Harvard professor arrested. Was it racial profiling?

[PLC1]

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home

Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.

Friends of Gates said he was already in his home when police arrived. He showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card, but was handcuffed and taken into police custody for several hours last Thursday, they said.

The police report said Gates was arrested after he yelled at the investigating officer repeatedly inside the residence then followed the officer outside, where Gates continued to upbraid him. "It was at that time that I informed Professor Gates that he was under arrest,'' the officer wrote in the report.

Was he arrested because he was black, or because he was being a jerk?

Had he been white, and done the same thing, would he have been arrested?

Had he simply showed the cop his ID, and quietly asked him to leave, would he have been arrested?

According to CNN, there had been a 911 call to the cops, saying that someone was breaking in to the house.

Doesn't it seem odd that the neighbor didn't know who lived next door?

This is an interesting story, it seems to me. What do you think?

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home

Was he arrested because he was black, or because he was being a jerk?

Had he been white, and done the same thing, would he have been arrested?

Had he simply showed the cop his ID, and quietly asked him to leave, would he have been arrested?

According to CNN, there had been a 911 call to the cops, saying that someone was breaking in to the house.

Doesn't it seem odd that the neighbor didn't know who lived next door?

This is an interesting story, it seems to me. What do you think?

In broad daylight {this man with his chauffeur/driver/aide whatever} gaining access to his own home...{Heavy Sigh}:
1. I would have expected to provide the officer my proof of residency when asked...for me I would hope that the officer would at least verify that I was who I said I was. Homes do get broken into, even during the daylight hours and the owners come home to their place being totally cleaned out {in broad day light}
2. I guess I'm not so surprised that the neighbor who did call 911 wasn't aware of who was making the entry into his very own home...I guess I'm more surprise that anyone bothered to contact 911 and try to stop the 'assumed' illegal entry...LOL
3. Maybe the guy was already having a bad day {a REAL BAD DAY} and was P!ssed Off and took it out on the officer
4. I can see this being an over reaction on both parties {50-50 over reaction}
5. Maybe the Harvard professor has had 'ISSUES' with the area police department prior to today???

 

[top gun]

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home

Was he arrested because he was black, or because he was being a jerk?

Had he been white, and done the same thing, would he have been arrested?

Had he simply showed the cop his ID, and quietly asked him to leave, would he have been arrested?

According to CNN, there had been a 911 call to the cops, saying that someone was breaking in to the house.

Doesn't it seem odd that the neighbor didn't know who lived next door?

This is an interesting story, it seems to me. What do you think?

This may surprize everyone but no I don't think it was racial profiling.

I think it was clearly a too thin skinned power issue.

And I think you may be misinterpreting the official police report. It was broken down tonight on our local news by an ex-police chief and a current law enforcement training officer.

As he broke it down it went like this: Officers did the right thing going to the scene and seeing that the person inside was supposed to be there. He also said he's had instances where he has broken in doors to make sure all was right inside and no hostages were being held or that a person wasn't just sent to the door with a gun to their back. So going inside and asking fot ID was also appropriate action.

But here's the rub: He said and I quote, "By reading the report the problem I see with arresting Mr. Gates was that the officer had received the information he needed and was leaving, had actually left the home and was outside when after a remark from Mr. Gates he went back in and arrested him. That's wrong. People yell at police officers all the time. If your investigation is over it's over and someone simply yelling something about not liking you doesn't give you cause to go back and arrest them."

So in the end this would best be described as an unnecessary power trip but not a case of racial profiling.

 

[PLC1]

This may surprize everyone but no I don't think it was racial profiling.

I think it was clearly a too thin skinned power issue.

And I think you may be misinterpreting the official police report. It was broken down tonight on our local news by an ex-police chief and a current law enforcement training officer.

As he broke it down it went like this: Officers did the right thing going to the scene and seeing that the person inside was supposed to be there. He also said he's had instances where he has broken in doors to make sure all was right inside and no hostages were being held or that a person wasn't just sent to the door with a gun to their back. So going inside and asking fot ID was also appropriate action.

