Donald Trump’s 29 May 2020 tweet repeating the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”
1 June 2020
On 29 May, Donald Trump tweeted the following in reference to riots in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer:
These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
Twitter subsequently placed a warning label on the tweet, making it invisible unless the user clicked on it, saying it violated their rules against glorifying violence.
The phrase when the looting starts, the shooting starts has a long and racist history. And regardless of whether or not Trump was aware of the phrase’s history, it functions as a racist dogwhistle.
The phrase was first uttered by Miami Police Chief Walter Headley on 26 December 1967 at a news conference about a series of armed robberies in black neighborhoods of the city. The Miami News of 26 December 1967 reported Headley responding to a question about whether his tough-on-crime policies might spark civil unrest among the city’s black population:
“This is war,” he said as he issued a warning that anyone caught in the act of committing a crime stands a good chance of getting shot.
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He said officers will “stop and frisk” any group of people milling around, regardless of age.
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Asked if he thought this might cause riots such as have occurred elsewhere in the nation, Headley replied:
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts (meaning his men). These are my orders. Not three days after, but now.”
The Miami Herald reported Headley’s statement as:
We haven’t had any serious problems with civil uprisings and looting because I’ve let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts.
The quote was widely reported in hundreds of newspaper articles across the United States in the following days. It was not a minor story.
Much of the 2020 reporting on the history of the phrase conflates the circumstances of Headley uttering the line with the riot that occurred in Miami in August of the following year and the riots across the United States following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968. Headley was speaking months earlier about what he would do if rioting broke out, which it did on 7 August 1968 in the black Liberty City neighborhood at a rally protesting the Republican National Convention that was being held in the city. An overly aggressive police response to some disorderly conduct led to widespread rioting and vandalism, and the failure of the governor and city officials to appear at a meeting with black community leaders the following day led to further rioting, which was suppressed by police and the National Guard, resulting in three deaths. So, Headley ended up fulfilling the threat he had uttered eight months earlier. Headley died in November 1968.
Some allege that segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace repeated Headley’s phrase during his 1968 presidential campaign. I have found no contemporary evidence that Wallace said the phrase—the closest I’ve found is a 2005 recollection of him saying it. But prior to Headley’s utterance, Wallace did say something worse. The Los Angeles Times of 10 September 1967 reports Wallace as saying:
Bam, shoot ‘em dead on the spot! Shoot to kill if anyone throws a rock at a policeman or throws a Molotov cocktail. Don’t shoot any children, just shoot that adult standing beside the kid that throws the rock. That may not prevent the burning and looting, but it sure will stop it after it starts.
Those who recall Wallace saying it would seem to be conflating two separate memories. And even if Wallace didn’t utter those exact words, the sentiment and message were the same, so connecting the two messages is not an error.
Headley was a racist and under his leadership the Miami police department engaged in aggressive and discriminatory tactics against the city’s black population. And the phrase when the looting starts, the shooting starts carries unmistakably racist implications.
Sources:
Nelson, Jack. “Wallace Would End Rioting With Bullets.” Los Angeles Times, 10 September 1967, C48S. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Savage, Jim. “Miami Police Open Up ‘Get Tough Policy.’” Miami Herald, 27 December 1967, 1A. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Trump, Donald J, @realDonaldTrump, Twitter, 29 May 2020.
Wilcox, Bob. “‘I Have Leaders’ Support.’” Miami News, 26 December 1967, 1A. ProQuest.