The corporate media, inflamed by President Obama's assessment that Cambridge, Mass. police "acted stupidly" when arresting black historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has seemingly forgotten recent history.
Just run a Google News search for "S. Allen Counter". There is, as far as I can tell, only one publication with a memory long enough to bring up his case with regards to the controversy at hand.
Mr. Counter, notes College News, is a black professor of neuroscience at Harvard: One of Gates's peers at the university. He was confronted by Harvard police in 2004 while walking to his office, reportedly because they suspected this black member of faculty was a burglar.
Sound familiar?
But the allegations of profiling by the Harvard police do not stop there. In fact, in August 2008, the university launched a probe of the police department's handling of race-related issues following a long string of complaints from black students and faculty members.
More, from MIT's paper The Tech:
President Drew Gilpin Faust announced Tuesday that she has appointed an independent, six-member committee to review the diversity training, community outreach, and recruitment efforts of Harvard police, the first review of its kind in more than a decade. In recent weeks, black student and faculty leaders have been pressing the university to address what they view as racial profiling by the predominantly white campus police force, which Harvard oversees.
[...]
Earlier this month, she noted, officers confronted a person using tools to remove a lock from a locked bicycle. The person, whom others familiar with the case have identified as a black Boston high school student working on the Harvard campus this summer, owned the bicycle, and was trying to cut the lock because the key had broken off in the lock. The two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, pending a separate investigation into the matter, said a source familiar with the case.
Faculty and students say previous incidents have fanned tension with police.
In spring 2007, officers interrupted a field day on the Radcliffe Quad sponsored by two black student groups. Police asked whether the young men and women were Harvard students and whether they had permission to be there, even though they had a permit.
And in 2004, police stopped S. Allen Counter, a prominent neuroscience professor, as he was walking to his office across Harvard Yard because they mistook him for a black robbery suspect.
Earlier this month, in response to inquiries from the Globe, Police Chief Francis Riley said through a spokesman that the department has begun conversations with the black student organizations to address “bias incidents” but would not respond to a request for statistics on how often black students and faculty are stopped.
The committee, led by former Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph Martin, will investigate complaints that officers have unfairly stopped black students, professors and other members of the Harvard community.
"Police are supposed to be here to protect us and make sure we're safe. I might be targeted for a reason that has nothing to do with the person I am," sophomore Anselm Beach told WBZ.
In an e-mail to Harvard administrators, President Faust writes, "All of us share an interest in sustaining constructive relations between our campus police and the broader Harvard community, in order to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all faculty, students, staff and visitors."
The fact of the matter is, right-wing and corporate-controlled media would much rather talk about race issues to further faction up America's poor. And in that discussion, outlets like Fox would much rather focus on the white officer who they are making out to be the victim of the president's allegedly racially-motivated (h/t: Rush Limbaugh) assessment of his actions. It's cold, calculated, political propaganda in an effort to further corral whites toward Republicans, in fear of the angry black man.
Just like the "birthers" and their debunked nonsense.
The president today struck a careful middle-ground in what I'm sure he hopes to be the last he will have to deal with this matter. His words were not an apology, but Obama still struck a conciliatory tone. Saying he should have "calibrated" his assessment differently is certainly a concession, but he saved face by maintaining his position that the police overreacted.
It appeared, to me at least, an earnest attempt to shift the media's focus back to what really matters: The health and financial well-being of the poor and many over the quibbles of the wealthy and few.
That's not to minimize the very serious and real issue of racial profiling among the nation's police.
But, with such seemingly dogged insistence in the media the past few days to pit whites against blacks, especially among right-wing outlets, perhaps skeptical news consumers should be asking themselves why these venues would casually forget to mention there's a history of racial profiling at this wealthy, white-majority university.
Meanwhile, let's all just forget that over 40 million Americans cannot see a doctor when they are sick.
I think political hip-hop artist Immortal Technique put it best when he said the following ...
"As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined.
