Trump didn’t credit the original author of his “When the looting starts” quote, but a simple Google search will tell you where it comes from. In 1967, the notorious racist and segregationist police chief of Miami, Walter Headley, declared “war” against what he claimed was a wave of Black criminals “taking advantage of the civil rights” movement.
Miami’s segregationist police chief, Walter Headley, told the local paper in 1967 that he was declaring war on Black criminals, and that “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” | Miami Herald, Dec. 27, 1967
Headley told the
Miami Herald at the time that he intended to use shotguns, dogs, and a “get tough policy” that included the use of deadly force against Black people. “Felons,” Headley pledged, “will learn they can’t be bonded out from the morgue.”
He then boastfully claimed there wouldn’t be any problem with riots or civil uprisings in his city because, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Those were Trump’s exact words from Friday morning.