Obama and the Henry Gates incident
We’ve got two separate questions at work in the Henry Louis Gates incident, which in this late-July news vacuum seems to getting more attention that it deserves.
Question One:
Gates has always struck me as a very intelligent, rational person. If I was “breaking into” my own home, and if I had ID to prove it was my own home, as Gates did, I could see getting a little upset if the responding cop treated me like a criminal. If I was a black man in that same situation in a neighborhood such as Cambridge, I could see that trigger getting a little shorter.
However, if I was the cop in that identical situation? I can’t promise I would have reacted differently either. Absent evidence of the interaction between the professor and the officer, we do not know and cannot know who was most at fault. Even if we had sound and videotape, I’m sure opinions would vary.
So who was right? Who knows.
Now, the second question: Should the president have ventured into the matter?
No. He should have expressed concern and moved on. But the world is not perfect, and neither are those of us who occupy it. In expressing sympathy for Gates, Obama acknowledged and expressed the justified frustration that many black Americans feel in general about interactions with the police. I can’t blame him for that.
But in a perfect world, given his position, Obama would have explained that history without impugning the individual officer involved. His error was in translating the general problem into a specific criticism.
It’s not pretty, but this is how our national conversation about race continues. It’s all good in the end.
Really.
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442 comments Add your comment
Trent Drucker
July 24th, 2009
4:54 pm
Mr. Gates was at fault for overreacting and not initially showing ID.
Mr. Crowley was at fault for overreacting and arresting someone who proved ownership of the home.
End of discussion.
TooTired
July 24th, 2009
4:58 pm
Debbie, you obviously don’t have the first clue what goes on in the police department today.
Officers are disciplined all the time…even the good ones. The departments have gone so far to the disciplinary extreme that morale is in the crapper. The good ones are walking on egg shells. The “bad ones” are put on administrative leave until the department can find a way to get rid of them. It happens more than you will ever know.
And the city of atlanta seldom loses money in lawsuits as a result of police actions, because they separate themselves from cops immediately when the cops are accused of inappropriate behavior. The city says that the officer acted outside of the standard operating procedures, so, therefore, they are not responsible for his or her behavior. The courts agree and then the “victims” have to sue the officer in civil court. Of course officers don’t make squat, so they usually don’t have anything of value.
The sad thing is, cops put their lives on the line as a profession, they’re required to constantly make split-second life or death decisions, they deal with the scum of the earth on a daily basis, and they’re hated by much of society…I’m surprised that more of them don’t go crazy. And then people like you have nothing better to do than to focus on the ones who have made poor decisions. I’ll bet your daddy and other family members could tell you a few mistakes they made on the streets…if they are one of the honest ones that is. None of the cops are perfect. If you’re looking for perfect people to become cops, then you’ll be looking for a long time.
Maybe you should apply for the job. If you’ve got the guts to put on a badge and patrol the street of atlanta. You’ll crap your pants the first time someone shoots at you, and it happens often. I’ll give you a month before you quit. Then we’ll see what you have to say about law enforcement officers. If you don’t have the guts to become one of the good ones, at least ask to go on a “ride along” for a few days. Don’t worry, they’ll loan you a bullet-proof vest. It works some of the time, as long as the bullet is small and it hits the vest.
Eddy
July 24th, 2009
5:05 pm
O is backing and filling in the hole he dug!! “I don’t all of the details BUT let me tell you my opinion”. The Forrest Gump answer…Stupid is as stupid does!!! The glare of the spotlight is not a comfortable place when your opinion doesn’t jive with the facts!
I will hand it to him…he did reachout to the officer! My cynical mind says that the reason he did so is that no one is talking about his healthcare proposal because he added fuel to the fire with his comments. Got to get that teleprompter working again…no more off-the -cuff remarks.
DebbieDoRight
July 24th, 2009
5:07 pm
2Tired: R U 4 real?!?!!
None of the cops are perfect. If you’re looking for perfect people to become cops, then you’ll be looking for a long time.
How about COMPETENT cops and SANE cops? Is that too much to ask?
Maybe you should apply for the job. If you’ve got the guts to put on a badge and patrol the street of atlanta.
WHY would I want to? Civil service are for people who really (or rather SHOULD BE), geared for such professions. Not everyone can become a nurse, or a doctor; just like not everyone could/should become a cop. Surely you see this?
I’ll give you a month before you quit. Then we’ll see what you have to say about law enforcement officers. If you don’t have the guts to become one of the good ones, at least ask to go on a “ride along” for a few days. Don’t worry, they’ll loan you a bullet-proof vest. It works some of the time, as long as the bullet is small and it hits the vest.