"[...] As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat, and it's sinking, while these boughie motherf**kers ride on a luxury-liner. And as long as we keep fighting about kicking people out of a little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole."
-- Stephen C. Webster
Editor's Note: This version corrects an error in the first sentence -- that President Obama had said the Harvard police had "acted stupidly" (It was the Cambridge police) -- and has been modified to expand upon the similarities between Harvard professors Gates' and Counting's cases.
wow. this was only an issue because the professor is a friend of obama?
and then obama calls up the officer to personally apologize and try to make nice after he admits he "does not know all the facts" and then he calls him stupid on national TV. great use of the bully pulpit, dumbass.
i would have hung up the phone on his ass.
i am becoming more and more regretful about my decision to vote for obama.
I was stopped in Boston by a cop because I had only one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm out the window on a hot summer day. I thought that the cop was going to explode as he yelled at me for not having both hands on the wheel. I told him that I did not know that this was against the law (which it is not) and while he was yelling at me, I saw a police car go by in the opposite direction and the cop had his hand out the window too! The police in Boston and Cambridge are known to be very tough and they do not always follow the law or tell the truth. I would not trust what the police say in this case. Aren't police supposed to be "Peace" officers? Why arrest a man because he was mad about being accused of being a robber? Why can't we tell police they made a mistake and be upset about it without being arrested? Talking loudly is hardly a reason to arrest a Harvard professor is it? People can have a party out of doors and make all the noise they want until late at night. Why can't this man vent his frustration at the police without being arrested for his speech?
Harvard police are not the same as Cambridge police.
Well Mika unresearched reporting stood out today
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/24/7...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/24/mika-brzezinski-battles-m_n_244577.html
Did anyone besides myself read the interview given by the COP. The Article was titled "Cop who arrested Gates is proffecional profiler" At the end of the article where he decribes giving CPR to a dead ball player in '93. He said I quote " But I did to him what I would do to 'anything' else in that situation."
If the guy is not racist, why did he use the word 'ANYTHING' to describe the blackperson. That was a telling freudian slip of the tongue.
I thought this would happen. The Police should have let this go, but they didn't as with this article I'm posting from the Christian Science Monitor (has right leanings) saying that the Police and the Union stared down the president to apologize.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0725/p02s01-usgn.html
These officers and the whole police force may have went one bridge to far in thinking that they are a powerbase that WILL not must be equal to other parts of the govt.. You see one thing they should and always should consider is that your an american citizen. And in so being an american citizen america is your country, and the leader of this country is your president. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with presidents and govt., thats the american way. What they are doing is in essence telling the President of the US that WE ARE IN CHARGE AND YOU WILL COWTOW TO OUR WISHES. And this is dangerous for all citizens, when we all know that the POLICE isn't supposed to be 4th branch of govt.. As with this article that is coming out now, their dirt is coming to the surface. You see you should't throw stones if you live in a glass house. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the federal govt. is focusing on them and if it even looks like their dept. (which they know damn well it does) has an issue with people of color, they will be investigated. Also with a force that is not above doing shady things, some of them may be dirty. Thats the problem with acting Indignant and posturing and thinking MY UNION WILL PROTECT ME ALONG WITH THE CHIEF OF POLICE. They have a false sense of security from that badge from the real world. They are thinking that President Obama isn't the president, but a black man that needs to know his place. But I got a sinking feeling that they have made a mistake.
I don't believe it was the harvard police - I think it was the cambridge massachusets police. Very different.
The very idea that some punk-ass cop, a coward with an attitude, a gun and a badge....should demand an apology from the President of the United States...proves the cop is a bully and a racist....he obviously has no respect for the President or his position, becuse to the "cop" the President is just another one of "those uppity blacks"..who dares to question his God-given right as a "white man and an officers" naturally supreme authority.....
This has nothing to do with the Harvard police!
