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Post by dgriffin on Jul 23, 2009 7:39:48 GMT -5
 Black scholar arrest angers ObamaBBC NewsThe US president has said police acted "stupidly" when they arrested a black Harvard scholar outside his own home. Prof Henry Louis Gates was held last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to the top university where he teaches. Barack Obama said the US had a long history of African-Americans being disproportionately stopped by police. Officers were called to Prof Gates's house after a woman reported seeing two black males - the professor and his driver - trying to force entry. Although the exact facts of the incident are disputed, Prof Gates was arrested outside his home after providing the officer with identification. Mr Obama said: "I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. "Number two... the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home." news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8164862.stmWell, actually, Mr. President, Mr. Gates was not arrested for breaking and entering, but disorderly conduct. That's what you get when you become mouthy with a cop. You can call that unfair, but such forced respect has enabled the police to keep our streets relatively safe for 200 years. Even I recognize that fact, and I wouldn't consider myself an exuberant cop fan. Seems to me if there was any stupidity, it was and is from Gates. Since neither I nor anyone knows the actual facts, the policeman may not have used the best judgment, either. Too, I believe a sitting President acts stupidly when he offers comments on a local issue , other than, "we're concerned and looking into it." A real "he said/he said," this case will be shouted from the rooftops for years by those who are looking for a step up in public life. I agree with the policeman's longtime neighbor, an attorney, who said this should have been over on the day it happened. |
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Post by corner on Jul 23, 2009 9:24:32 GMT -5
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Post by corner on Jul 23, 2009 9:25:47 GMT -5
now tell me who was the racist in the above deal?
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Post by dgriffin on Jul 23, 2009 15:51:00 GMT -5
Yes, but I'll bet Crowley is sorry he didn't just walk away and leave it to the other cops.
It's good to hear there were witnesses, if that helps the officer. But a reasonable person would no doubt say that no one was in danger and the disorderly ruckus would have immediately stopped had Crowley just left the scene, with others in charge.
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Post by corner on Jul 23, 2009 17:07:49 GMT -5
the arrest was probably over and above but needless to say the professor is an asshole spouting all the vitriol he did....i think he was looking for an excuse to get in the limelight
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Post by lovinglife on Jul 24, 2009 4:57:53 GMT -5
Well, actually, Mr. President, Mr. Gates was not arrested for breaking and entering, but disorderly conduct. That's what you get when you become mouthy with a cop. You can call that unfair, but such forced respect has enabled the police to keep our streets relatively safe for 200 years. Even I recognize that fact, and I wouldn't consider myself an exuberant cop fan. Seems to me if there was any stupidity, it was and is from Gates. Since neither I nor anyone knows the actual facts, the policeman may not have used the best judgment, either. Too, I believe a sitting President acts stupidly when he offers comments on a local issue , other than, "we're concerned and looking into it." A real "he said/he said," this case will be shouted from the rooftops for years by those who are looking for a step up in public life. I agree with the policeman's longtime neighbor, an attorney, who said this should have been over on the day it happened. Agree totally with this. |
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Post by Clipper on Jul 24, 2009 10:29:12 GMT -5
Sounds to me as though both Obama and Gates have been hanging with Al Sharpton WAY TOO OFTEN! Coulda been worse. Gates could have carried HIS racist accusations a little farther, gotten REALLY belligerent, and ended up writhing in pain from taser darts. That would have taught him that racism is not the "get out of jail free card" that he thought it might be, and that racism can show up in the ACCUSER'S allegations rather than pointing at the accused.
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Post by dgriffin on Jul 24, 2009 10:53:25 GMT -5
 Getting to yes: What would it take for Gates, Crowley to shake handsBy Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent Cambridge is at the center of a national debate on racial conflict following the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. by a Cambridge police officer. But the city is also known as a hub for some of the world's experts on conflict resolution. We asked one of them, professor Robert H. Mnookin, chairman of Harvard's Program on Negotiation, for his thoughts. www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/getting_to_yes.htmlIf I were Crowley (the policeman), that's the last photo I'd want to see. I wouldn't want to shake the guy's hand, I'd just want his apology. I find it interesting that the Boston Globe publishes such a story. Were the players a conservative and a black policeman, no one on that paper would be suggesting anyone "get to yes." I call that racism. |
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Post by tommi250 on Jul 25, 2009 9:01:47 GMT -5
I wish I had gotten in on this thread right from the start. When all the facts come out I'm sure it'll show the sgt. acted appropriately. Too many times our police officers are cross examined after the fact by the armchair quarterback assholes who have had ample enough time to dissect a situation that occured in less than 15 secs.
When you really look into this situation you will see just how arrogant and out of touch Gates is with reality. For being such an intellect he sure went the route of the uneducated by not taking the whole situation into account. He is way too quick to pull the 'race card' out. It is scary to think that this 'racist', and believe me he is a racist just based on this incident, is teaching minds that have not yet formed strong opinions on how the world works.
Actions like this do nothing but perpetuate the black vs. white thing. It is too bad the charges didn't stay for the disorderly conduct. A lesson needs to be learned. One that he thinks he is too 'above' to learn.
