<p>"I am GLAD that Obama spoke forcefully. It’s time. "</p>
<p>and as far as Obama speaking uninformedly… it’s becoming a pattern.</p>
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<p>Oh, BS. Address the issue, if you are capable of it.</p>
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<p>And Dubya won the Nobel Prize in literature.</p>
<p>“I hope that Gates will extend the olive branch as well.”</p>
<p>Yes, it would certainly look terrible if the “lowly” police officer behaved in a much more rational and respectful manner than a man of Gates’s stature, and so far, the cop is doin’ pretty good.</p>
<p>I was recently at jury duty. It took 2 days to empanel the jury, and somehow I never got called up to be questioned before being released.</p>
<p>The defendant looked like a nice man. He could have been any of our fathers. He was in his 60’s, and looked just like someone’s grandpa. It was interesting to watch his body language and the questions posed by the attorneys in the room. </p>
<p>One of the things that struck me is that as I was looking at the man accused of multiple crimes, I kept thinking - “but he looks like a decent guy!”</p>
<p>Which means nothing, really. </p>
<p>I made underlying assumptions about who he was based on what he looked like. Yet, rationally, I kept also telling myself that he was being accused of a crime. He may have done it. </p>
<p>Police officers have to assess a situation everyday that we may not see the same way. They have to assume that every traffic stop may end up being a deadly one - either for them, or for the person they stop. When they enter the home of a alleged domestic abuser, or go on a call for any other cause, they have to assume that this could be dangerous and they cannot let down their guard.</p>
<p>None of us can know what was in the mind of those officers when they showed up there that day. They didn’t have all the facts, and as they got more involved in this confrontation, things escalated. Should the officers have done something different? Perhaps. Should Mr. Gates have been more compliant? Perhaps. </p>
<p>What I think is unfortunate is President Obama making a comment on this case without having all the facts. If it hadn’t have been his longtime friend, I doubt if he would have been asked. Is there a historical problem with police and racial incidents in the neighborhood? I don’t know. </p>
<p>But what we do have to remember is that every day our police go out there on the streets and risk their lives to protect us. Mistakes are made, unfortunately. </p>
<p>If this happened to any of us, we would all be upset, or embarrassed or righteously indignant. I can see myself going through all of those feelings, if it happened to me. </p>
<p>I applaud our law enforcement officers who do this job. </p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, after being released from jury duty, I googled the man who was the defendant in this case. He had a 30 year long rap sheet, and had spent more time in prison as an adult, than out of it. They had a videotape of him doing the crime. </p>
<p>Appearances can be deceiving.</p>
<p>“Oh, BS. Address the issue, if you are capable of it.”</p>
<p>Thanks for this insightful post. Don’t like it call it BS, there’s value added.</p>
<p>“And Dubya won the Nobel Prize in literature.”</p>
<p>That is relevant? How?</p>
<p>Drosselmeier
</p>
<p>Sometimes what we think we are seeing in others is just a reflection off of ourselves. Frequently, the flaws of other people which anger us the most are the very ones we ourselves possess.</p>
<p>It is sometimes difficult to know if something is racist or not. Other times, it is right there in front of you, as big as a billboard.</p>
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<p>mantori.suzuki
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<p>And still it continues, that every single thing Obama touches is a function of the administration that proceeded him. </p>
<p>Kids are expected to be responsible for their own behavior, and a reflection of themselves, at age eighteen. When does this happen for presidents?</p>
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<p>Obviously not, since this aspect of the discussion had gotten off the ground long before I came along.</p>
<p>I do not think classic profiling was present here. I actually support some forms of profiling if they are helpful to people. What I think took place here with the white cop and Gates is a complex mixture of male egotism, classism, fatigue, sickness, that was all catalyzed by racism. [This</a> cop here](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evf59iCtoQ0]This”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evf59iCtoQ0) exists everywhere. The only reason we know of him is because a camera was in his car. But cameras have not always been in cop cars. Cops used to mistreat blacks with near impunity, and nothing was ever done to them. In the video here, the white cop yells a racial slur at a pedestrian then moves on, apparently forgetting he is on tape. Perhaps it seems so minor to white folks, but to minorities it is the way of the world and it just adds to the general sense that cops are nasty people.</p>