Ok enough how about some honesty, black people know how to play the race card, they joke about it with each other how to shame a person into backing down or letting them out of something they just did illegal, it is a game to the younger black generation. When we talk about race noone ever brings up how blacks treat others, you know what it is easy to play victim all the time, without taking any self responsibility for acting confrontational and threatening. You never hear of a crime against any other race by a black person being called a hate crime, but god does it happen, they gay bash, they pick white people to rob to beat to terrorize but noone ever talks about that, if they do they call the white guy the racist, the black the victims ifyou want to talk race and be honest talk about both sides of the issue if not then the argument is nothing more than a talking point.
The Obama Birther's are mostly racist (the rest just stupid). Racial profiling exists and needs to be addressed. Some things that go on are absolutely disgraceful.
I'm just not sure why those are relevant here. The only profiling done in this case was done by Mr. Gates. Gates has problems getting into his front door and essentially BREAKS IN. A woman (who is the only potential racist here, I just don't know enough about her yet) calls police to report a break-in. There was previously a break-in at the same place. The police show up only because they were sent there (yes, if a policeman was just passing by and figured the black guy must be a criminal, obvious racism.....did not happen here). The police officer says to the person at the house that there was a report of a break-in and requests identification. Instead of saying “yes, officer, I had to break-in to my own house because I forgot my keys (or whatever happened), thanks for checking it out, here is my ID”, the guy starts ranting about “Why, because I am black?” and initially refuses to give ID. The he starts with “your momma” and “you don’t know who you are messing with”, etc. Essentially not the actions one would expect of an "intellectual" who cannot relate to a working person (the police officer) doing their job. The police officer acted very appropriately when this “dude with a ‘tude” had a teenage temper tantrum. Gates clearly “lost it”. It was out of character, but it happened and it was THAT that the police officer witnessed, not the scholar sho probably usually is quite civil. Gates attorney has used some kind of “allergy” excuse. The Arrest Report was NOT singed by the arresting officer, it was filled out by an Officer Figueroa (a minority) who witnessed this. Even the black cop at the place has defended Crowley.
Funny, if this is a real break-in and the cop takes the guys word that he lives there and does not get ID and leaves (and a subsequent robbery occurs), then Gates would surely be flapping his jaws about how the police don’t care about his house because he is black. The police officer did everything in accordance with the law, and a “college professor” should be familiar with this. By Gates not even originally acknowledging that he broke in himself, the police officer, even if he feels Gates is the resident of the house, cannot be sure if there was a break-in and someone else is in the house too (home invasion, etc.). Safety first, this is common sense and proper protocol. Plus, how can a police officer fill out a replace report by saying “I responded to a report of a break-in, found a guy at the house, he said he lived there but refused to give ID, so I left”. He’d be reprimanded for not responding to a B&E report properly. Gates, an “intellect”, should recognize this.
I understand that Gates was having a bad day (just got back from a long trip and couldn’t get into his house), but this supposed “intellect” surely must know by now that in ANY situation you need to put yourself in the other persons shoes and act accordingly. Instead, he immediately viewed it as a black-white thing.
I’m loving the fact that this cop won’t apologize, and that he spent 5 years teaching other cops how NOT to profile. He also was the cop who performed CPR on black basketball star Reggie Lewis when Lewis collapsed years ago (though I am waiting for Al Sharpton to say he probably didn’t do the CPR properly or some such stupidity). I would like to know if there are audio tapes from any of the police. Those could be very interesting.
Terrible statement by Mr. Obama saying the police acted “stupidly”. I would have liked to see a formal apology, but he took a big step with his statement today. Obama should have left his original statement as "I don't have all the facts and don't wish to comment, especially since Mr. Gates and I are friends". But Obama also has had a tough week. It must be tough to fight people in your own party who are “owned” by Lobbyists. For the record I am 100% behind Mr. Obama and everything he has done (best president since Eisenhower), but he misspoke...but at least he knows it (unlike the previous president).