You’re a cop aren’t ya? On administrative leave? Angry at the world? Don’t take it out on me; seek help.
Huckabee The Next POTUS
July 24th, 2009
5:10 pm
Seen in West Cobb on side of car in big letters today OBAMA= One Big A$$ Mistake America.
Priceless
Linda
July 24th, 2009
5:13 pm
Eddy, his healthcare proposal has nothing to do with health or care. His stimulus bill had nothing to do with stimulating the economy.
Pogo
July 24th, 2009
5:15 pm
Obama has once again proven himself to a minor leaguer playing in the big show. The man is a moron.
DebbieDoRight
July 24th, 2009
5:28 pm
Soooo Atlanta “distances” itself and NEVER pays anything out huh?
As anger and concern grew in the community, Atlanta police worked urgently to explain and justify the killing. During a Wednesday press conference, Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said police had purchased drugs from an unknown man earlier in the day at the Johnston residence and returned the same evening with a no-knock search warrant.
=====================
The Atlanta Citizens Review Board (CRB) subpoenaed and gained records related to the murder of 92-year-old Atlanta woman, Kathryn Johnston. The African American elder was gunned down in her home on November 21, 2006, by former Atlanta police officers in the world’s worst no-knock warrant case. The International Brotherhood of Police Officers filed a lawsuit to get the records back from CRB, alleging that CRB should not have been given access to the Johnston records due to current investigations regarding other officers in the department
=========================
More than two years ago, Johnston was shot and killed by police who broke down her front door. Now, Johnston’s family is asking for a settlement in the case that could go as high as $18 million. The legal discussions were closed to the media Thursday, but sources said the attorneys told Atlanta politicians that this would be a very tough case to defend in court. In the end, the city of Atlanta may be forced to pay the settlement on an installment plan.
The acts of some Atlanta police officers that led to Johnston’s death were ruled criminal in the courts. The next step for what Johnston’s family called “appropriate justice” is a financial settlement.
“Kathryn Johnston’s life, particularly the way she was killed, is worth much more than $18 million. This is fair,” said community activist Markel Hutchins.
Lawyers representing the Johnston family sent a letter to Mayor Shirley Franklin and city council members concerning the wrongful death claim.
The letter asserts the botched drug raid on Johnston’s Neal Street home in November of 2006, which started with false warrants and ended in a cover-up, was just one in a series of systemic abuses within the police narcotics squad.
Council members gathered this week for a briefing about the claim. At a time when the city budget purse strings are strained, the multi-million dollar settlement comes with an August 31 deadline.
=======================
Do you READ the paper or just look at the pictures?
Linda
July 24th, 2009
5:45 pm
Eddy, one more thing. The cap & tax has nothing to do with climate cooling, warming or change.
TooTired
July 24th, 2009
5:53 pm
Debbie, I’m married to a cop and I worry about him every day he’s on the street. Your hateful comments turn my stomach. You should be ashamed of yourself. You would have a different perspective if you took the time to ride with a cop for a few days. Go to any precinct in zones 1, 3, or 4. Then ask for the “ride along” form. I don’t think you’ve got the guts to do it, but if you do, you’ll spend 8 or 9 hours riding with an officer, going on calls and watching what they have to put up with on a daily basis. I’ve done it, and I’ll never do it again. I respect them and their jobs, and after hearing my husband tell me about his nights and seeing what I saw on the ride along, I wouldn’t wish their jobs on my worst enemy.
Finn McCool
July 24th, 2009
6:00 pm
Is Cynthia McKinney gonna to monitor us?
Hawt.
TooTired
July 24th, 2009
6:11 pm
If you read my comment, I said they “seldom” pay. Get your facts straight. In this case, the city has not paid any money yet. They probably will, but not yet. So what’s you’re point? And why are you so unhappy?
Sluggo
July 24th, 2009
7:11 pm
The only people in this story who seem to be guilty of bias and prejudice are Dr. Gates and the President. They are the ones who jumped to conclusions without the facts… they are the ones who wanted to make this problem larger than it was.
The president got his way. He comes off looking like a rush to judgement bigot who is backing “his guy” without regards to the facts. Dr. Gates is an arrogant prick who thinks he that threaten and bluster his way through life.
Both men are likely to have an unpleasant weekend.
Mr. Obama should have apologized while he could.
His failure to do so shows a lack of humility and an arrogance that he is somehow above making a mistake.
Sluggo
July 24th, 2009
7:20 pm
Are ALL of Obama’s friends racist, angry, hate filled folks who hate America and want to see socialism or is it only the ones we know about?
