<p>Poetsheart, Marite, quite frankly, I agree with you that Prof. Gates has the Constitutional right to be as obnoxious as he wants to be in his own home. But we’ve all seen the outcome on “Cops” and shows like that when someone tries this tactic out on a police officer. Fair? Probably not. Deserving of being taken away in handcuffs? Again, I don’t think so. </p>
<p>But this was made into a racial issue by Gates and others, including quite a few on these forums, and the facts are this had absolutely nothing to do with the color of the Professor’s skin pigment. Nada. Zip. It all had to do with the Professor’s attitude. Bob Dylan’s example shows the correct way to deal with this type of situation. Act polite and respectful, and help the cop solve the issue, and most likely you won’t be led away to the local station in handcuffs. Act like our learned Professor? Chances are pretty good that you’ll also be experiencing his outcome. </p>
<p>Fair? Correct? Again, probably not. But racially motivated? Not in this case. </p>
<p>Are there times when a young African-American male is respectful and cooperative with the police and STILL ends up in the back of the patrol car wearing handcuffs? Regretfully and shamefully, yes. But that was not the case here.</p>
<p>No, race became an issue only when Professor Gates and the media made it one. The POTUS then took it to a whole different level. But I will admit, after his initial mis-step, he handled it well. The Beer Summit was brilliant, and helped diffuse the situation.</p>
<p>Getting the cops to stop living in a “siege” mentality and start making their first actions to act respectfully instead of act to control the situation through aggressiveness? Second level effect of this issue, and it needs to be addressed. The cop in Mr. Dylan’s situation handled this correctly. And I’m willing to bet a vast majority of the time, most cops react to a similar situation in the same way. It just doesn’t get the national media attention because it doesn’t involve a celebrity.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that Crowley was engaging in racial profiling or that he was racist. It is not clear that Gates accused him of racial profiling or said “yo, mamma.” Gates disputes the claim, and given the inaccurate report filed by Crowley, there is reason to doubt that Gates said any such thing (Whalen said she did not mention the ethnicity of Gates whom she could not see, and the tape vindicates her. What else in the report is inaccurate?)</p>
<p>Crowley acted unprofessionally in cuffing and arresting a man for being obnoxious. That he could do so does not mean he should have done so, under the law.</p>
<p>Edited to respond to Bullet: I agree with you for the most part. Just because something happens often does not make it right (murder happens often, too!) And as I said in a different post, that young cop acted far more maturely than did Crowley. But let’s look at the two cases.
Neither Dylan nor Gates are recognized by the respective cop. Dylan is in a strange neighborhood, wearing a hoodie, peering into somebody’s house. The cop comes upon him, does not know his face or his name (sic transit gloria mundi!) and asks for his ID. Dylan does not have one on him. He knows that he must look like a suspicious character (and frankly, he is scruffy). So he knows he has no cause to act self-righteous. He asks for a ride back to his hotel, and the cop accommodates him. End of story.
Gates, on the other hand, is in his own home. He knows he is its rightful owner. What exactly he said to the cop is not known. We only have the cop’s version, and I cannot be confident that it is truthful since he did not report accurately what he was told by Whalen.
So Gates eventually produced his ID, most probably in a very ungracious manner, and was generally obnoxious about it. The cop got irritated and cuffed him and arrested him even though by that time it was clear that Gates was no law-breaker.
Dylan and Gates acted very differently, probably because the circumstances were quite different.