If there was ANY prejudice involved here, it was a policeman putting an elitist "intellect" with no respect for the law in his place. He was berated in public and warned Gates to stop twice. He even waved the cuffs and said stop, and Gates kept blabbering. Rest assured that if that tantrum had come from a white guy, he would have been arrested too. If the police officer saw anything, it was a "college boy", not a black man.
Oh, I had a similar thing happen to me last year. A beautiful stone fell from the ledge in front of my house by the road. I wanted it for a wall I was building. No way I was dragging it uphill, so I drove my van down the driveway and pulled in front of the rock so I could load it in the side door. Seconds later, as luck would have it, a cop pulls behind the van and gets out. He asked for my ID. I gave it to him. I didn’t say “I’m in front of my house, get out of my face”. He asked what I was doing, and I told him. While he was running my plate, he asked if he could look in the van. I said sure (not, “get a warrant”). As he was looking he told me that there had been a lot of illegal dumping at the side of roads in town. I’ve seen evidence of that, and completely understood his perspective. As he looked in the van he saw only a little dog. I then jokingly said I was looking to dump the dog somewhere. He got a good laugh, I told him I appreciated him checking things out, and he took off. If I was a spoiled rich boy who thought his poop did not stink, I could have easily made a scene and got arrested. I’m not sure what useful purpose that would have served.
Cops have long history of abusing citizens. If they aren't racially profiling minorities, they are busy tazering anything that moves, as well as many other abuses. People shouldn't be so quick to defend the police. It's absurd. There is a triple standard with the law.
1. Rich people get away with everything
2. Poor people get away with nothing
3. Minorities are assumed guilty before innocent
So check your racism at the door. Law enforcement is a joke and you know it.
Signed.
Lilly-White Man
Your off base SHAWN, you truly are. That generalization saying that all black people know how to use the race card is right and wrong. If you can say that then a black person is right to say that us whites are all racists and we joke among ourselves about how we did this or that or say the N word and whatever. Your baseing it on your perception and they are baseing it on theirs. So if your right they can be right, and if your wrong they can be just as wrong. They know how to see racism alot faster than us because they had to deal with it for all their lives and their peoples lives on this continent. When a person you don't even know all of a sudden starts to act differently to a white customer (being nice, helpful, etc.) then to the black customer (indifferent, cold, dirty looks, etc.), and both of you didn't do anything but say hi what would you think the black person would think. Said person has some bias toward the black person. Communication is 90% non verbal, we get most of our information from cues that are given from the person like body posture, tone of voice, eye contact, touch sometimes etc. etc.. When you Shawn know from not even talking to your friend or loved one that they had a bad day, you where able to tell from the 90% non verbal cues. And thats how black people are able to tell from a person who is racists or has an affinity of hating them. You want to toss off their perceptions as if they don't know what they are talking about.
We all know what they are talking about, and that is racism or to be more correct tribalism that leads to racism has been part of this country for centuries (even with other countries). I saw a program back in august of 07 called the Company on TNT. It was a good mini series of the CIA post WWII to the fall of the Berlin wall. In it one of the Russian agents made a comment that seems to fit Americans in the race issue. He said that "Americans are caught in a system that they don't know how to get out of". The right is holding this man as a rallying cry for all us whites (see this is what happens when there is a black president). What happened was what happens everyday in this country to both black and white, finally we had a president for the first time actually talk about police acting inappropriately. It has never been done before, and it shocked them. Shocked them enough where they are demanding an apology from the president as I said before.
If you want believe that cops don't do dirt, then do. But blacks have a history of police and govt. being used against them for decades.
I do love this site, but Raw Story- you're wrong to take this leap and blatantly ignore reality.
Does any writer here give a damn that the Black officer, Sgt. Leon Lashley, who assisted in the arrest agreed with it 100%; adding Professor Gates response to the officer in question was, "a little bit stranger than it should have been". Let's be clear, accusing someone of being racist is the equivalent of a modern day scarlet letter. Before someone has the nerve to spout such a thing they better be damn positive before labeling someone as such.