Dave
July 24th, 2009
7:29 pm
ByteMe – “talk without notes” come on man, he’s always got his teleprompter running, he said what he said because he believes it, didn’t matter if he knew the facts…
TnGelding
July 24th, 2009
7:36 pm
Mrs. Godzilla
July 24th, 2009
9:03 am
The officer has spoken: (Apologies if already posted.)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.
Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates’ reaction to Crowley was “a little bit stranger than it should have been.”
Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley “100 percent.”
Gates has said he was the victim of racial profiling.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-harvard-scholar-arresting-officer,0,4731766.story
TnGelding
July 24th, 2009
7:42 pm
Normal
July 24th, 2009
10:09 am
It was more like a whimper, but at least it recovered.
DebbieDoRight
July 24th, 2009
7:55 pm
2tired why is the truth hateful? Just because you don’t want to hear something, doesn’t mean its hateful. Husband off of suspension yet?
DebbieDoRight
July 24th, 2009
7:59 pm
I’m SCHOCKED!! You mean to tell me that the COPS ARE SUPPORTING EACH OTHER??? OMG!!! I had no idea of that!! It’s like some black officers from Atlanta supporting those officers who shot down the 92 year old grandmother even though they KNEW the warrant was obtained under false pretenses!! OMG I’m so shocked!!!
War Eagle
July 24th, 2009
8:15 pm
whites and blacks both carry racism, black have the advantage for “slavery and news media. I am 71 years, my family down the Gene Tree never participated in slavery.
The black is hugging the black and whites have to walk on thin ice.
USA will never learn to balance because of radical behavior in the news media as Cynthia tucker and New York Times.
Clarence
crackmeup
July 24th, 2009
8:32 pm
The professor seemed in a hurry to be a race victim. He brought race into the situation like he was pulling a gun. When he was yelling race, race , race. He reminded me of a child that is taken by the hand and told he is going to be spanked. As soon as you take the child’s hand he screams OW! OW! OW! before anything happens. I think he has enjoyed every minute of this nonsense.
DebbieDoRight
July 24th, 2009
8:41 pm
I thought cops took classes on how to not let the public hamper their professionalism and how, even under harsh “critcizism and name calling” they should remain cool. Maybe that guy flunked that class. Just saying…….
Jeff in Roswell
July 24th, 2009
9:06 pm
DebbieDooDooface – This girl is not all there upstairs – but I’m sure you already new that.
ken
July 24th, 2009
9:17 pm
Debbie, go to bed and start again tomorrow.
chad
July 24th, 2009
10:29 pm
the harvard teacher is a racist.
TnGelding
July 24th, 2009
10:30 pm
Another Ebony and Ivory or Salt and Pepper:
Willie Nelson – Ray Charles – Seven Spanish Angels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63A__INJecI&feature=fvw
chad
July 24th, 2009
10:33 pm
barack should apologize soon for his dumb comments!!!
atl5150
July 24th, 2009
10:40 pm
And why don’t you provide links to the original comment and the response? People, the media wants to filter what’s happening in the world thru their eyes. Like him or not, at least find the source of all this and decide for yourself. Do that for all the news you read.
atl5150
July 24th, 2009
10:45 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/24/officer.gates.arrest/#cnnSTCVideo
Mtn, Man
July 25th, 2009
6:53 am
Seems to this Mtn. Man,that Gates was doing a little racial profiling on his own! Me, I would sure move the hostile encounter outside,where witnesses could be a part of the escalating scene! The poster about “elitist” reaction of a “Harvard Man” vs. a “commoner” may just be the srongest explanation,of Gates hissy-fit! No photo I.D.sure might get my risk radar up and running……course his driver needed a photo/drivers license…… DRIVER? Most Harvard educated profs. have passed their drivers exam! Mtn. Man
TnGelding
July 25th, 2009
6:13 pm
It’s amazing how many different versions of what happened has been put forth here.
“Black scholar agrees to beer with Obama, policeman”
Sat Jul 25, 2:24 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prominent black Harvard University scholar has accepted an invitation to have a beer with President Barack Obama and the white police officer who arrested him in a racially charged case.
Professor Henry Louis Gates said Saturday he was willing to have a peace-making beer with Obama and Cambridge, Massachusetts, police Sgt. James Crowley.
Gates was arrested last week at his home after a neighbor called police to say that a man was breaking into the house. Obama said Cambridge police had “acted stupidly,” prompting an outcry from police groups and a resulting media blitz.
