Tag: Trump racist tweet

Here’s the disturbing history behind the racist phrase that got Trump flagged on Twitter

AlterNet logoIn response to the civil unrest that Minneapolis has suffered this week following the death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump posted an inflammatory comment on Twitter: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” It was so explosive and incendiary that Twitter, which had already triggered Trump’s ire this week, flagged and hid the post as violent content.

The phrase, however, didn’t originate with Trump, and its racist origins are explained in articles for HuffPost and NBC News.

Floyd, an African-American resident of Minneapolis, died on Monday while in police custody. In a disturbing video of his arrest, Floyd can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe” while handcuffed and pinned to the ground. Floyd’s death has inspired angry demonstrations not only in Minneapolis, but also, in other U.S. cities ranging from New York to Los Angeles to Chicago. Continue reading.

Protests, fires rage through the night in Minneapolis

Washington Post logoFires raged through the night in Minneapolis after a group of demonstrators swarmed a police station, which officers had been ordered to abandon as protests intensified in a city rocked by the death of a black man in police custody. Demonstrators breached a door and entered the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct station as fires spread, resulting in destruction and further upheaval.

President Trump called the protesters “THUGS,” while suggesting military intervention and warning in a tweet that there could be additional violence if the chaos continued. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” the president wrote. Trump’s tweet was later flagged by Twitter for “glorifying violence.”

The scene in Minneapolis came at the end of a day in which hundreds of peaceful protesters demanded that four now-fired officers be arrested in a case that has generated nationwide outrage. Video captured a white police officer pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck in a banned maneuver as Floyd repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd later died. Continue reading.