It doesn't surprise me that the argue has bubbled up. It is in part due to ignorance on the part of the general public and the media's willingness to exploit it. I listened to the president's original statement. He did not say the police officer was stupid. He said the police officer acted stupidly. I am certain that the president regrets his words. Indeed, in hindsight, he might consider that he acted stupidly.
Well, guess what? We have all acted stupidly, perhaps including Professor Gates. Now it is time to move on.
I see this incident flaring up in some people because they are using it as a pretext to verbalize their simmering racism. To give into this, back down because of this, or legitimize it is wrong.
Bottom line to this story is ( and all the bullshit flying on Blogs and TV doesn't change it a whit) that in America you can be arrested for talking back to a cop. Or insulting a cop. Or telling a cop he is over-reaching his authority. Or telling a cop he is wrong. And that's the bullshit.
Well, here in Spokane Wa we have had 11.. yes eleven deaths of people in the past three years while suspects in police company. Our recent event of a Drunk Cop who had a weapon in a Gay bar, came out and pursued a Native American for two miles while shooting at his back was found "Not Guilty"... just like the cops that beat the young woman in a cell on camera for "actiing Uppity"..... There was a SWAT team in the court room when the verdict was read in the Shonto Peet case who did High Fives while in Uniform at the trial. The Cops in SPokane are out of control... over the top.. and it has been a problem for years that our New police chief has been stymied from fixing because of the Police Guilds death grip on the city. John Olsen
POTUS did not say 5-0 = stupid. BO said "acted stupidly". Professor Gates IS guilty. Guilty of "contempt of cop".
Good God! If you people can't even be bothered to notice you're talking about two entirely different groups, Havard campus police and city of Cambridge police, you have no business running a putative "news" site.
Really, really, really disgraceful. What else have you been screwing up all this time? You've pretty much blown your credibility with me, and I've been coming here every day for almost as long as you've existed.
Just unbelievable incompetence.
Obama appears to have gone wandering into the thicket, without realizing where he was going. I was very surprised at that. He would have been wiser to go the "no comment" route. Everyone should let the facts come out first, before judging anybody. That's the way it is supposed to work.
Cheers.
Yeah Shawn some honesty would be really nice coming from you. I wonder if you can spell B I G O T? Because lad, you certainly are one! You and the rest of your reich wing morsels of Dog Feces really know about the other races don't you? I would have loved to have you under me in the military. I would have worked you down to a nub, then crushed you like the effing bug you are. I spent over 20+ years in the US military, and some of the finest Officers and Petty Officers I ever served with were minorities it didn't matter what race they were or their religion or lack of, the had the same honor code I had, the same hopes and dreams and many of them never came home. No lad you are lower than whale feces and that is on the bottom of the ocean. Go away lad, you sicken me! Crawl back to Faux Nooze where your kind belong and take your douche bag family with you, because I can tell that you come from a long line of Baptists or Trailer Trash,
Screw You and the whore you rode in on!
Just this old Chief's 2¢
The Cop is guilty of CWW Cop while white. Anything he did was wrong. All whites are racists. Hey calling someone a racists because of his skin color is RACISTS! Race will become more and more a problem until black racism is put on the table. I think this incident will do just that.
Take the racism out of the story, is it OK for a cop to arrest someone for being in their own f*cking home, and unhappy with the police? Once the ID was provided, unless the homeowner physically assaulted the officer(s), then they simply should have left, no matter how pissed the HOMEOWNER was.
Or do we lose our freedom of expression in our own homes?
Shawn has got to be the most ignorant person in his town. I am not even calling him a racist, but I can tell by his comment that he is very prejudice towards African Americans, and if he continues to hold on to them, those prejudices will eventually turn to hatred, which will lead to racist behavior, which is what happens to many people in America, including Officer Crowley. The prejudices that Officer Crowley has towards Blacks caused him to see Professor Gates as a criminal.