But here's the rub: He said and I quote, "By reading the report the problem I see with arresting Mr. Gates was that the officer had received the information he needed and was leaving, had actually left the home and was outside when after a remark from Mr. Gates he went back in and arrested him. That's wrong. People yell at police officers all the time. If your investigation is over it's over and someone simply yelling something about not liking you doesn't give you cause to go back and arrest them."

So in the end this would best be described as an unnecessary power trip but not a case of racial profiling.

That is how it's beginning to look.

Update: Barack Obama has invited the two of them to the White house for a beer.

That could be interesting. I wonder if they will come? Will they talk over their differences? What might come out of such a meeting?

Let's hope he stops at one beer, though.

 

[TruthAboveAll]

That is how it's beginning to look.

Update: Barack Obama has invited the two of them to the White house for a beer.

That could be interesting. I wonder if they will come? Will they talk over their differences? What might come out of such a meeting?

Let's hope he stops at one beer, though.

What will be interesting is when the police release the tapes and their records. Police officers put their lives on the line for us every day. Are there some bad ones? Sure. Are there situations of racial profiling? Absolutely. Are there police out there who have a bad day, too? Most certainly.

Given the fact that it was the professor's house that had been broken into recently, I can see why a policeman might be a bit edgy. When the address popped up, I'm sure it also showed there had been an incident there recently. He obviously called for backup in a timely manner, which indicated he had a level of uneasiness.

Given the fact that the professor initially responded with belligerence, I think it would be a reasonable expectation for a policeman to have that edginess slip up a notch or two. The professor dissed the cop, in essence. I don't care how tired, cranky, irritable he was. The policeman was responding to a call regarding HIS property, and possibly his safety and/or life.

How nice, PBO can sit down with his old friend and make a spectacle with the upstart cop. They can pop a brewski or two. If Joe's not around they might get away with a few.

But in the end, what I think we truly have is a true and bonafide case of racial profiling. The only thing is, it was in the opposite direction, and it was the professor who acted "stupidly", not the police.

 

[top gun]

That is how it's beginning to look.

Update: Barack Obama has invited the two of them to the White house for a beer.

That could be interesting. I wonder if they will come? Will they talk over their differences? What might come out of such a meeting?

Let's hope he stops at one beer, though.

This Thursday night... Miller Time!

Who knows maybe one of those Camp David three way handshakes perhaps!

 

[KingClovis]

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home[/URL

Was he arrested because he was black, or because he was being a jerk?

Had he been white, and done the same thing, would he have been arrested?

Had he simply showed the cop his ID, and quietly asked him to leave, would he have been arrested?

According to CNN, there had been a 911 call to the cops, saying that someone was breaking in to the house.

Doesn't it seem odd that the neighbor didn't know who lived next door?

This is an interesting story, it seems to me. What do you think?

Gates is a Black radical, who deliberately provoked the police. He might have even wanted to get arrested, for publicity's sake. The guy's entire professional life is based on expressing his anti-White racism.

 

[Little-Acorn]

This may surprize everyone but no I don't think it was racial profiling.

It absolutely WAS racial profiling.

The Professor started yelling about how this was happening all because he was a black man, something he would not have done if the arresting officer was black himself. He assumed that since the officer was white, his behavior and motivations were suspect.

That's a clear case of racial profiling by the Professor.

 

[top gun]

Gates is a Black radical, who deliberately provoked the police. He might have even wanted to get arrested, for publicity's sake. The guy's entire professional life is based on expressing his anti-White racism.

OH PLEEEEASE!

It was a bunch of bad coincidences and they both overreacted. Let it go they've made up.


Henry Louis Gates: Nope, Certainly Race Had Nothing to Do with That
Stephen Markley 07.23.09
Courtesy of Harvard University

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is awesome. Or so I thought until I found out he was a burglar.

A Harvard professor and director of the W.E.B DuBois Institute for African-American Studies, Gates is one of the most thoughtful voices on race in America today. He's the author or editor of over fifteen books on African-American history, race relations and the culture wars.

He's also the host, narrator and creative mind behind PBS's engrossing mini-series "African-American Lives," which traces the ancestral lineages of famous black Americans. It's an amazing show that somehow spans history and feels immediately personal at the same time (I must admit, despite how I feel about his love life, the Morgan Freeman episode was one of my favorites).

