5 ms·

> Trump’s posts included the racially charged phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” How is that racially charged?

dceddia 6y ago
The phrase has some history. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_looting_starts,_the_shooting_starts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_looting_starts,_the...
- JohnBerea 6y ago
  Is the history of that phrase commonly known? That long and detailed Wikipedia Article was only created after Trump said the phrase: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_the_looting_starts,_the_shooting_starts&offset=&limit=500&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_the_looting_...
  - dceddia 6y ago
    I must admit, I didn’t know the origin of the phrase when Trump said it. I only learned about it after the fact, and passed on the link here.
  - dekhn 6y ago
    Yes, the history is fairly well known by people who lived in the late 1960s. It was reported in the press and major magazines.
  - codezero 6y ago
    When someone leads a nation of several hundred million people, it is expected that their public communication be thoroughly vetted. This is even true at a medium to large corporation for an executive. This is an expectation. I don’t actually believe Trump has anyone filtering his speech and I don’t think he’s educated enough to understand the phrase he said, but with that said, yes, we should expect our leaders to be informed on the nature of the words they say especially in the context of a crisis or emergency.
  - prawn 6y ago
    If Trump didn't know, I suspect that he had adopted the phrase from someone in his circle who does know - can imagine him thinking 'sounds like a catchy way of threatening consequences; I'm going to bust that out next chance I get.'
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
alasdair_ 6y ago
It's a quote said in 1967 by Miami police Chief Walter Headley who was talking about how he will respond to protests against the police. For context, he also said he was against "young hoodlums, from 15 to 21, who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign. ... We don't mind being accused of police brutality" The Chief got the phrase from the guy who used firehoses and dogs against children during the Birmingham, AL protests.
- ponsin 6y ago
  That sounds like the "Hitler liked dogs" argument. Just because that police chief sounds like a bad person from the quote doesn't mean that everything he said was bad. In fact, I think many Americans would be fine with the use of violent force to stop violent criminals
  - alasdair_ 6y ago
    > That sounds like the "Hitler liked dogs" argument. Just because that police chief sounds like a bad person from the quote doesn't mean that everything he said was bad This sounds like the “straw man” argument. Just because I made a specific point about a specific utterance does not mean that I was claiming that literally every single thing he said was intrinsically racist. In fact, I think many Americans would be fine with the idea that this was a massive stretch of what I just said. But you knew that and decided to post anyway.
- derision 6y ago
  If you read "young hoodlums" and think of certain race maybe it's your own bias shining through. Where I grew up on Ohio the kids I considered "young hoodlums" didn't happen to be any specific race
  - cmdli 6y ago
    From context, it's pretty clear who he is talking about.
    - 6y ago
baby 6y ago
I wish you weren't getting downvoted because I was wondering the same, and I'm happy someone asked so that I could learn the answer.
- rmellow 6y ago
  Seconded. Us non-Americans watching what's going on can't be expected to know something an unremarkable American cop said 50 years ago. Is it such a well known phrase among Americans or something that most people just learned was a thing?
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    Even in the US it wasn't well known - most people just learned it was a thing.
  - JohnBerea 6y ago
    I was the one who asked the question and I've lived in the US all my life. I had never heard the phrase or knew that Trump said it until this conversation just now.
  - birdyrooster 6y ago
    We didn’t need to know it to read it as inherently racist. If you can’t interpret that, it’s a problem with reading comprehension.
thrwaway69 6y ago
If you wanna believe the man who said that. Here's the actual tweet explaining it - https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266434153932894208?s=19 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/12664341539328942...

dceddia 6y ago

The phrase has some history. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_looting_starts,_the_shooting_starts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_looting_starts,_the...

JohnBerea 6y ago
Is the history of that phrase commonly known? That long and detailed Wikipedia Article was only created after Trump said the phrase: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_the_looting_starts,_the_shooting_starts&offset=&limit=500&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_the_looting_...
- dceddia 6y ago
  I must admit, I didn’t know the origin of the phrase when Trump said it. I only learned about it after the fact, and passed on the link here.
- dekhn 6y ago
  Yes, the history is fairly well known by people who lived in the late 1960s. It was reported in the press and major magazines.
- codezero 6y ago
  When someone leads a nation of several hundred million people, it is expected that their public communication be thoroughly vetted. This is even true at a medium to large corporation for an executive. This is an expectation. I don’t actually believe Trump has anyone filtering his speech and I don’t think he’s educated enough to understand the phrase he said, but with that said, yes, we should expect our leaders to be informed on the nature of the words they say especially in the context of a crisis or emergency.
- prawn 6y ago
  If Trump didn't know, I suspect that he had adopted the phrase from someone in his circle who does know - can imagine him thinking 'sounds like a catchy way of threatening consequences; I'm going to bust that out next chance I get.'

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

alasdair_ 6y ago

It's a quote said in 1967 by Miami police Chief Walter Headley who was talking about how he will respond to protests against the police. For context, he also said he was against "young hoodlums, from 15 to 21, who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign. ... We don't mind being accused of police brutality" The Chief got the phrase from the guy who used firehoses and dogs against children during the Birmingham, AL protests.

ponsin 6y ago
That sounds like the "Hitler liked dogs" argument. Just because that police chief sounds like a bad person from the quote doesn't mean that everything he said was bad. In fact, I think many Americans would be fine with the use of violent force to stop violent criminals
- alasdair_ 6y ago
  > That sounds like the "Hitler liked dogs" argument. Just because that police chief sounds like a bad person from the quote doesn't mean that everything he said was bad This sounds like the “straw man” argument. Just because I made a specific point about a specific utterance does not mean that I was claiming that literally every single thing he said was intrinsically racist. In fact, I think many Americans would be fine with the idea that this was a massive stretch of what I just said. But you knew that and decided to post anyway.
derision 6y ago
If you read "young hoodlums" and think of certain race maybe it's your own bias shining through. Where I grew up on Ohio the kids I considered "young hoodlums" didn't happen to be any specific race
- cmdli 6y ago
  From context, it's pretty clear who he is talking about.
  - 6y ago

baby 6y ago

I wish you weren't getting downvoted because I was wondering the same, and I'm happy someone asked so that I could learn the answer.

rmellow 6y ago
Seconded. Us non-Americans watching what's going on can't be expected to know something an unremarkable American cop said 50 years ago. Is it such a well known phrase among Americans or something that most people just learned was a thing?
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  Even in the US it wasn't well known - most people just learned it was a thing.
- JohnBerea 6y ago
  I was the one who asked the question and I've lived in the US all my life. I had never heard the phrase or knew that Trump said it until this conversation just now.
- birdyrooster 6y ago
  We didn’t need to know it to read it as inherently racist. If you can’t interpret that, it’s a problem with reading comprehension.

thrwaway69 6y ago

If you wanna believe the man who said that. Here's the actual tweet explaining it - https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266434153932894208?s=19 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/12664341539328942...