This incident reeks "White Supremecy". "This police sargeant is really saying "How dare a black man tell me I acted stupidly" . . . the entire acusation just got this officers shorts in a massive wedgy! Really don't think Obama had much of a choice of how to handle it . . . it started a small flickering flame that was speedily organizing itself into a massive, desructive flame. His job is to protect the entire nation, not just one person of whom he has great respect. With that in mind he did what had to be done.
reaching..
I have the answer.
When a call comes in to report a burglary at a house owned by a prominent, wealthy and influential African American, just ignore it and let them fend for themselves. Fuck 'em. Were I a cop, I'd be god damned if I would put my life on the line for this crap. This police officer came to this residence to protect this very professor's property, and he deserves none of this bullshit.
Our criminal justice system is undeniably racist. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. But THAT'S the problem, not some ill-tempered well-connected wealthy black bigot having a bad day and taking it out on a white cop. Were it me mouthing off to a cop, any cop, I'd still be in jail. Gates, a well-connected man of privilege, just calls on his buddy the President of the United States. The people truly suffering under this racist justice system don't have that option.
No justice, no peace works both ways. When this fool plays the race card to get out of jail, he creates a backlash against addressing the genuine problems. The good professor got his panties in a twist -- but Amadou Diallo was shot forty one times. There is NO COMPARISON, and for him to suggest there is exposes him for the damn loudmouth fool he is.
When this idiot responds to orders from a police officer with "No, who are you and what's your badge number" and starts speaking about the man's mother, the example he sets as a role model for African American youth is going to earn them a beat down from a cop who actually is a racist. Ask Abner Louima what it feels like to have a plunger shoved up his ass.
So yes, indeed, there are bad cops. But you people who paint all cops with the same broad brush evidently haven't learned a fucking thing about bigotry and stereotyping. The bottom line is this: Professor Gates' playing the race card to escape accountability for his belligerent behavior does a tremendous disservice to the causes he claims to advocate.
Some of the most militant civil rights leaders often proclaim that black people can't be racists because to be a racist you have to wield power. Well, Professor Gates, congratulations. You are the very first black racist.
This professor has defamed this officer's character, and I hope Sargent Crowley sues his living ass off.
Raw Story is worthless.
Editing posts and censoring users. They're as bad as republicans!
Everyone should join democratunderground.org They're not afraid to be liberals. Their content is more than regurgitated trash and they don't censor posts like a bunch of grade school hall monitors with PMS!
Raw Story can't even get the headlines right!
What a bunch of censoring fact free nitwits!
Come on over to democratunderground.org! where Liberals aren't afraid to be liberals!
Good job Obama, way to set race relations back 10 years. Just when we started to get somewhere...
What's being ignored here is the major part of the story, and until we get it right we will solve nothing relating to what racism really is!
Obama is not a "black" president; he is a mixed race president but not a black one any more than he is a white one. When we of the white race stop the misnomer we will have done something to end the ridiculous quarrel we have indulged in from the beginning of our history. How can we expect anything but anger and misplaced bigotry when a person with ANY black blood continues to be mislabeled as a "black"? I am ashamed of some of our whites mislabeling people in such a bigoted way. Also, what muddies up the problem is the misnomer "intelligent
life" which mislabels the most ignorant and uninformed human as "intelligent life" when that person makes the most bigoted and "unintelligent" choices. Please stop the "intelligent" mislabeling and maybe we will begin to really be an example of "intelligent" life! This should lessen the bigotry and hypocricy so
rampant in our history! Come on, live up to your assumed "intelligence"!
I am a very light skinned - multi ethnic African American. As such people have thought I was Arab, Mexican, Greek and many more. People have also thought of me as White.
When I was young and starting out in the work world, I often got jobs where people didn't know that I was anything but White. While on these jobs I often heard racist remarks about African Americans, Mexicans and Asians. As soon as I said something about it the employer would either hire a brown skinned African American or find one somewhere in the company and butter him/her up getting him/her to say that there was no racism happening here. What could I say? I looked White.
When people are working to keep their jobs they're libel to say many things.
In a country where saying "Two BLACK Males" in any police-type function is going to lead problems.
