Jeff Whalen, July 29 at 11:23 pm

Even though this event is much debated and discussed folks still do not have all the facts…amazing. The caller was not a neighbor, she worked a few doors down from the Gates residence, as a fund raiser for Harvard Magazine in fact. Thus she would not be expected to know the ‘neighbors’.

By Morgan Sheridan, July 28 at 10:06 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The one thing I keep seeing missing from the whole discussion is the lack of neighborliness in the whole thing!

Why didn’t the caller recognize Prof. Gates as her neighbor in the first place?

Is that community so alienated or insular that people just keep to themselves?

Why didn’t the caller give a shout out from the street asking “Is everything ok?”

It seems to me a little good old fashioned neighborliness would’ve prevented this debacle.

—-Exactly…and therein lies the problem.  A problem which Crowley and Gates played out for us all (eventually) on national TV.  If We want Peace in Our One World Community, then We must start with Our Own Community….step one: talk with neighbors…peace starts with a smile…hate only hatred…whoever angers you, controls you…let love be the guiding rule…you can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage them

God Bless Us, Everyone.

“Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?”—Rodney King

re: By Romantic Violence, July 29 at 4:36 pm:

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, RV! We have a first amendment that protects freedom of speech. That includes the right to say “disrespectful” things, to ANYBODY, including and especially the police. If freedom of speech doesn’t include this, it doesn’t mean squat. Why the hell should the police have a special privilege exempting them from having to hear unpleasant remarks? The first amendment exists precisely to guarantee our right to say things that other people, especially those with government-sanctioned authority, may not want to hear.

Fred, July 29 at 5:34 pm #

You are making the assumption that Gates was at fault. Upon what do you base this assumption? I have heard Crowley’s recorded voice from the scene and heard nothing to corroborate your assumption.

Even if Gates did lose his temper it was based upon his knowledge of the long history of mistreatment of blacks by white cops. But it would be nice to see your proof…..

And now Colin Powell has chimed in:

“WASHINGTON (CNN)—Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he has been the victim of racial profiling but believes Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could have been more patient with the police officer who arrested him.

At the same time, Powell also faulted the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Police Department for escalating the situation beyond a reasonable level.

“I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it,” Powell said in an interview with CNN’s Larry King.

“I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal. 

“I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department,” Powell said. “Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would’ve thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said ‘OK look, it is his house. Let’s not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.’ ”

Everyone knows you don’t yell at cops and you don’t say police acted stupidly on national TV.
They out-dumbed each other one this on!

I think Crowley decided early on to arrest Gates for being uncooperative—perhaps even not giving him the badge number he kept asking for so he could lure him out into the open still demanding it ...

I think even while Gates’ race might not have been a conscious factor, Crowley might have had second thoughts about messing with a angry, white, university-housed Harvard professor ...

Kinda like those classic profiling traffic stops where targeting and violating the civil rights of minority individuals was seen as “worth it,” enhanced use of resources and thereby justifiable—imho, it’s doubtful similar targeting and harrassment of “regular folks” (non-minorities) would not—not worth it, waste of resources, pointless ... doncha know.

Some people loudly protest drunk driving checkpoints as civil rights violations—so these holiday highway patrol public safety efforts are advertised broadly—TV, radio, newspapers—to the point of even mentioning generally where they will be located—and every vehicle and driver is at least eye-balled to maintain the equality of it all.

I’ll agree with Anarcissie, Inherit and Seamas and take the bet (especially if the white guy was Summers). Classism has become the new racism. (Not that the old racism ever left.)

Good points, Ed.  The cop was setting him up.

Beyond the question of racism here, we also see the insidious bureaucratic dimension of arbitrary police power.

The police report shows that the officer took the initiative to bring the discussion outside, for the preposterous reason that the “acoustics” of the kitchen were “unsatisfactory”!

Furthermore, the officer’s report repeatedly describes the professor’s behavior as “tumultuous”. At first reading, it’s easy to dismiss this pompous-sounding and patently inaccurate wording as evidence that the officer is merely trying impress his readers with a fancy but clumsily applied word he probably found in his thesaurus.