If cops arrested everyone who was obnoxious, we’d need to build more police stations and more prisons.</p>
<p>“Then why is so much of a support for an obnoxious jerk”</p>
<p>I’ve met Henry Louis Gates, and been involved in business-related things with him. I do not consider him an obnoxious jerk. In fact, he’s one of the most affable people whom I’ve ever met</p>
<p>I don’t believe the police report. Based on knowing Gates and on my own experiences in which various (not all such people whom I’ve met) white people in authority have treated me in condescending and rude ways, I believe that if Gates lost his temper, he had good reason to do so. </p>
<p>I think it’s amazing that some people here who have never met Gates feel free to call him all sorts of vile names. Interesting how such people so eagerly take the side of a policeman whose report has been shown to include lies.</p>
<p>People often behave differently when angry. They say things the would not otherwise have said if not angry. I doubt you every encountered him when he was tired and angry and had his defenses down. There are no lies in the police report of Crowley. It is merely your opinion that it contains lies based on your experience with Gates when he is behaving normally in a comfortable situation. The second police office backed up Crowley’s claim about Gates saying you don’t know who you are messing with. I doubt Gates threatened you by saying you don’t know who you are messing with when you encountered him.</p>
<p>You are incorrect. I referred to my human rights being violated. The discussion may have been about Constitutional rights but this does not preempt a further discourse about other rights.</p>
<p>This is very serious you know. If this is all true, then a Constitution trampler was roaming freely around the White House, perhaps the most proud symbol of our great country, and even consumed alcohol within its hallow walls.</p>
<p>“People often behave differently when angry. They say things the would not otherwise have said if not angry. I doubt you every encountered him when he was tired and angry and had his defenses down. There are no lies in the police report of Crowley. It is merely your opinion that it contains lies based on your experience with Gates when he is behaving normally in a comfortable situation. The second police office backed up Crowley’s claim about Gates saying you don’t know who you are messing with. I doubt Gates threatened you by saying you don’t know who you are messing with when you encountered him.”</p>
<p>I doubt that Gates said, something about “Yo momma”, as has been reported.</p>
<p>If Gates said, “You don’t know whom you are messing with,” that’s not worthy of being handcuffed and arrested. A policeman who would respond to such a statement by vindictively arresting someone isn’t worthy of being a police officer.</p>
<p>I also do not know what Gates was responding to. Frankly, I doubt that the policeman truly politely explained the situation and asked for an ID. </p>
<p>I’ve gone into stores and had clerks ask me, “May I help you?” in tones and with body language that basically was saying, “I think you’re here to shoplift, and I have my eye on you.” I think that Gates is mature enough and sophisticated enough to read body language correctly.</p>
<p>I also don’t think that anyone should be calling Gates the kind of names that some people here have called him including the 7 letter name that begins with an “a”.I think that there are people who would attached such names to Gates simply because he’s black and a Harvard prof. There also are people who’d automatically attach such names to anyone affiliated with Harvard.</p>
<p>One can make one’s points without name calling of anyone involved in this situation.</p>
<p>Given that Prof. Gates is your friend, I probably should have been more tactful with respect to your feeling. I am sorry for not considering your relationship with him.</p>
<p>Please understand that I find Professor Gate’s behavior despicable. When Crowley responded to the scene of a possible break in, he was not engaging in racial profiling. When Gates accused Crowley of racial profiling, Gates was himself racial profiling. Gates presumed that because Crowley was white, Crowley was acting in a certain way. That is racism. The fact that it is coming from a Harvard professor does not make it acceptable. The fact that is it coming from an African American does not make it acceptable. I have friends who are not perfect all the time. Gates isn’t perfect all the time either.</p>
<p>Are we still blaming women for wearing short skirts when there is an issue of sexual violence? If yes, then put most of the blame on Gates.</p>
<p>If not, the burden shifts to Cowley. Policemen are trained to deal with all sorts of situations including obnoxious people. If he feels he has no choice but to call a whole contingent of support force and arrest and handcuff a handicapped, non violent middle aged man in his own home for being obnoxious, he does not deserve to wear the police badge. I believe he was simply vindictive and he abused his authority, wasted valuable police resource that could have been deployed to deal with other real cases, and embarrassed the organization that hired him.</p>
<p>(Note: I am not saying Cowley’s behavior is criminal. I am just showing where on the vast region of “greys” on this scale ranging from black to white (not skin color), do we put the needle on).</p>
<p>Please understand that I find Professor Gate’s behavior despicable. When Crowley responded to the scene of a possible break in, he was not engaging in racial profiling. When Gates accused Crowley of racial profiling, Gates was himself racial profiling. Gates presumed that because Crowley was white, Crowley was acting in a certain way. That is racism. The fact that it is coming from a Harvard professor does not make it acceptable. The fact that is it coming from an African American does not make it acceptable. I have friends who are not perfect all the time. Gates isn’t perfect all the time either.</p>
<p>Unquote:</p>
