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NAM Round Table
The NAM Round Table consists of news, insights, visions, ramblings and rants from the writers at New America Media.
[ filed under: conflict race-relations ] ...or Obama can’t do anything about cops and black people. It’s been a trip watching the case of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates unfold. The esteemed academic was arrested in front of his own crib by Cambridge cops after a pedestrian called the police on him. Gates was trying to get into his house and was struggling with the door. According to boston.com— Gates had just arrived home to his Cambridge house from a trip abroad to find his front door stuck shut. As he and the driver who brought him from the airport tried to push it open, a passerby called police with a report of a possible break-in. (Sergeant James M.) Crowley arrived and demanded that Gates, now inside, show him identification. Crowley’s police report said Gates behaved belligerently when he questioned him, which Gates denied. Authorities dropped the charge Tuesday after it ignited accusations of racism. President Obama has since weighed in on the case—Gates is a friend of the President—during his prime time press conference on Health Care, calling the police’s actions “stupid.” The White House later qualified that remark and the officer rebuked the President, has refused to apologize and denied the racism charge. Officer Crowley’s supporters defended him against the racist allegations by telling a story about how he tried to save the life of Reggie Lewis, the African American Boston Celtics forward who died of a heat attack in the early ninties. As if we are supposed to believe he is incapable of doing his job in biased way because he once had to press his lips against a Black man’s, trying to save his life. O.k. Crowley was a certified emergency medical technician when he performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Lewis, to no avail, after the player’s heart stopped on July 27, 1993. In a Globe interview later that day, Crowley said he rushed to the university’s Shapiro Gymnasium, confirmed that Lewis had no pulse, and frantically tried to revive him. All of this hoopla comes on the heels of Obama’s trip to Africa. There the President visited the “door of no return” in Ghana where hundreds of thousands of Africa’s finest were put on boats and brought to the new world, as slaves. His wife’s and his daughter’s ancestors likely made a trip through a ‘door of no return’ and no African could/would stop that sojourn. What any astute observer knows is that Obama—the President of the United States—can do nothing about racial profiling and police brutality. He is as helpless to affect this situation as he was standing on that west African beach staring through history at one of the greatest crimes committed by human beings against other human beings. He has no control over who gets hired as law enforcement, what the rules are for these officers and more importantly he has no control of America’s terrible racial history. That he even said anything is a wonder, had Gates not been his friend—had this been an anonymous Black man in “Anywhere USA” that moment of outrage and humiliation wouldn’t have registered on anyones radar. That is the irony of this curious case. Gates will be alright. Obama will too. It’s the rest of us that have to be on guard. The police can and will do whatever, whenever. I’ve gotten used to it, so has American society. Gates and Obama—and by extension the whole black bourgeois—will have to relearn a cold lesson. You can rise to the highest mountain in the USA but you are only a 911 call away from being chattel. No matter what you’ve done in life, you can instantly be transported back to that lonely beach, crossing the same sand your ancestors did. comments |
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Mr. Weston, we unfortunately,do not live in a perfect world. We hopefully, learn from the mistakes of the past to make the future a better place, but mistakes will happen..the shame is that one mistake should not ruin the countless amount progress that has been made. Negative racial issues exist on both sides of the fence.
By Lisa · Posted on Jul 23, 03:26 PMHold On! The cops are sent on a call of men with backpacks forcing their way into a home. They respond.. Gates becomes agitated, a man of his stature isn’t used to being questioned by lowly cops. “They must be messin with me cause I’m black”. If blacks could for one second think rational about what was taking place at that instant (cops investigating a phoned in call) and not making it all about the poor weight of the man “holding them down” maybe race relations would improve someday.