But in fact, the relevant statute under which the officer contrived to arrest Gates specifically requires that the disturbance must occur out of doors, and that it must be “tumultuous”.

So it’s quite obvious that the officer was coldly contriving the pretext on which to arrest Gates, by luring him out of the house (because of the supposed “acoustical” problems of Gates’s kitchen), and then by labeling Gates’s complaining as “tumultuous” in his report.  A real “tumult”, by any reasonable definition, must be a disturbance on a far grander scale than this could possibly have been.  It’s obvious that the policeman’s forced choice of words is not just inaccurate, but maliciously so.

Who cares who Gates is or what race he is.  He was arrested for breaking into his own home.  Or technically, for how he acted after he was questioned about being in his own home.  How does anyone make an argument that the police responded in a logical and just way?  I’d love to hear someone try.

So what do we learn from this?  Be polite to police officers even if they are totally off base in their actions or suspicions because ultimately, they can pretty much do whatever they want, no matter who you are, how many degrees you have or if you know the president.  And most of the time, they can do whatever they want with no repercussions.  Once again, BE POLITE TO THE POLICE.  Treating them any other way is counter productive.  Just ask Gates.

Had Gates been white the chances of this situation playing out in same exact way are not likely to say the least.  And if Gates had been white I believe the police would have faced stiffer penalties for what they did.  Anyone who says different is naive in my opinion.  Is it possible that race didn’t play a part?  Yes, but not likely. 

How Gates and the police responded to this situation was based on racial tension that ultimately lead to reactions of both Gates (understandably) and the police.  Yes people, racial tension and profiling still exists in this country.

Sad but true.

I dunno—I think the cop not only would have handcuffed Summers, he would have had him up against the cruiser.  Summers is one really arrogant prick.

And Kristal or Dershowitz?  They should do a Rodney King on those guys!

I’m with Jesse Jackson here from CBS Early Show website:

“”It’s a big subject for a small meeting,” Rev. Jackson told “Early Show” anchor Harry Smith. “If Rosa Parks and James Blake, the bus driver, had met at the White House and did not deal with the issue of the accommodations, it would have been personal and not politics. And so, this issue of Dr. Gates being a victim of excessive force and bad judgment is a much bigger subject.”

Rev. Jackson said that the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., raised the public debate about disparities in public accommodations and the right to vote. He said the Gates case “should open up the issue of pervasiveness of race profiling, of the subprime lending struggle.

“I wish at some point the president would meet with Countrywide and Wells Fargo, for example; most of these subprime housing lending was driven by race profiling.”

Rev. Jackson said racial profiling is evident not just in police profiling but in sentencing disparities by judges.

“This is a teachable moment,” he said, for America to address the issue of profiling. “Racial profiling is deadly, it’s costly, expensive and really bad for your health.”

=========================================================
Crowley seems to have become upset when Gates asked if he being “profiled” ... which Crowley seemed to take this “personally” imho as a personal insult and/or accusation of racism ... and it may or may not have been intended as such by Gates.

Although often based on race, profiling is not always based on race ... it is always about treating a GROUP of people different, not as individual attributes ... when the group attribute is race, it is reasonable to consider this racist; sex, sexist; age, ageist ...

There is rarely, hen’s teeth, a litmus test for racism ... it’s a matter of aggregated “data”  ... sheesh ... the newly popular “myth of racism” is poisonous.

I’ll take your bet, Eugene.  A friend of mine, Anglo, was out walking in his predominately Latino neighborhood one evening when two cops in a patrol car stopped him and asked him what he was doing, odd question but nevermind, asked to see his ID and told him he was walking in a dangerous neighborhood.

Their parting words to him were, “If you were a Mexican, we’d have beaten you up by now.”

While the arrest was an act of stupidity and closet racism, I’m heartened that the cop didn’t beat up Mr. Gates, or shoot him. That certainly might have happened in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Virginia, W. Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, elsewhere in Freedomland.

