Obama: Cops ‘acted stupidly’ in arresting Harvard prof
Published: July 22, 2009
Updated 8 months ago
In a rare instance of a US president wading into a legal dispute, President Barack Obama weighed in on the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates during Wednesday night’s press conference.
“The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home,” the president said.
And, in comments that will likely ruffle right-wing feathers and stir debate, the first black president opined on race relations and law enforcement in America.
“There’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately,” Obama said.
But that doesn’t change the fact that progress has been made on race relations in America, the president added. “I am standing here as testimony to the progress that’s been made.
“And yet, the fact of the matter is that … this still haunts us. And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and often … for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause.”
Obama called for “improved policing techniques” to reduce instances of bias.
The president also considered for a moment what would happen if he, like Gates, were unable to enter his home — the White House — and decided to force the door open. He concluded: “I’d get shot.” The audience of news reporters burst into laughter.
This video is from CNN, broadcast July 22, 2009.
Download video via RawReplay.com
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Thank you, Mister President. I appreciate you representin’ on this. Srsly. It means a lot. I understand what lines you have to toe, you’re a New Scene up in there! So I hear you loud and clear here. Again, thank you.
Now we got a Prez who says it as it is, in both the White House and in Cambridge. Now the USA has a chance, instead of having to carry around the anchor of the USS Arizona around our necks for the rest of our lives, like Bush tried to make us. YES!!!!
And just who did we see leading the pack from the professor’s home but a black police officer.
Bold statement w/out knowing the facts yet. I’m sure the Police department will think twice about supporting you in 2012
ummmm, was that pic necessary :-\
looks like there’s a twelve year old bumpkin in the house.
Obama did a great job. My household had a discussion about the relative sentience of presidents we could remember, going back to Kennedy. It was agreed by all that Obama is the most intellectual, eloquent and sincere speaker among them. When he says something, it’s powerful.
When he said Cambridge cops acted “stupidly” I’ll bet the cop felt really, really stupid.
Whenh a police officer is responding to a call that someone is breaking into a home and they get there and that person hands them ID showing that they live there, that’s it, end of story. There is no longer a reason for the pig to be there, regardless of whether or not the guy is ‘handling it badly’. In your own home you have every right to get pissy about armed and unwanted intruders in your home, these idiot pigs let Gates outrage effect their pathetic little egos and they baited hmi out of his house to arrest him so they could show him whos the boss.
This is the essence of being a stupid fucking pig. I doubt the guy felt stupid, the stupid rarely do.
“There’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately,” Obama said.”
Well, he’s right.
Black or white, the arresting officers are more likely fascist than racist. Psychological studies have shown cops and criminals to have nearly identical personality profiles: entitlement and superiority. If you mess with a cop by challenging his authority, even if innocent like the Prof, they will slap you down hard — which is likely what happened. Police brutality is just that: use of excessive force as retribution. Happens every day.
Obama spoke the truth, but chose his words poorly. Understandable after 400 years of American oppression/racism of anybody who ain’t white. So now the tabloid press, the American sheeple, and the reactionary right will amplify “stupidly” rather than “health-care”.
Our value system is all out of whack in the U.S. Always has been. Which is why everything’s so fucked up socially, economically, politically, environmentally, and spiritually. Oh well, what can you do. No empire lasts forever. Reap what you sow. Humans are a very primitive race.