In his just-concluded (mostly) health care press conference (read the live-blog here), President Obama was asked about the arrest of his friend Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on quickly-dropped disorderly conduct charges. Obama’s response was important in two respects:
First, he said that once Gates had produced ID showing that he lived there (and there seems to be no dispute that he did so), the police “acted stupidly” in arresting him for disorderly conduct.
Second, he said that the episode reflects the fact that race remains a factor in society, and referred back to his work in the Illinois Senate on racial profiling.
There is likely to be a run on Rolaids in the vicinity of Cambridge police headquarters — here’s hoping the local drugstores are well stocked!
UPDATE: Curious. Rachel Maddow is talking with Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs right now about the Gates Q&A. Maddow, I think, seriously misinterpreted one of Obama’s comments. Obama went over some of the facts — he said that Gates had locked himself out and forced his way in, and that there was a call to report a possible break-in. He then said, “so far so good,” and he then started to comment that “if I were trying to break into my house…” and then he caught himself, saying that “well, I guess this [the White House] is my house now, so that probably wouldn’t happen…. maybe at my old house in Chicago.” Everyone laughed. I think where he was going, though, was that he would hope that someone would call in a possible break-in at his house in Chicago. He then made another joke, saying, “if I tried it here, I’d get shot.” More laughter. But I do not think that Obama was saying that he’d be shot because he is black. I think he was saying that anyone trying to break into the White House would be shot — that’s what’s consistent with his previous comments, and it also happens to be true. Maddow, however, thought that Obama’s joke was an incisive comment about the state of race relations in America. I think she’s wrong about that.
There’s no need to bankrupt the City of Cambridge over this- whom would that help? I hope he doesn’t sue, but instead goes forward with his documentary on the incident.
Happy to be corrected, but I haven’t seen any indication that he’s considering a lawsuit.
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p>http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
I hope he thinks better of it.
I took it as he would be shot because anyone breaking into the White House would be shot, not because he was black. I only watched RMaddow for a few minutes, missed the part you’re talking about.
I didn’t see Rachel Maddow, but your interpretation sounds more Obaman to me.
to comment on one mans snit with their local police department.
if he were to deflect the question he’d get criticized for not taking stances on any controversial issues. He said no more or less than he needed to. Cambridge PD did act stupidly, that’s for sure. Racial profiling is an issue. Did race play a part here? Who knows.
Not mine. I think Gates should be encouraged to resign his professorship for brandishing such hate-filled venon. It is racist. We have come a very long way since the Civil Rights Act 40+ years ago. Feel free to disagree, as I know you bleeding hearts will. Don’t even think about teling me about discrimination unless you have personally experienced discrimination.
there is no question about that. I don’t know if Sgt. Crowley is racist or was motivated by some racial animus toward Prof. Gates or not but I feel that Sgt. Crowley made a dumb move at the very least. That being said, your insinuation that black men do not face racism and discrimination in this country today is ridiculous. I assume you are white like I am. I have personally experienced racial discrimination before and so have you, it just happened to other people. You know in your heart that some people judge a black man based on the color of his skin. Just because it did not happen to me or you doesn’t make it non-existent. Please excuse the double negative but I am tired and want to go to bed.
That Crowley refusing to identify himself was dumb. I am not insinuating that racism doesn’t exist. Several years ago, I was in a predominantly black nightclub with my black friends. They warned me to sit down, shut up, and not engage anyone. Wise words.
Just today, my always attempting to not pre-judge or stereotype people almost got me into a nasty situation. This “homeless-looking” guy wanted to access my apartment complex pool. Being the trusting soul that I am, I let him in. He said he was meeting with one of the residents. Only after letting him in did I notice his looks and consequently his actions. On my way home, I stopped at the complex’s office, I mentioned it. I should have realized he was the first unclean looking person I had ever encountered on the property. You need a solid income to live here. My neighbor told me hours later that the dude was bad news.
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p>There’s just one problem with the thrust of your argument: Henry Louis Gates Jr. isn’t just a ‘black professor’ at Harvard, rather he’s the preeminent scholar on race, racism and race relations, African-American and African studies and literature as well as the HEAD of the preeminent academic department in these areas
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p>So, if you go looking for data to support exactly how far we’ve come since the Civil War (never mind the Civil Rights Act…) You’ll be hard pressed to come up with anything that isn’t completely covered with Skip Gates’ fingerprints. If you had to pick the most ironic victim of racial profiling, it’s be Skip Gates.
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p>Your bluster against Skip Gates blinds you to the fact that he’s one of your more valuable allies in the fight against discrimination.
Here we go. This just got elevated to the highest level it could have gotten to, and now we’re in for it. This ain’t going away any time soon now, and we’re all going to have to hear the incessant hand-wringing over this whole situation.
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p>Of course, having the Sox tanking right now is NOT helping. August needs to come FAST.
… I would get the Mayor to walk up to Professor Gates’ front door and personally issue an on-camera apology.
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Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons
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p>Maybe we can even get the governor to make the trip with her.
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p>The mayor is primarily a ceremonial role under Cambridge’s system of government. They are indirectly elected (by the City Council), control a small budget for their office and nothing more, and only exercise special power through an ex officio seat on the School Committee.
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p>So if anyone is going to make apologies on behalf of the City for the behavior of its Police Department, Healy should be at the front of the delegation.
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p>As for a lawsuit, it sounds to me like the professor has an excellent cause of action, and might well win a substantial settlement. Even better, lots of lawyers would probably be willing to take the case on contingency for the publicity and the potential payout — especially in this economy. He could do a lot of good with the money. Reason enough for most people to sue.
Hah — Bob, he’s a Harvard professor! He’ll have the entire Harvard Law faculty with him, pro bono.