By carl Latscha · Posted on Jul 23, 03:47 PMIncident Report #9005127
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/23/0498.001.pdf
As I turned and faced the door, I could see an older black male standing in the foyer of Ware Street. I made this observation through the glass paned front door. As I stood in plain view of this man, later identified as Gates, I asked if he would step out onto the porch and speak with me. He replied “no I will not”. He then demanded to know who I was. I told him that I was “Sgt. Crowley from the Cambridge Police” and that I was “investigating a report of a break in progress”at the residence. While I was making this statement, Gates opened the front door and exclaimed “why, because I’m a black man in America?”. I then asked Gates if there was anyone else in the residence. While yelling, he told me that it was none of my business and accused me of being a racist police officer. I assured Gates that I was responding to a citizen’s call to the Cambridge Police and that the caller was outside as we spoke. Gates seemed to ignore me and picked up a cordless telephone and dialed an unknown telephone number. As he did so. I radioed on channel 1 that I was off in the residence with someone who appeared to be a resident but very uncooperative. I then overheard Gates asking the person on the other end of his telephone call to “get the chief” and what’s the chief’s name?”. Gates was telling the person on the other end of the call that he was dealling with a racist police officer in his home. Gates then turned to me and told me that I had no idea who I was “messing” with and that I had not heard the last of it. While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence. I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me. I asked Gates to provide me with photo identification so that I could verify that he resided at Ware Street and so that I could radio my findings to ECC. Gates initially refused, demanding that I show him identification but then did supply me with a Harvard University identification card. Upon learning that Gates was affiliated with Harvard, I radioed and requested the presence of the Harvard University Police.
By stigme · Posted on Jul 23, 03:49 PMI think this commentary is nonsense. The incident was an example of two guys who lost control for whatever reason. If Gates had been white I am convinced that the same scenario would nave developed. Just a case of macho on both sides.
By sayre · Posted on Jul 23, 03:54 PMThis commentary is indeed nonsense. There are so many facts we don’t have that would explain the situation – even subtle facts. In fact, if Gates was white and responded the way Crowley claims, it has been my experience with other police officers that Crowley would have responded the same (most cops I know would have).
Everywhere I’ve lived, if you raise your voice to cops when they had probable cause to suspect you of a crime, depending on their mood, they’ll raise their side of the conflict until either you back down or they slap the cuffs on you and take you ‘downtown’. It’ll happen to you regardless of color – I’ve seen it; lived it.
Putting myself in Gate’s shoes, my guess is Gates was probably tired – jet lagged and irritated and just wanted to get inside and relax, maybe take a shower, but couldn’t because the door was jammed. So by the time Crowley arrived he may have not had time to rid himself of that stress and being already in his own home, he would have shifted to defensiveness and thought he was on the right side of the law.
He probably didn’t think of the legal implications of the police officer responding to a break-in – such may not have crossed his mind at the time due to fatigue and stress. He may not have shown proof of residency until after the police officer viewed the situation as hostile.
For Gates it was probably an issue first of unloading stress then one of race. For the cop, it was probably an issue of having to enforce the power differential unsuccessfully. Many cops I knew were action junkies or power junkies or both – and depending on many factors would jump the gun in some situations and circumstances (regardless of your race).
If I were Gates (or just me in the same situation) and I did act belligerently, which typically would result in arrest and charges against me, I would be motivated minimize my responsibility.
We also don’t know what kind of problems Cambridge may have been having with break-ins recently or a bad day that might have emotionally charged Crowley before he got there, and a belligerent suspect would be all he needed to jack him up and haul him off. If I were Crowley, I would be motivated to minimize my responsibility.
Unfortunately, we as human beings tend to reconstruct memory in a way that is influenced by the current context, so there may have been a little of this at play on both sides as they recalled them later. I’m not convinced it was an issue of racism but the cop probably could have been more professional and operated more in a peace-keeping role – and so the President may have been right that Crowley acted stupidly but not in prejudice.
By Grabe · Posted on Jul 23, 04:33 PMI forgot to mention another factor that since Obama has lived in Cambridge, he might know something about how Cambridge police are – maybe they do quickly fly off the handle. This was something Bill Cosby mentioned (http://topics.breitbart.com/Henry+Louis+Gates+Jr/).
Where I live, for years it has been said of our police that the only police shootings are accidental. Maybe something similar was known of Cambridge police when Obama lived there.
By Grabe · Posted on Jul 23, 04:38 PMThanks Lisa, Stigme, Carl and Sayre for replying—@Lisa, you are right and if you are a white woman, you have no idea how it is to deal with racist with guns with the power to shoot you. @Carl—do you think if you were trying to get into your house someone in your neighborhood would call the police? @Stigme—what this cop wrote in his report is one side of the story. Problem is most Americans, who have friendly relations with cops, don’t think they can lie or bend the truth, I am not so naive. @Sayre When was the last time a white man was arrested trying to get into his own house, after showing i.d.?