Obama later telephoned both men and, on Crowley’s suggestion, invited the two to the White House for a beer.
“I am pleased that he, too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sgt. Crowley for a beer with the president will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige,” Gates said in a statement on TheRoot.com, an Internet newsletter he edits.
Gates said he hoped his arrest would help reduce racial profiling by law enforcement agencies.
Atlas Shrugging
July 25th, 2009
7:48 pm
Hey Hey Hey Alan, I am soooooooooo sorry I refered to his greatness as Obozo, thank you for reminding me that his real real name is Obomo (Black Lord and Master of the Obomonation) you useless under acheiving parasite.
Atlas Shrugging
July 25th, 2009
7:48 pm
Enter your comments here
unwynkling
July 26th, 2009
11:17 am
lower llc public nations
Obummer Plan
July 26th, 2009
4:25 pm
Obummer will cure all ills with one system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj01Sqi0zic
Contractor
July 26th, 2009
6:26 pm
1. Dr. Gates did not have identification to prove he was at home!
2. Would we have critized the cop if he had taken Dr. Gate’s word but
in reality a second person had been holding his wife in another room
with a gun or knife?
3. We are so quick to critize before we have all the information, this
does not help to correct the problem, So we become the problem.
JAbraham
July 27th, 2009
1:34 pm
Obama as President should be careful talking about disproportionality of arrests of minorities–specifically african-americans. Why? Because a disproportional amount of african-americans ACTUALLY commit crime(black on white/ black on black)!! Therefore isn’t it logical that a disproportional number of african americans are arrested! Da! The President of the Untited States has experienced as much a sting from (racial profiling) as I have as a white american. I have had black police look at me with a synical eye in the city. Have I felt slighted–NO because I’m not looking for an excuse. Obama, you were elected because of the white vote–grow up and stop showing your TRUE COLORS. You can’t be President of these great states and subscribe to the thinking that the WHITE MAN is out to get you!!
steven
July 27th, 2009
5:05 pm
How can a cop be profiling if he has been called to a scene? The simple answer is- no racial profiling took place.
How can Obama know that the police acted stupidly if he admits he doe’snt know all the facts? The answer is simple- Obama is employing a racist practice called- sterotyping.
Professor Gates was not arrested in his home. He was arrested outside- where not only other police officers saw his unjustified tirade but Gate’s own neighbors witnessed it too! Several have stated that they were alarmed and frightened by his unprovoked, disorderly behavior.
Police departments around the country have made great strides in correcting racist behavior in their policies. When will the Black & liberal community start to make progress in putting aside their own racist or hateful behavior ?? I Hope Sgt. Crowley does’nt sell out his principles for a beer! He has plenty of good cause to bring a lawsuit against Gates and his slanderous behavior. Obama, at the very least, owes police across the country a real appology. The arresting Officer should also receive a personal appology for the racial sterotypical comments the President made about him. The false accusation and inflammatory behavior of Gates Jr. should be prosecuted in a court of law- the charge of “disorderly conduct” should not have been dropped.
RJones
July 28th, 2009
12:04 pm
I have nothing against Harvard professors, but I wouldn’t want my sister to marry one.
RJones
July 28th, 2009
12:11 pm
Methinks the Professor doth protest too much.
Joe
July 31st, 2009
2:32 pm
To his eventual embarrassment,
Racist… Mr. Gates seems to be the one who is the racist. This man is supposed to be highly educated, so with such presumed high intelligence I assert that he knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to try to provoke a response. When he denied to produce an identification card and then to throw the RACE CARD out, he knew eventually that he would get the response he well deserved. Wake up America! “This is what happens to black men in America.” No Mr. Gates, this is what happens to all individuals in America. Mr. Gates was asked to step outside and his response was, “Ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside.” If you, me or any other citizen responded to a police officer in such a manner all would, and should get the same treatment. Sorry Gates, just because you profess to teach at Harvard does not mean you are above the law. The charges should not have been dropped; if it were you, they would not have been.
This individual has been a racist from day one, otherwise why would he write in his Yale University application “As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate. It is your decision either to let me blow with the wind as a nonentity or to encourage the development of self. Allow me to prove myself.” If a “White American, Indian American” etc. wrote this in their college application they would not have even been considered acceptance to said college.
Gates should be appreciative that the police even showed up to investigate a break in.
We are enduring sad times when any Professor of an Ivy League school can get off the hook by turning the situation of his embarrassing mistake around to make it a racial situation.
Once again, wake up!
As for President Obama, well, he just embarrassed and discredited the Presidential position. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves.
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