<p>Walk a mile in other’s shoes, and then we can talk. I am not black, but I was raised in a VERY male chauvinistic society (it still is). A lot of professional women there live with a constant sense of being besieged, discriminated, and trivialized by their male counterparts. When they react a bit sensitively in a given situation, men usually resort to accusing women of simply over reacting and being irrational. Gates is a product of the environment we live in: let’s face it, racial discrimination and profiling is a fact in this society. Under the circumstance, his reaction is not just to Cowley but to the whole system we are dealing with. His behavior was not ideal but understandable. Brushing his behavior as simply “despicable” is VERY insensitive. </p>
<p>That said, I do believe Gates should have been much wiser and cooler and he did have a role in this whole mess: after all he is a man of great deal of life experience and intellect, I wish he had acted more maturely. However putting most of the blame on Gates, rather than Cowley, just shows me the depth of your own bias and lack of an ability to understand other people who may not share your own personal life experience.</p>
<p>“That said, I do believe Gates should have been much wiser and cooler and he did have a role in this whole mess: after all he is a man of great deal of life experience and intellect,”</p>
<p>He probably would have been if he wasn’t sick and hadn’t just flown back from China, which is a hellish journey. On top of all that, he’d had to deal with the frustration of having difficulty getting into his own house.</p>
<p>He was jet lagged, sick, and frustrated. I doubt that many of us would have been particularly calm, patient, and understanding if confronted by the police under similar circumstances even if we were not of a racial group that has had a history of being mistreated by the police.</p>
<p>Well **** happens. Just saw on TV that Indian movie idol Shahruk Khan (a Moslem) was detained because of racial profiling @ EJR. Like Dylan he handled the situation well and after about an hour of questioning he was released.</p>
<p>Ironically, he is in US to promote his new film - My Name is Khan. A story about racial profiling of Moslems post 9/11. In the movie he is arrested in San Fransisco. In real life EJR.</p>
<p>Well bullet, I don’t know how many times I’ve said that I don’t believe Crowley’s response to the burglary call was racially motivated. But, I do believe that he was willing to use racial stereotypes in an attempt to justify his mishandling of the situation when he realized that he was guilty of a number of errors in handling the case. And he was certainly willing to lie in his official police report. He was well aware of the racial realities that still prevail in America, and the fact that if he played up the “fine upstanding white law enforcement officer” against the "angry “yo mamma’ yelling stereotype of a black man”, he would most likely win the public image game. He knew that violating the man’s civil rights would matter not in the least if people were offended by the by the black guy. And offended people most certainly have been, because as I pointed out earlier, they are sick and tired of black people, and generally offended by them (an attitude that has been exemplified by many conservatives on these forums over and over again). And they are especially offended black people whom they see to “have it made”, and whom they assume have been unfairly “given the world” through affirmative action, but still “see a racist behind every bush”. They are quite happy to see Gate’s receive what they presume to be his “come-uppence”, and they don’t give a royal rat’s ass about his civil rights. </p>
<p>But these are the same people whose eyes fill whenever they hear “God Bless The USA” on their favorite country station, and who would say they believe the rights outlined in our Constitution to be sacrosanct. But clearly they, like our beloved Founders, only have certain people in mind when they say that. For those whom they don’t believe qualify as “real Americans’”, those whom they find “offensive”, Constitutional protection should be viewed as a privilege, or something to be “earned” by the approval of a majority of “real Americans”.</p>
<p>And there is virtually no relevant comparison to be made between Bob Dylan’s encounter with police, and Henry Louis Gate’s. In one, a man was extended every benefit of the doubt, despite the fact that he was seen to be behaving suspiciously outside a home not his own, and without any form of identification. In the other, a man who had proved his right to be inside his own dwelling, was ultimately arrested because law enforcement “didn’t like his attitude”. But, somehow, the man whose rights were violated, has ended up being the villain in this entire scenario. The take home lesson for many children all over America is, the Constitution may or may not apply to you. It all depends on “your attitude” and whether or not you enjoy overwhelming public support. It’s certainly a lesson I’ll continue to bear in mind.</p>
<p>Was there any doubt that getting mileage out this sordid story has been paramount? Telling are the discussions of a possible movie or series for PBS in the very first interviews!</p>
<p>All in all, quite the heavenly manna for the hordes of untalented and cynical harpies who make a living playing the race card, especially the victimized black in America. </p>
<p>In the meantime, people who TRULY suffer from real cases of discrimination and racism will remain as unattended and unprotected as ever. And, those victims won’t be able to count on the help of a small army of spinsters, excusers, and friends in high places, as this is reserved to the obnoxious primadonas who rarely share the rarified air they breath with the common man but easily claim to somehow represent him!</p>
<p>Gates was lucky he is famous; that he is a Harvard prof and that the incident took place just a few yards away from The Yard, never mind his friendship with Obama and Deval Patrick. By the same token, Dylan’s encounter with the cop would never have made the news if he had just been Joe Blow. We are a celebrity-driven society, unfortunately. all sorts of good and bad things take place away from the limelight.</p>
<p>“All in all, quite the heavenly manna for the hordes of untalented and cynical harpies who make a living playing the race card, especially the victimized black in America.”</p>
<p>And the sad part is when all play the race card on trivial issues and prop it up every way they can, majority of people become sanitized with the real issues. You can’t cry wolf all the time.</p>
<p>In my opinion the black intellectuals are doing a disservice to their cause.</p>