By Kevin Weston · Posted on Jul 23, 04:49 PMOK< comment #3 wasn’t visible when I posted my comments. I highly doubt this report would be falsified considering all the witnesses that were present and the recordings of the radio conversation must have picked up Gates yelling. So what really happened should be easily discerned. If this report is accurate, then Gates was disorderly and indeed violated the law.
The real question then is will we hear about it in the press if such was the case. Likely not.
By Grabe · Posted on Jul 23, 04:50 PMOne more comment – the more I dig the more this stinks…
Considering this article:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/officer_at_eye_of_storm_says_he_wont_apologize/?page=2
”[The] confrontation had inspired the Harvard professor to consider making a documentary about racial profiling.”
Money is a great motivator. We’ll see if he refers to this incident as racial profiling or not – likely not. If this is true, this ploy was calculated and Crowley was just a victim, simply so Gates could get into the public spotlight and maximize support for the new documentary.
“The city’s Police Review and Advisory Board, which is independent of the Police Department, has set a meeting July 29 to decide whether to launch a formal inquiry into the incident, according to board investigator Joseph Johnson. He said Gates had not filed a complaint with the board…”
Didn’t file a complaint because they like the police union would not find any fault with Crowley, and Gates knew it – especially because of all the witnesses present.
By Grabe · Posted on Jul 23, 05:13 PMboth men had prejudices and chips on their shoulders. obama was right; the officers involved did act stupidly. but then again, so did dr. gates. i can understand why he was pissed off, but he took it a bit too far. i don’t think the cop was a bad man, but OBVIOUSLY racial prejudice is a factor on both sides (dr. gates and the officer).
By yvonne Moultrie · Posted on Jul 23, 05:56 PMI live in Taiwan. I can make myself believe that Crowley is not a racist, but I can’t make myself believe that he didn’t act anything stupidly.
By Jack · Posted on Jul 23, 09:29 PMI am white. If this had happened to me I would have been embarrassed, thanked the officer for coming and for having concern for my property and it would have been over. I wonder why Gates got so excited. It seems like this country has been pretty good to him.
By jason beason · Posted on Jul 23, 10:04 PMI am the mother of a 16 year black son, who was pulled over in our extended driveway in a suburb outside of Houston. The officer gave my son a ticket for not putting on a turning signal when pulling into our driveway. He also told my son that he was trying to escape the police by pulling into this extended drive. Although my son told him that he lived here, the cop did not believe him and actually said, there are no black people on this street. He called for backup and was writing a ticket for avoiding apprehension until my son recited the address and hit the garage door opener to access the house. The cop was like oh I guess you do live here. He still gave my son a ticket for the signal which was subsequently thrown out by the judge. My son has been pulled over no less than 10 times in the last year in our neighborhood. We can understand what Mr Gates is going through and we have trained our son to be overly friendly to the cops as they are looking for a reason to stop, ticket or arrest him. As a former police officer, I have no bias, but I’m always afraid for my son when he drives, especially after sundown.
By Beentheredonethat · Posted on Jul 23, 11:53 PMAn example in miniature of how nations head into heated belligerance, one with armed power and one thinking themselves to be a victim. It is understandable that Gates was upset and irritated, but arguing and being uncooperative under the circumstances, even when they seemed unjust, was not a very intelligent way to respond. He should have known better and kept the anger muted. It could then have been settled with both Crowley and Gates recognizing the validity of each other’s perception. Obama was publically asked by a reporter about the situation and could not evade a response, but he did not need to add the word “stupid” about Crowley. Big error by Obama. The same insulting name-calling appears to be the mode Secretary of State Clinton is inclined, unfortunately, to use toward North Korea. I hope the Obama administration backs away from such unhelpful tactics.