Americans have been trained to fear those words. Sorry, fellow Orange County thugs, "Two Asian Males" just does not get the blood boiling!!
Take that the cop was a specialist in profiling, and the issues surrounding profiling, and the President sponsored a profiling-related bill that passed the Illinois legislature while he was a State Senator and put just those two views together and see where Obama was correct in saying that cop acted stupidly.
The cop handled this as poorly as most over-sexed Republican 'promise keepers'.
Mike, 12, and Buck, 7 & 14, have this issue correctly. Maybe in a perfect world Obama would be wrong, but this issue now has nothing to do with what happened or how it happened in all of the very fine particulars. The issue now is that during the Bush Era cops were encouraged to be storm troopers and this country significantly changed in November '08 when Obama was elected. The fact that Obama is black is irrelevant. The fact that Gates is black is irrelevant. The fact that Crowley is white and Lashley is black is irrelevant. The fact that the President of the United States (black, white, or any other color) said that a peace officer in this country did not perform his or her duty appropriately, which is still very true ("disrespect of cop" under uncomfortable circumstances is NOT a LEGAL CRIME, just one that is sometimes ridiculously enforced for reasons of attitude enforcement), now is the issue. Storm troopers beware. You are expected to check your "I'm perfect" 'tude at the door. Citizens are citizens and deserve as much respect as peace officers when a situation has been ascertained to be non-criminal. Join the human race or find out that you don't have peace officer status and are just a citizen again, exactly like Bush and Cheney are just citizens now, no longer the "onmipotents" they thought they were.
It is my personal experience that police will make up a lie if it makes them look like they are in the right. And tell me this: If the professor broke some law, why was he released without being charged? Was it not apparent to the police that they were arresting him for a nonexistent crime? What bothers me about Obama is what bothered me about Clinton: He would rather be liked than do what's right.
[...] if wording matters, which it always does, then this resolution shouldn’t even go through. The Harvard police have a long history of racism cases, people should just understand that, move on but put pressure on the department to change their [...]
How not to talk to a cop..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA2zxM7jL7s&NR=1
How non-biased are any of you ?
Find out at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html
How lame. A different police agency was racist. They should have mentioned this why?
Should they also have mentioned criminal acts committed by other African Americans in the area?
No. They should just tell us the facts of this incident and these participants.
But really this should not be a national obsession anyway. Is this really the biggest news today? Really? I'd bet not.
Saturday morning on NPR Juan Williams was interviewed by Scott Simon about the Gates-gate. To set the stage, Simon introduced Williams as the author of one of the most important histories of race relations in America and a "philosopher" of race. Williams proceeded to lay to rest any lingering doubts about the affair. He stated President Obama knew nothing and wanted to know nothing about what actually happened, and that white, black and Hispanic officers all on the scene agreed that Prof Gates had be verbally abusive, racist and insulting. And that he had been arrested as a result of a 'break in'. Williams then concluded by affirming he was always polite and humble when confronted by the police. Thank god we live in a post racial society where the police are the heroic guardians of democratic values, and woe to any sorry S.O.B. who says different.
So, should cops NEVER stop, question, apprehend, suspect, or arrest a black man, simply because he's black? Is every such incident an example of racism or racial profiling? Gates himself brought race into the picture, for which he should apologize. And he continues to insist on race being brought into the picture, for which he should be ashamed of himself.
There are many real, actual incidents of racism in this country, and THAT needs to be the focus. Gates is crying wolf. He's pissed because he's a Harvard professor, and a renowned scholar, who was treated like an ordinary citizen, and he's too proud to admit it, apologize, move on, and actually help this incident bear good fruit.
President Obama was wrong to even weigh in, in my opinion, but certainly wrong to even come close to characterizing the police as having "acted stupidly." Especially right after acknowledging that he didn't know all the facts. Officer Crowley was doing his job, was not out of bounds, and was verbally attacked by Gates, who was the initial instigator of this situation.