<p>The result is that things can and do easily get out of hand when cops confront minorities and then use the might of law for their personal issues. The [girl</a> here]( <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_AZ3J9gtFY]girl”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_AZ3J9gtFY) already hates cops likely because cops have been mistreating blacks in her neighborhood for decades. She does nothing wrong here, but is still accused by the cop of shortchanging him. This girl is livid because she knows she has done nothing wrong and has even told the cop so. But he persists, using his “coppishness” against her. Ultimately he sprays mace in the kid’s face and drags her off. Perhaps the girl should have just been a slave and said “no suh, I’s sho nuff ain’ takes yo money. I’s ruther die din takes massa money” but this kid, like so many blacks, has now been conditioned against cops because so many cops are just plain nasty to blacks. But whites claim it all exaggerated or that the blacks deserve it. Well we don’t. White misbehavior has always preceded and contributed to black misbehavior. It was true in 1619, in 1919, and will be true in 2019 unless we finally decide to be honest about the historical pressures that have gotten us here and work to diffuse the bitterness caused by them.</p>
<p>Why the hell is Obama even commenting on a complete non-issue? Who cares? Greater injustices occur every day.</p>
<p>It’s wonderful. He’s diluting his persona and wasting political capital on useless issues.</p>
<p>Drosselmeier posted:
“The cop is indeed a racist, but of the sort similar to the vast majority of Americans. His racism is so common, operates so frequently, and is so widespread, he literally cannot see it, though he is racist to the core of his lily white soul.” </p>
<p>What a disturbing thought that the above poster is responsible for raising a new generation of black Americans. Is this what your children are being fed, and will they carry with them the hatred for “the vast majority” of whiite Americans that you seem to have?</p>
<p>///\For blacks and hispanics, it is not a non-issue or useless issue. When you face the ramifications of racial profiling daily, it is a major problem.</p>
<p>I haven’t really understood how this is a racial issue at all. Would a black cop not have done this?</p>
<p>Dross,</p>
<p>I didn’t watch the video. It is clear that you have deemed it appropriate to label every incident involving white cop black suspect (and yes at the initial visit, Gates was a suspect, until the Id was shown) a racist issue because of what this video portrays.
Where does that leave the white cop?</p>
<p>it leaves him/her in the position of being labeled a racist for doing their jobs as is the case here with Crowley and Gates.</p>
<p>You never answered my question as to how you purport to know that Crowley was treating Gates any differently than he would treat any other color, gender or ethnicity suspect.</p>
<p>But I guess you feel you don’t have to.</p>
<p>Here’s the police report in case anyone is interested:
<a href=“To visit View from the Right, go to”>To visit View from the Right, go to;
<p>It sounds like Gates was a complete —hole. However, being an —hole isn’t illegal. The officers who responded had a responsibility to make sure that a crime wasn’t committed. They did that while being yelled at an accused of being racists, etc. </p>
<p>However, the arrest for DC sounds more like a response to “contempt of cop” and was completely bogus. I mean come on, the guy was on his own property, and the report didn’t really qualify the necessary conditions for DC with witness statements. (and police officers can’t be victims of such crimes) And the officers had to know it would never be prosecuted. Yes, Gates was being a moron, but the sergeant should have proven himself the bigger man and just said “have a good day sir” and driven away.</p>
<p>That being said, one of my biggest pet peeves is people playing the race card. I mean what a load of crap.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I have no idea what Obama was thinking making a public comment like that. Very stupid political mistake on his part.</p>
<p>"That being said, one of my biggest pet peeves is people playing the race card. I mean what a load of crap. "</p>
<p>Which is in line with the statement of a very prolific poster here on CC that chalked this all up to being a guy thing (no quotes here as I don’t remember exactly how she phrased it).</p>
<p>I agree the testosterone was definitely in an uproar on both sides.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think the cop made a mistake - I just don’t think it was a racially motivated mistake.</p>
<p>Mr. Payne:</p>
<p>I agree with you that greater injustices happen all the time. And I wish the media did not fixate on this one incident because it happened to a Harvard prof as opposed to some nameless person who does not have the kind of megaphone Gates has or the connections he has.</p>
<p>I also think that the cop was not racially motivated. </p>
<p>How nice to know we can agree twice in a day!</p>