When ‘looting and shooting’ and ‘goli maaro’ by leaders need to stop

Keeping aside the issues of inequality and discrimination that plague both India and the United States, a shocking case of likeness between the two countries emerged in how leaders in the two nations “glorify violence”.

Just a few days back, US President Donald Trump was flagged for his tweet: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”, coming in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an Afro-American, in Minneapolis that triggered widespread protests against police brutality and racism, following which the state of Minnesota imposed emergency.

Trump’s tweet was seen as “glorifying violence” and hidden by Twitter, although the social media platform continued to keep the tweet to make it accessible for users later.

“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!”

Twitterati in India was quick to compare it with the “Goli maaro…” slogan at one BJP leader’s rally during Delhi elections a few months back.

India’s minister of state for finance, Anurag Thakur had in late January egged on a crowd to chant “Goli maaro s***o ko (shoot them)” in response to a slogan he raised, “Desh ke gaddaron ko (traitors of the country…)”.

This had sparked huge backlash and forced the Election Commission to impose a three-day campaign ban on the Union minister.

Trump and Twitter

This isn’t the first time the US President has dragged himself into a conflict with Twitter. It had earlier flagged some of his tweets with a fact-check warning.

On May 26, Twitter had added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted that mail boxes will be robbed, among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading ‘Get the facts about mail-in ballots’ that guides users to a Twitter moments page with fact checks and news stories about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.

Trump frequently amplifies misinformation, spreads abuse and uses his pulpit to personally attack private citizens and public figures alike, all forbidden under Twitter’s official rules.

Responding to the move by Twitter, Trump, without directly mentioning the website’s name, had threatened to regulate or close social media sites. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had said he is ultimately accountable for the actions of the company, and his employees should be left out of it.

Dorsey, however, maintained that Twitter will continue to fact check and call out fake news about elections globally.

This is unlike most other countries in the world where a private firm would not dare to take on the government of the day, despite having the power to control communication.

Trump explains!

Trump later said his remark had been misconstrued. His repeated condemnation of the killing and outreach to the man’s family was a marked change in tone from his earlier comments that also invoked a civil-rights-era phrase fraught with racist overtones.

Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night – or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020

“Frankly it means when there’s looting, people get shot and they die,” he said.

Trump’s whiplash comments came after protesters torched a Minneapolis police station on Thursday night, capping three days of searing demonstrations over the death of Floyd, who was captured on video pleading for air to breathe as a white police officer knelt on his neck and pinned him to the ground for over eight minutes. His alleged crime was that he had used “a counterfeit $20 note” to buy a pack of cigarettes from a store.

The 1967 connection

The President, in his tweets, borrowed a phrase once used by former Miami Police Chief Walter Headley in a 1967 speech outlining his department’s efforts to “combat young hoodlums who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign.”

In the speech, Headley said his department had been successful “because I’ve let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” “We don’t mind being accused of police brutality,” he said in the same speech, according to news reports from the time.

Trump, after hours of backlash, said Friday evening that he was unaware of the origins of the phrase. “But I’ve heard it for a long time, as most people have. And frankly it means when there’s looting, people get shot and they die,” he said.

He also revealed that he had been in touch with Floyd’s family as he continued to denounce the circumstances of the man’s killing, which he called “a terrible insult to police and to policemen.” Trump also called on protesters to keep their demonstrations peaceful.

(With inputs from agencies)