By millsm · Posted on Jul 24, 09:54 AMKevin, First, Gates’ home had been broken into before. Second, a passerby saw 2 men trying to force open the door and called the police. Third, the officer responded expecting to find at least 2 men and saw one of them inside the house. He asked him to step outside and talk to him and Gates refused. That is the only stupidity I see in this situation. And then refused to provide identification? WTF? And before you go on about how if I’m a white man then I have no idea what it is like to deal with racists with guns and the power to shoot you. I do! It’s called the projects around here.
By Bill · Posted on Jul 24, 11:23 AMPresident Obama ia absolutely right to site the history of racial profiling in America. Black people have a right to be suspicious of all cops
By Michael Kennard · Posted on Jul 24, 01:25 PMstigme, quoting from the police report: As he did so, I radioed on channel 1 that I was off in the residence with someone who appeared to be a resident but very uncooperative. I then overheard Gates asking the person on the other end of his telephone call to “get the chief” and what’s the chief’s name?”. Gates was telling the person on the other end of the call that he was dealling with a racist police officer in his home. Gates then turned to me and told me that I had no idea who I was “messing” with and that I had not heard the last of it. While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence, I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me.
In other words, by Sergeant James Crowley’s own admission, even if you grant every element of his claims for the sake of argument, he no longer had any probable cause to suspect a crime or any legal reason to be there, long before he arrested Gates. “Surprising and confusing” a cop by getting upset with him is, of course, not a crime. So why didn’t Crowley just apologize for the trouble and leave?
grabe: Everywhere I’ve lived, if you raise your voice to cops when they had probable cause to suspect you of a crime, depending on their mood, they’ll raise their side of the conflict until either you back down or they slap the cuffs on you and take you ‘downtown’. It’ll happen to you regardless of color – I’ve seen it; lived it.
1. The cop’s own report makes clear that Crowley had no probable cause to suspect Gates of a crime once it became clear that he did in fact live in the house he was supposedly “burglarizing.” Crowley had concluded that it was Gates’s house by the time he radioed back; he had conclusive evidence when Gates gave him photo ID. So why didn’t he just leave, instead of leading Gates out to the front porch and then arresting him for hollering inside his own house, which is not a crime?
2. I do agree with you that police often take a domineering attitude and use the threat of arrest and jail to force people to submit to their arbitrary commands, even when it is clear that no crime has been committed. This is common when police deal with any non-police, whether black or white. But I think you’ll find that it is more common when cops deal with people who are members of certain demographic groups that are seen as being special problems for Law-n-Order—notably black people, Latinos, poor people, young people, and a few other commonly-targeted groups. And in any case, even if it has nothing to do with race at all, the fact that this sort of thing is common does not make it right. It is, in fact, a tyrannical abuse of power by legally privileged police against innocent victims who have committed no crime.
Yvonne Moultrie: both men had prejudices and chips on their shoulders. obama was right; the officers involved did act stupidly. but then again, so did dr. gates.
Maybe, maybe not, but even if this is true, only the stupidity of “the officers involved” resulted in an innocent man being rousted out of his home, handcuffed, humiliated in front of his neighbors, and thrown in jail on a bogus charge.
I’m not all that worried about foibles which, at worst, cause a man to toss off so insults which are possible unfair, at people who barged onto his property without his permission.
I tend to worry a lot more about the stupidity of people who have, and are willing to exercise, the power to jail me or shoot me even when I am neither threatening anyone’s safety nor violating anyone’s rights.
By Rad Geek · Posted on Jul 25, 01:43 PM1. cops can lie – and if you have ever obtained a police report where you observed the incident, you probably know this.
By carolc · Posted on Aug 2, 07:51 PM2. ”...it seems like this country has been pretty good to him…” Jason Beason, shame on you! I hope no one belittles your life accomplishments like that! Did you read the comment AFTER yours?
3. It sounds as though the professor asked if the confrontation was because he was black and the officer white, and the officer heard it as “You’re a racist.” It’s been my experience that’s about how accurate they generally are.
4. Someone noted most officers are action or power junkies – perhaps not at hiring, but within a year or so, yes. We do not live in the same country. You live in one if you look white (which isn’t perfect) and another if you do not (which is much less perfect). And we tend to fly off the handle if we talk about it, but ignoring it won’t make it go away.
5. What is really ugly is that we claim to believe in “freedom” and “fairness” when our actions show something else.