her home. No. That was Atatiana Jefferson. Breonna Taylor was a paramedic shot 8 times by police in her own home by the police when they executed a no-knock warrant to search for someone they already had in custody.

It’s just horrific.

I watched the video straight away. I think that it is important to watch a part of history

I thought Breonna Taylor must be the woman who was killed by a police officer while she was playing video games with her nephew in her home. No. That was Atatiana Jefferson. Breonna Taylor was a paramedic shot 8 times by police in her own home by the police when they executed a no-knock warrant to search for someone they already had in custody.

Don't forget Amber Guyger - who managed to shoot dead a poor sod in his own house

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49899264

Seems the worst thing a black person in the US can do is nothing - it still gets you killed.

I notice she managed to swerve the death penalty.

Using undercover agitators in riot situations is an age old trick.

Remember the student loans protests? Remember the unattended police van slap bang in the middle of it? Remember the genuine protesters trying to stop its destruction while masked rioters attacked it?

Disenfranchised people who feel they have nothing to lose are the most dangerous to the authorities - when the authorities are engineering inequality and racism in the States for political posturing and people feel like cannon fodder I don't blame them for showing force.

@Smilethoyourheartisbreaking - A picture speaks a thousand words - Thank you for posting that.

The Root has a Fatal Encounters report where they monitor US deaths at the hands of the police. Unlike other sources, they count more than the people shot and killed.
Unless you have lived in the US vs. Other countries, it’s hard to comprehend the scale of deaths. For example, in the US the police kill more people in a few days than Australia in an entire year.

www.theroot.com/here-s-how-many-people-police-killed-in-2019-we-think-1841183889

Worse, the US government has no law requiring that deaths in police custody be counted
“There’s a good reason why we don’t know how many Americans die at the hands of law enforcement officers every year: The police don’t have to tell us.”
“Since 2015, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) had been trying to pass a piece of legislation. Named after one of his constituents who was infamously shot by police officer Michael Slager, the Walter Scott Notification Act would simply require every law enforcement agency in America to report all police shootings and deaths to the federal government....But police unions whispered in the ears of his fellow legislators and once again, the Walter Scott Notification Act fell by the wayside.

So Tim Scott gave up.

In 2019, for the first time in four years, Tim Scott did not try to introduce the Walter Scott Notification act as an amendment or as a standalone Senate bill.”

Few statistics the Root found:
“In all, there were 1,112 non-suicide-related deaths at the hands of police in 2019...

We think.”
“44.8% White, 31.8% Black, 18.5% Hispanic/Latino, 3.1% Asian, 1.3% Native American.” (From a ring chart).

“After we sorted through the data, here are some other startling facts about 2019’s officer-involved killings:

A black person was three-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by cop than a white person.

A Hispanic person was one-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a white person

An unarmed black person was three times more likely to be killed by police than a white person with no weapon

An unarmed black person fleeing the scene was six times more likely than a white person to be killed by a police officer.”

As for the looting and burning of places, I abide by the words of the great Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr:
^Lecture -- December 11, 1964
“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

In a real sense nonviolence seeks to redeem the spiritual and moral lag that I spoke of earlier as the chief dilemma of modern man. It seeks to secure moral ends through moral means. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

I believe in this method because I think it is the only way to reestablish a broken community. It is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to the conscience of the great decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride, and irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep.

The nonviolent resisters can summarize their message in the following simple terms: we will take direct action against injustice despite the failure of governmental and other official agencies to act first. We will not obey unjust laws or submit to unjust practices. We will do this peacefully, openly, cheerfully because our aim is to persuade. We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will try to persuade with our acts. We will always be willing to talk and seek fair compromise, but we are ready to suffer when necessary and even risk our lives to become witnesses to truth as we see it.”^

I believe in this method because I think it is the only way to reestablish a broken community. It is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to the conscience of the great decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride, and irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep.

And for those that have deliberately anaesthetised their consciences ?

As always, Mr Trump is right. Protests have NOTHING to do with looting. Somehow, protests against police always end up in looting: remember Tottenham in 2011 and 90's Brixton riots?
Mr Trump did not say 'shoot if you protest'.

Well this is the country where white openly armed protestors can stand around protesting having their safety protected and no one lifts a finger. While black unarmed protestors are beaten and have tear gas used against them. Land of the free! Trump is an absolute arsehole with no redeeming characteristics at all

“those that have deliberately anaesthetised their consciences ?”

What do you think?