It's unfortunate that it happen, but we're dealing with flawed human beings here. It is Gates, however, who needs to apologize, not only for starting this, but for actively urging it on.
I can't believe the need to defend Gates abd Obama for either of their actions. When Gates started yelling "Do you know who you are dealing with?" that should tip off some of you who started giving an attitude first. And if all of you are so quick to believe the "black man" over the "white cop", then what about the "black cop" or "hispanic cop" who were there at the scene and agreed with the actions taken? Are we all of a sudden to believe that the black and hispanic cop are lying now? Since I wasn't there, but only read the police report, it sounds as if, reading between the lines with my own personal interpretation, that Mr. Gates had an attitude and wanted something to transpire so he could use it either in his classes or garner himself some attention. I won't say the cops acted stupidly as Obama did and unfortunately he also should have kept quiet and kept his opinion to himself on National television. And now the idiocy of having them to the White House for a beer? Do the two of them expect they can get Crowley to say he was acting racially? The whole scenerio of Obama, and this invite is absolutely sheer stupidity.
cops are the scum of the earth
Obama said the Cambridge police "acted stupidly". He didn't say they were stupid, that's something that those who really are stupid said that he said.
If the arrest was put before a jury and court of law, would they agree with Gates or Crowley? That's the bottom line. The mayor and police chief thought they were on thin ice which is why they immediately dropped all charges. Mr Gates may have overreacted but the officer made a stupid mistake and in a court of law that will cost taxpayers.
And once again: Harvard police are NOT Cambridge police. The universities have their own police forces. Since the author gets that wrong, and won't acknowledge it, why should we bother with anything else he has to write?
And if commenters like me actually reread the post, we'd see the acknowledment that Cambridge is not Harvard, but no retraction of the racist police premise, even though it then has no logical basis.
Remember It was just Crowley and Gates and Gates Driver (which we haven't heard alot from to verify what happened) that where at the house, and no other cop. So I can go as far to say that Gates could have and probably did say some choice words to the officer after being confronted (no mention of did he have his gun out which he probably did per procedure, MSM not mentioning that). But you have to be willing to say that the cop could have been wrong and lied about what has happened (charges dropped on such a slam dunk case). But I have a question, what is the standard you would consider a cop being bad or racists or whatever. Todays racism has become more covert than overt (except for a few cases). Should a cop come out and scream I'm going to kill you N@@@@r etc. etc.. It doesn't happen that way anymore and many of us now that. He's not going to come out and say on a report that he was biased and hated blacks and whatever, thats naive. I've had friends of mine talk about how they have used there position to get revenge or take advantage or have fun at the expense of blacks.
One side says that the cop was racists, the other side says he isn't and he was doing his job. Back and forth, back and forth etc. etc. etc.. Why is it so important that one side convinces the other side that they are right? Maybe it's as simple as they perceive that the situation wasn't wrong for their side. Lets take this one step further, what if both sides of an argument can't be convinced what is the alternative? To keep going until the problem gets so bad that we have ethnic race fighting in this country over one side saying he's right and the other saying I'm right. Or do we as a nation and a civilization make sacrifices on both sides in order to make sure that misunderstandings never happen. At first I didn't like the idea that Obama invited both those guys at the Whitehouse for drinks, but then I thought about it again and he is thinking smart. He's trying to diffuse the situation to try to get his idea back on track no matter what. By doing this it's hard for anybody to say that he doesn't care and it shows that he is willing to work with anybody he has to.
We as a nation need to make those sacrifices in order to have a society that is one people.
And why hasn't the media interviewed Gates' driver, the guy who helped him into the house. The driver is the forgotten man. Wasn't he a eyewhitness to at least some of the proceedings? What happened to this guy?
Anyone still paying attention to this?
Interview with the African-American officer, Sgt. Lashley:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/26/nr.comrade.in.arms.cnn
Will the author of this original incendiary piece ever come to terms with this?
I'm doubtful.
Signed,
An embarrassed liberal