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p>Anyway, he’s got tenure. He doesn’t need the money. And he’s got the advantage now, but he’ll lose it as soon as he sues.
I don’t think he’ll lose sympathy by suing if the city and police department try to adopt the line that the arrest was justified. That line will agitate a lot of people, given the facts of this case. I know they have issued a joint statement, but Crowley’s subsequent statements, supported it appears by the police union, appear to be backing away from that.
…sometimes the head of state has more value than the head of government.
I’m pretty sure Ford got locked out of the White House once. Thankfully he didn’t try to break back in (which probably would have just resulted in a literal addition of injury to insult) but called security.
that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was being an arrogant jerk? Isn’t that a possible explanation? I don’t know him, but in my experience a lot of famous people (white, black or whatever) can be incredible pains in the ass to deal with. If some cop came to my door investigating a neighbor’s complaint, I would greet him warmly, answer every question he asked, thank him for the quick response, and say goodbye. Who knows what happened? It seems like every comment I hear, including two from people I have the utmost respect for (Patrick and Obama) has pre-judged the cop.
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p>Don’t get me wrong, I am also aware that cops can be arrogant (and racist) too. And I recognize that the profiling part (an assumption that a black man is more likely to be the perpetrator of a crime) could push a man to the breaking point. We just don’t know enough (yet) to decide if “the cop was stupid” or if Gates gave the cop no alternative but to lock him up. Once again, I’m not defending bad behavior by cops, but I don’t think people consider how hard it is to cope with someone who is out of control when your job is to be the keeper of the peace. No one is above the law. If the police officer gave Mr.Gates a little room to be angry, or difficult, and Gates just kept going (if that’s the way it went down) then the arrest was justified. It doesn’t matter if he was King of Siam.
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p>Frankly, the profiler here might have been the old woman who called the cops. Are we going to condemn her also?
The point is that words alone don’t justify the arrest of an innocent senior citizen for disorderly conduct, especially in his own home.
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p>That’s unprofessional behavior by the police.
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p>As to the woman, who blames her? If she continued to assert that Gates was a burglar after she knew it was his own home that would be different.
How about a screaming, out of control guy hurling accusations at a cop who, maybe, was just doing his job? Fairdeal nails it in a comment to your front page post, following this one.
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p>The bottom line is: You yell at a cop, call him racist in front of a crowd, refuse to calm down, you get arrested. It has to be that way. I want it to be that way. Otherwise, we’re all screwed.
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p>Gates may be frustrated and angry by the racist treatment he has experienced his entire life. Hell, he’d be crazy if he wasn’t pissed off. But the cop was DOING HIS JOB. He didn’t initiate the call. He didn’t target Gates. Even if the cop sneered and called him “boy”, Gates was stupid to sign up for “Arrest 101”. He would have served himself and the entire community better if he didn’t put on the show. Maybe go after the cop later. If he is a racist, he’s probably left a trail behind him.
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p>It is hard not to see the net effect of all of this as a negative. There are stereotypes being reinforced here that are all bad. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
The alleged crime carries with it only a fine as a punishment. All Sgt. Crowley had to do was to write a citation to Gates and put it in his mailbox or on his table. He then should have left. But instead, he arrests the late middle aged prof from his own house. It is the exercise of the raw power of arrest that stinks here. You should not be arrested for any offense that carries a 150 dollar fine. The officer should have known that.
And, unfortunately for your world view, there’s a little matter of the First Amendment that outlaws arrest for political speech. Otherwise, friend, we’re all screwed.
…which delineates that people are secure in their possession and in their homes That stinks too…
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p>Yes.
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p>But we know enough to say that a person should not be arrested in his own home if no crime was committed. The Constitution requires this much. Arrogance is not a crime. Yelling at an officer in your own home is not a crime. When only the police possess a monopoly on violence (and the ability to take away your liberty), I expect them to abide by the law despite difficult circumstances. The arrest here was without justification, and Gates’ arrogance is besides the point.
Alot of people have made up their minds the police are at fault without any facts out yet. Even the President who says he’s baised. Obama made a judgement with no facts out. What kind of leader is that! Now if the facts come out that the police were the right then Obama will look stupid. So i think this story will be silenced after the facts come out that the police were in the right. Just like the black college professor who said someone hung a noose on her classroom door. Big Story until it was found out it was herself that did it.
which itself is not entirely credible, the arrest is still not justified.
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p>You don’t have to have perfect information to call out an abuse of power and violation of rights.
Ridiculous. That incident is nothing like this one. Do you think it will turn out that Gates was not actually in his own house?
From a political standpoint it makes him look less like a tempered leader and more like a partisan in a fight he has nothing to do with. I think the best way to examine the situation especially considering that one of the officer’s was black is to remove race from the consideration and just see if the police followed proper procedure-I would contend that they did up until the moment when they arrested Gates. A police officer should not have gotten that angry but should have simply written a citation or issued a verbal warning and gone on his way-I visited the Chicago Police Academy yesterday as part of my job and every officer to a man there said it was just an example of poor policing to arrest a man-that this is a last resort they would not resort to. They said the proper response to verbal harassment is to first warn the offender that if he continues he could be facing x charge and after a second time warn him again. if he continues to put himself in an arrestable offense by not dropping it then you go in for an arrest.
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p>For instance if you refuse to accept a ticket for a traffic violation and move on three times you will be arrested since its against the law in IL to disobey the verbal commands of a police officer-which might be the case in Cambridge. But Officer Crowley should have issued explicit verbal commands with those warnings in a calm manner and calmed Prof. Gates down. This way they both lose. If Gates sues they will lose even more.