And it never surprises me that Whites disbelieve the racial connotations, while African-Americans do not. But who is qualified to make such a decision, white people? I think not. Certainly not the cop, who nevertheless will be exonerated by the police state.

I’ve been beaten by the police, in a case of mistaken identity. We were both white, but my hair had grown down to my ass and the cops didn’t consider me exactly one of their own. Well, at least they didn’t shoot me, but one guy was so frightened his hands shook as he aimed his 45-caliber at my head. I could have been executed then and there.

Instead here I am, a huge fan of the fascist police state.

I think your analysis that this is a race issue is correct but for the wrong reason. Would the President intervened if this incident were about a White professor?  I think not. Nor would he have ever received the question at the press briefing.  It would have been a non event. The difference is our hypersensitivity against offending any member minority in our culture. It is the leftover relic of, yes, years of prejudicial treatment towards others.
  More over this is clearly an issue of Entitlement.  Had this been a poor black man “unconnected” this also would have been a non starter. ” You don’t know who your dealing with”.  That about says it all.  It the attitude of the affluent who presume they are above the law or any scrutiny by the general population. It is the same attitude that the Big Banks and other financial leaches have had and it is what is destroying this country. It is the ME attitude not the We The People attitude.
  This is not to say that the Police are either infallible or even for that matter, well trained in “sensitivity” issues.  From my experience they are not.
But having been through a similar event as professor Gates I can tell you that you don’t have to be black to get arrested for less than “illegal” behavior. But, for the President of the US, to on national TV, disparage a member of the police force before knowing the full facts is unconscionable.  As a lawyer he certainly should have known better.  It has only shown that prejudice is not the sole domain of the uneducated. This is a “teachable moment”, but, will the President learn from it?

Interesting analysis. But, what would have happened if Gates were white seems to abstract to guess.

-Politics.com intern

Who was under the standards of a Profession and who was not?
This isn’t about some white guy showing excessive force over an elderly, disabled black man…this is a cop who is unable to successfully manage the charges of his Job.
First Crowley Failed to adequately assess the situation, then failed to manage it to a peaceful resolution.It was his duty as a Peace officer to assure a situation did not escalate. What would have happened if that was an armed intruder? Would this officers methods caused a Shoot out- endangering not only himself and other officers, but the neighbors?
All this cop needed to do is remind the irrate prof Gates that he is trying to protect his property, as a public servant. “Just doing my Job”, which most rational people (and I’m sure Gates is) would Respect and respond to - thus defusing the situation.
This was just a domestic disturbance- not a hostage situation, or a ‘Jumper’ or an armed assailant….don’t hand this cop a bullhorn to talk them down.
This entire situation was not only unnecesary but wasteful- of Our Tax dollars. Instead of catching Real criminals he was picking a Testosterone war with a innocent man,filling out the required report and racking up the bill for Gates incarceration. 
who is respsonsible for the Outcome of this interaction is the one who was on the payroll- discharging his duties as a professional and representative and servant of the people- which includes prof Gates. Guess who’s tax dollars pay for Off.Crowleys salary
Crowley Failed Police Work 101- never make a bad situation worse!
He wasted tax dollars through time and expense.
Crowley should be apologizing to the people of Mass for wasting their money and failing to discharge is duties appropriately.
this is not the Wild West where you meet at the OK Corral at high noon- Todays’ law enforcement is about ‘Serving and protecting’ and to perform that Duty well one must be able to accurately assess a situation and resolve it in the safest way possible. Prof Gates Posed NO Threat, nor committed a crime.
the cop lost control of the situation and his ineptitude is depicted by that picture of Gates handcuffed.

There is still the basic asymmetry here, regardless of the apparent fact that the professor may have expressed himself in an arrogant manner: the policeman didn’t just say some regrettable stuff: he used his power of state-sanctioned violence to arrest and incarcerate a man whom he knew to be in his own home and obviously no threat to anybody. That crosses a bright red line. This is a gross abuse of power, and it shows that the policeman is temperamentally unfit to do his job. It’s also a crime.

