<p>No African American organization/community at Harvard or anywhere else had come out to support Chanequa Campbell or her racism charge.</p>
<p>[Henry</a> Louis Gates Jr. Arrested](<a href=“http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr]Henry”>http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr)</p>
<p>Is this the statement you are talking about?</p>
<p>[Professor</a> Henry Louis Gates Jr. speaks out on racial profiling after his arrest by Cambridge police.](<a href=“http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,1]Professor”>http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,1)</p>
<p>I think I found the account you are talking about. I find it inherently incredible. The portrait that Gates paints is like that Bill Cosby punchline: I was just minding my own business when a tree jumped out in the road and bit my car. We are expected to believe that a) Gates was nothing but polite and cooperative with Officer Crowley b) That Crowley refused to identify himself to someone who had just given affirmative identification as a Harvard professor c) that Crowley was just looking for an excuse to arrest Gates and that d) against that background, out of the goodness of their heart and in the name of racial harmony, Ogletree and Gates decided not to sue.</p>
<p>Again, I can only evaluate the competing statements against the background of my own attitudes and experiences. But isn’t it odd that Ogletree and Gates backed down right after it became clear that the police had a tape of much of the incident, including Gates’s behavior on the porch?</p>
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<p>I don’t think the police should be slapping handcuffs on people and hauling them through the booking process for “mouthing off.” If that actually were the case, police stations would be clogged with people getting fingerprinted and photographed only to have charges dropped because there was no real crime to prosecute. What a waste of time and resources. </p>
<p>Asked to comment in a column in the LA Times yesterday, LAPD Capt. Bill Scott noted: “We’re trained to have a thick skin. Even if the person you’re dealing with is verbally attacking you, you can’t react to that.”</p>
<p>Encounters with police can be traumatic for reasons the officer might not understand, he said. “If somebody’s upset, you have to allow them some room to vent. There’s an acceptable range of venting that’s allowable and understandable.”</p>
<p>He notes that this “acceptable range” is decided at the discretion of the officer on the scene, but that the main issue is safety, preventing risk of injury to the person or the officers involved. It’s best to resolve a situation using as “little of your authority as possible,” Scott said. </p>
<p>By mouthing off and behaving “tumultously,” Gates was out of line but not presenting any danger to the three or four police officers on the property. He was creating an embarrassing situation, not a risky one, and the smarter thing to do would have been to keep the handcuffs out of it and let him go back inside the house rather than make an unecessary arrest. </p>
<p>In the Boston Globe, Harvey Silverglate, a criminal defense lawyer, civil liberties defender, and Harvard Law School graduate, says Gatess arrest should be investigated, but not only because of its racial implications: </p>
<p>Was Gates arrested and held as a way to teach him a lesson? If so, asks Silverglate, Is this acceptable, regardless of whether the citizen is white or black?</p>
<p>I think that everyone, whether they side with Gates of the policeman know there has been harassment of African-Americans in the past, and there still is, in many places. However, I believe that many people are getting sick of people not willing to get beyond that, and having others immediately call the race card, whether they are or are not at fault. I wish we would all wait and find out all there is to find out before we start accusing ANYONE and in this case it means the police or Gates of anything. It is about time we got rid of the old stereotypes and looked at each situation fairly. Pres. Obama exacerbated the situation instead of trying to settle it down. And to speak without having the facts is just like the poor Duke Lacrosse situation. It is time this type of reaction is done with. We need to be fair and not jump to conclusions.</p>
<p>I think Professor Gates gets to the heart of the problem when he said that his instinct kicked in and he refused. Had he not been tired, stressed, etc., he probably would have had the presence of mind to hear the officer out. But he didn’t, and he pressed the officer’s buttons and off it went.</p>
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<p>Professor Gates did not create this situation. It is the Police Officers responsibility to keep the peace. </p>
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<p>That is simply wrong. I’ve seen more drunk college students and sports fans mouth off at police officers than I can possibly recall. Of course, they were white.</p>
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<p>Yeah. Criminal defense attornies are always a great, unbiased source for information on proper policing. While we are at it, let’s ask Derschowitz about the evidence in the OJ trial. </p>
<p>Scum.</p>
<p>Would someone please tell me what is really meant by the slang phrase of “yo momma?” I’d like to understand why the officer was so ticked off by it.</p>
<p>There are many dimensions to this incident as was brought up in a Sunday morning show. For example besides the racial issue there is a class issue which also may have impacted what was going on. Gates is part of the elite intelligentsia while many view police as low to middle class workers. This may have impacted Crowley’s response. I guess Obama must view him as a “Joe Sixpack” kind of guy with the offer to share a beer rather than cocktails.</p>
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<p>Seems you’ve proved it. Well done.</p>
<p>I haven’t read through all these pages but this situation seems like much ado over nothing. Not too long ago a neighbor’s alarm went off while they were out of town. The alarm co. called me as I was listed as an emergency contact. I went to the house, with a key, let myself in and then couldn’t remember the code. The police arrived and asked me for proof of identification. I didn’t see this as out of line at all, in fact if they hadn’t asked I think they would have been negligent.</p>
<p>ejr, Post 905:</p>
<p>Great post.</p>
<p>Prof. Gates and Sgt. Crawley each gave a different account of the event. It isn’t all that difficult to figure out who’s version is closer to the truth if audio recording of the event on the police radio is released.</p>
<p>People on both sides have asked why the recording has yet to be made public? Cambridge Police released the police report of the arrest (Crawley’s version) almost immediately.</p>
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<p>Nothing that will be heard on to-be-released tapes will make one iota of difference to the people who have pushed so hard to mold this farcical incident into a case of racial discrimination. No matter how loud and obnoxious Skip Gates will be heard, the same people who have pushed the racism envelope with abandon will allege that there was (unheard) provocation, and that sections of the tape must have been doctored. </p>
<p>In the meantime anyone who can muster an ounce of objectivity can use the statements of Prof Gates himself to make a pretty plausible determination of what happened. </p>
<p>Unfortunately the version of a rather pedestrian incident does not seem to satisfy the racist harpies who scream as loud as the good professor did. All that will be gained by the release of the tape is further embarrassment for Prof. Gates.</p>
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<p>I’m sorry that happened to you, NSM. I simply cannot understand it.</p>
<p>I used to ride the Cottage Grove bus in Chicago back in the late 70s. There were several occasions upon which I was the only white person on the bus and the seat next to me remained vacant, even though people were standing.</p>
<p>A strange feeling, to say the least.</p>
<p>Very few (if any) people have accused Sgt. Crawley being a racist in this event.</p>
<p>But I believe the recording can go a long way to clarify whether the arrest is justified (i.e. a stupid act or not).</p>
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<p>Oh, but you see, that can’t possibly be true. The black organizations on campus and across the country have to be up in arms about Chanequa Campbell’s story, also. Otherwise, it makes for a rather weak example upon which to hang one’s flailing outrage. Without fail, we must defend vociferously! every black person who ever has a run-in with the law.:rolleyes:</p>
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<p>…And he didn’t even have the common decency to admit that he did…Oh wait…:rolleyes:</p>
<p>That’s understandable, a leader should never OPENLY admit mistake but always make nuances to seem in control. The invite to the White House was like saying he was wrong. If it were me, I would never have even commented after the initial statement.</p>