Oh, and also as a three year-old I used to play with Gates's kid when we attended the same day-care center in Ithaca, New York, according to my parents. I don't remember much of it, but I'm sure we played blocks together or something.

But a woman saw Gates breaking into a house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, so she called the police, who wisely arrested this dangerous literary critic and theorist who draws on structuralism, post-structuralism and semiotics to textual analysis in his work.

Everyone knows semiotics to textual analysis will get you hanging out with the wrong crowd every time.

Okay, but funny story: the house Gates was breaking into? It was his house. The door was stuck.

Obviously, Gates is still at fault, though, right? After all, it's not the fault of the white woman who called the police. Certainly any black man shoving at the door of a house in broad daylight must be a crack-head looking to steal and pawn jewelry?

And the cop who arrived on the scene after Gates was already inside his home, making phone calls and sorting his mail? Of course he had to ask Gates for two forms of ID and call Harvard to verify the claim. That's not racist! I mean, don't you get IDed and background-checked every time you walk into your home or apartment? Certainly as a besieged white male I can't walk up my stairs without the Chicago PD taking a DNA swab of the inside of my cheek, so I don't know what Gates would have to complain about.

Then apparently Gates got all mad that he was being senselessly harassed at his own house.

He was angry! Can you believe it? So he, like, yelled at the cop! And called him a racist! And said the incident was a result of him being "a black man in America."

And you know how the cop proved he wasn't a racist? By hand-cuffing the National Endowment for the Humanities 2002 Jefferson Lecture speaker and arresting him! For "exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior"!

See, it's like Dr. King himself once said: "If you're ever accused of breaking-and-entering into your own home in your own neighborhood and told that you need to present proof that you are not an elderly drug addict, don't get all pissy about it. No need to get upset!"

The Cambridge Police quickly dropped the charges against Gates, however, so he is now free to return to the home that he is apparently racially unqualified to reside in.

 

[top gun]

It absolutely WAS racial profiling.

The Professor started yelling about how this was happening all because he was a black man, something he would not have done if the arresting officer was black himself. He assumed that since the officer was white, his behavior and motivations were suspect.

That's a clear case of racial profiling by the Professor.

You've obviously never been in that spot then.

I HAVE.

Look the Officer isn't a bad guy. And Gates did run his mouth. But it's not illegal in America to run your mouth. Especially when you're not threatening violence, sober and on your own private property.

It's funny how if it's some nutbag Clinic Creeper stalking women at a women's clinic you're all for free speech. An obvious misunderstanding like this... the Black guy shoulda just kept his mouth shut.

There are times when a Police Officer is doing his job but still any normal person thinks they're being singled out or not given a fair shake. It happened to me when I was in full biker mode back 20 some odd years ago. Not only did I have the (ex-tearing down the Christmas tree incident) but I also got pulled over and checked a few times for like really no reason. Never got a ticket. Why did I think that was the case? Well besides the Harley I also had a couple year old black Cadillac that always looked like it just rolled out of the showroom. Late 20's biker guy... brand new Cadillac... probably stolen better check it out???

And if you're honest you know when you get pulled over for a speeding ticket or get singled out in any situation with the police the thought goes through your head... they're just screwing with me!

I'm not saying Gates didn't overreact... he did. But all this bashing like no one else especially a White guy would EVER talk back to the Cops when they thought they were getting a raw deal, whether they were or not... is silly.

Of course it happens. The truth is this guy happened to be someone the President knew so let's just make it a big deal.
These are both good people. I'll be glad when they have their beer together and understand that neither is a bad guy and both coulda/shoulda handled things differently.

 

[asur]

Possibly the racist Harvard professor made an assumption that the white cop
was targeting him.

You will find Gates is a racist, if you read some of his past writing.
He is also a friend of Obama's, so it is no surpise.

 

[KingClovis]

Possibly the racist Harvard professor made an assumption that the white cop
was targeting him.

You will find Gates is a racist, if you read some of his past writing.
He is also a friend of Obama's, so it is no surpise.

Good post, Asur. I respect your integrity.

 

[KingClovis]

Top Gun, you know what Billy Jack would've done, don't you? He would've karate-chopped everyone to bits.