And it’s also just about impossible to imagine that this policeman would have done this to Larry Summers under similar circumstances. And so, yes, race would appear to be the difference that caused the officer to become incensed enough by the professor’s arrogance to indulge in a blatant abuse of his power.

After watching the pink faced imbeciles question the Supreme Court candidate by showing how enlightened they are and at the same time while proving racism is alive and well in this alleged great nation, one can only conclude we are doomed.

One poster stated 90 percent of the people in this nation are raciest, seems this would have to include people of race?

As far as the Gates situation, I never heard of him before but I do not follow celebrities. This does seem to provide much discussion for division from speculation.

You’re right, Ardee, it’s going to get worse as class inequality increases.  It’s already pretty bad with Progressives maintaining that it wasn’t a racist incident.  They have been conditoned to deny reality.

After the 9/11-anthrax public relations homicide, the ruling class decided to change the US government to a frank military-police plutcoracy.  War abroad and oppression at home.  the oppression will be directed first and most overtly against the non-Whites, until it is the White turn.

My vote is to develop “Robocop” - pre-wired against all forms of racial profiling and fully capable of handling every kind of violence - and totally imprevious to loud talking or epithets. 
  We already live in the society that incarcerates more of its own citizens both percentage-wise and in actual numbers than any other. 
  We rely on police and they make daily sacrifices of their own humanity physically, emotionally, and psychologically - but they ARE human ..... just like fatigued, annoyed, college professors.
  More slack (and beer) is needed on all sides.

What do “department procedures” say an officer should do when a citizen calls him a jerk, or worse?  The NYT quoted several officers as saying they couldn’t allow themselves to be “disrespected.”  What, cops can’t protect free speech?

I truly do not believe race had anything to do with it.  Sorry, in this instance it just doesn’t factor in.  But I totally accept that it was likely a class and obnoxiousness on the part of the professor. 

And as I’ve maintained, Obama was right on in declaring the action of arresting the man stupid.  No crime or threat existed.

That is where Crowley was wrong.  On the other hand, the police organizations who have backed him (with plenty of black officers who also say race had nothing to do with this) - these organizations say that he followed department procedures.  So maybe the problem isn’t even Crowley.  Maybe the problem is the departmental procedures.  And the mayor of Cambridge did say they were going to review those procedures to ensure nothing like this happens again there. 

Time will tell..

I HOPE he would have arrested Summers!  After all, the man can be obnoxious and arrogant even when he isn’t riled up, whereas Gates has to be P.O.‘d to get to that point.

I STILL find it hard to believe a Cambridge police sergeant wouldn’t recognize Henry Louis Gates, whose face is at least as well known as Larry Summers’s.

I think Robinson hit it: Gates was exhausted and ticked that he had to break into his own house, and Crowley had some bug up his butt that Gates set off.

I’ll take Gene’s bet—but only if he gives me odds.

I suppose Crowley might have arrested Larry Summers.  The outcome would have been different because the media make light of class and police-power issues and get excited about race issues.  Whether they are following or leading popular prejudice I don’t know, but there are certainly advantages for the privileged in making light of class issues.

90% of Americans are racist.  I’m only 65, but that’s my observation so far.  Now, most TRY and some try very hard not to appear racist, but…

To my shame I do a lot of drinking in blue-collar bars, and the “n” word WILL pop up within an hour in most.  It has limited my number of watering holes.

The problem of racism in our culture is endemic, despite the presence of the first family in the White House. While it is true that this incident is being used by an increasingly isolated and fringe Republican leadership as a weapon against Obama and the Democrats, as is everything under the sun, it would have no traction were it not still a fact of life.

I would expect, as the economy worsens, or rather works to benefit fewer and fewer, we will see more class hatred, more racism and more division. After all, a people separated are a people controlled.