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Post by corner on Jul 25, 2009 9:24:54 GMT -5
if you are a student at harvard you pretty much got your head up your ass before you get there
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Post by Clipper on Jul 25, 2009 11:28:05 GMT -5
Gotta agree with that one Corner. Look at our president. His support of the racist prof only goes to show the direction that his racist views tend to run, and the direction he wants to take this country.
They both sound like a cross between Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, while both of them blow the bugle to rally the troops and to inflame the general public, both black and white to a point where it will eventually boil over and we will see riots like we saw in Watts and other places in years gone by. Intellect doesn't dictate good sense, or extinguish the ignorant fires of racial prejudice and bigotry.
For Obama to come out against the police in this matter was absolutely ignorant. The President of the United States does not have any business stepping between a cop and a perpetrator. There is many other levels of government between the Cambridge Police Department, and the White House.
Hey, at least now we know of a second "hate mongering" FRIEND of the president. Put the prof in the same basket as the racist"reverend" that made an ass of Obama during the campaign. I have to have serious misgivings with a resume like that. Hope that Obama is a one term worm and goes back to Chicago in defeat in 2012.
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Post by dgriffin on Jul 25, 2009 22:18:39 GMT -5
Although I would classify the behavior and remarks of Obama and Gates with the term "racist," (and have, above, by citing the same criteria used when the offenders race is reversed) I don't think much hate was involved here. I'm guessing Gates was just pissed to have a cop in his house questioning whether he himself should be there, and a white guy at that, who brought up a lot of old tapes. I am not excusing him, I am just guessing about his thinking and motives. I don't think Obama hates white people, either. He is a typical arrogant politician, and in this case he let his tongue get away with him when he insulted the police by saying they "stupidly" arrested a man in his own house for breaking and entering, which is not true.
I do not at all read "hate mongering" into this situation by either Obama or Gates, although it's of course possible. Obama doesn't strike me that way and to my knowledge there is no evidence of such behavior on his part. Gates could be a hater, I know nothing about him. And of course there are commenters on the national scene who hate each other's race and make a living at it. But given what we know, comparing Obama and Gates to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton certainly seems unwarranted, Clipper.
Corner, Harvard is a very exclusive college, both in regard to academic entrance requirements and the money needed for tuition, fees, etc. If most of the kids there have their heads up their asses, they are very smart heads. I'll bet you $20 there are no more liberal, brown-headed students at Harvard than there are
in the State University of New York system. Liberal attitudes are more a consequence of one's age than parents' income, methinks.
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Post by Clipper on Jul 26, 2009 11:29:54 GMT -5
I guess hate was the wrong word. I do believe that the prof is into promoting unrest and misplaced distrust. His rant at the cop was more than just a little anger at being questioned in his own home. What did he think would happen when his neighbors reported someone kicking in the door on his home? He should simply be damned grateful for the police response and intense scrutiny of the whole situation.
It may not have been a "hate" thing, but it damn sure was an attempt to promote an agenda of casting a negative light on the police. I think the cop did an outstanding job of restraining himself. If that bastard had brought MY mother into the discussion, he would be recovering from a pair of split lips and some serious contusions.
As far as Obama is concerned, if he wants to be involved in the community action and jump into local frays such as this without knowing the facts, he may very well jump into an international fray without knowing the circumstances and put the whole damn country in danger with his arrogance and impetuous nature.
In my opinion, they BOTH came across very Al Sharpton like in the opening days of the coverage of the incident. Nobody was unduly persecuted here, and the arrogant prof should have been prosecuted for his remarks and lack of cooperation with a cop that was simply protecting the dumb shit's property from an suspected break-in.
It is time for "Black Americans" and "African Americans" and "White Americans"to lay down the color thing, and give up the persecution crap and live as just plain old "Americans."
However unpopular the idea may be, I have to think that one answer to the problems of race would be a blending of the races where all black families were "infiltrated" by a few white relatives, and the white families would be joined by black members through marriage. A couple of generations of evolution such as that, and race would hardly be a bone of contention any more would it? Unfortunately both races are far to prejudiced to embrace such a mix. Neither race seems to look beyond the color thing long enough to learn to live together in harmony.
Since moving here to the South, I have had several "toe to toe" discussions with ignorant white rednecks that stereotyped blacks and used racist names in referring to them. I find it sad that a black professor had to resort to using the race card in covering his anger with being confronted in a compromising position that looked like a possible break-in. I would bet that the cop would have acted in the same manner if a white man was seen breaking down his own door in an affluent neighborhood. Most people use a key. Forcing the door is hardly a normal activity and definitely warrants suspicion.
Why is it such an impossible scenario for us all to simply get along?
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Post by dgriffin on Jul 26, 2009 11:49:00 GMT -5
Why is it such an impossible scenario for us all to simply get along? Don't know. But I suspect that left to our own devices, without those who stir up trouble, we would get along better. |
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Post by gearofzanzibar on Jul 26, 2009 14:30:43 GMT -5
I'm sorry, but there's no other way to say this- Prof. Mnookin has a penis stuck to his face. |
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