Harvard Professor Jailed; Officer Is Accused of Bias

[del]

Unless he has a history of playing the race card I'd say that his anger at the police got the better of him. I'd probably have reacted in a similar manner.

really? i'd be pretty happy that the cops checked up to make sure everything was okay. from what i have read, the cop wasn't out of line, IMO. maybe gates was just cranky that day, but it seems to me the cop gave him more than one opportunity to calm down, and gates chose not to. fuck with the bull you get the horn

it'd be interesting to hear what the cabbie has to say about the whole thing. i doubt we will, though.

I don't think we will either. The story I read said the cops didn't show up until after the cabbie was gone and Gates was inside his home.

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

 

[Ravi]

really? i'd be pretty happy that the cops checked up to make sure everything was okay. from what i have read, the cop wasn't out of line, IMO. maybe gates was just cranky that day, but it seems to me the cop gave him more than one opportunity to calm down, and gates chose not to. fuck with the bull you get the horn

it'd be interesting to hear what the cabbie has to say about the whole thing. i doubt we will, though.

I don't think we will either. The story I read said the cops didn't show up until after the cabbie was gone and Gates was inside his home.

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

 

[Againsheila]

The wonder here is that the first article I read said it was a "neighbor" that reported the break in. Why doesn't the professor get out and meet his neighbors so that this doesn't happen? Or perhaps, he just doesn't associate with whites?

Haha, nice implication... his fault for not being neighborly, huh?

Love it.

No, but HAD he been more neighborly, it wouldn't have happened.

 

[Valerie]

Why did you jump on the bandwagon?

Huh?

Kick a hog in its ass and it'll say "huh".

That's funny, my father use to say something similar to me in order to get me to be more articulate and verbose. "Kick an old horse in the fanny and you get huh! "



Seems to me the man was overly defensive toward the police officer and he got the same end result that anyone else would have got under the circumstances.

 

[del]

I don't think we will either. The story I read said the cops didn't show up until after the cabbie was gone and Gates was inside his home.

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

if the cop told me that he was investigating a report of a break in at my house?

no, why would i?
it's not as thought the cop just randomly showed up at his house to bust his balls-there was a report of a possible break in and the cop was investigating it. simply asking for my ID doesn't sound that outrageous to me.

 

[Valerie]

I don't think we will either. The story I read said the cops didn't show up until after the cabbie was gone and Gates was inside his home.

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

If one of my neighbors saw me climbing through my bathroom window, which has actually happened , I would be thankful they were watching out for my property and politely explain the situation to the officer who arrived at the scene due to my neighbor's call.

To clarify, my neighbor did not call the police since she recognized it was only me.

Incidentally I had a similar circumstance as a ten year old when a neighbor called the police because I was climbing on the roof of the school. Once I explained to the officer that I was just playing "Swat Team" with my friends I was off the hook for attempted burglary.

 

[Ravi]

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

if the cop told me that he was investigating a report of a break in at my house?

no, why would i?
it's not as thought the cop just randomly showed up at his house to bust his balls-there was a report of a possible break in and the cop was investigating it. simply asking for my ID doesn't sound that outrageous to me.

It's not clear to me that the police told them they were investigating a break in. It sounds from the story posted that they asked him to step outside and show his id.

 

[manifold]

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

If I had just broken open the door in broad daylight I wouldn't be put out at all.

 

[William Joyce]

Sounds like another bs cry of racism.

Do a lot of things sound like that to you...?
What is your evaulation method? Or do you not need one? (because you just 'know')

Yeah... kind of like how blacks always just "know" something is "racism"!

 

[Ravi]

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

If one of my neighbors saw me climbing through my bathroom window, which has actually happened , I would be thankful they were watching out for my property and politely explain the situation to the officer who arrived at the scene due to my neighbor's call.

To clarify, my neighbor did not call the police since she recognized it was only me.

Incidentally I had a similar circumstance as a ten year when a neighbor called the police because I was climbing on the roof of the school. Once I explained to the officer that I was just playing "Swat Team" with my friends I was off the hook for attempted burglary.

I agree but from the story it doesn't sound like the guy knew anyone called the cops on him.

 

[Anguille]

If it were Texas the neighbors could have shot him dead without any real danger of being arrested.

 

[Valerie]

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

If one of my neighbors saw me climbing through my bathroom window, which has actually happened , I would be thankful they were watching out for my property and politely explain the situation to the officer who arrived at the scene due to my neighbor's call.

To clarify, my neighbor did not call the police since she recognized it was only me.

Incidentally I had a similar circumstance as a ten year when a neighbor called the police because I was climbing on the roof of the school. Once I explained to the officer that I was just playing "Swat Team" with my friends I was off the hook for attempted burglary.

I agree but from the story it doesn't sound like the guy knew anyone called the cops on him.

From the article in the OP:

But in the report, Sergeant Crowley said that as he told Professor Gates he was investigating a possible break-in, Professor Gates exclaimed, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” and accused the sergeant of racism.

 

[del]

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

if the cop told me that he was investigating a report of a break in at my house?

no, why would i?
it's not as thought the cop just randomly showed up at his house to bust his balls-there was a report of a possible break in and the cop was investigating it. simply asking for my ID doesn't sound that outrageous to me.

It's not clear to me that the police told them they were investigating a break in. It sounds from the story posted that they asked him to step outside and show his id.

that's not how i read it.
there's really not much point in going around this mulberry bush- gates acted like an asshole, IMO, got taken down to the station house and the charges were subsequently dropped. *shrug*

 

[Anguille]

The more I read about this incident the more I think Gates was trying to get arrested. Nothing like a little street cred to boost enrollment in his African-American history course(s). What a douche.

This is the guy who sympathies with guys who beat up transvestites who give them blow jobs but who has no concept of what it means to come home, find your house broken into, and the police off on the wrong track?

 

[Ravi]

If one of my neighbors saw me climbing through my bathroom window, which has actually happened , I would be thankful they were watching out for my property and politely explain the situation to the officer who arrived at the scene due to my neighbor's call.

To clarify, my neighbor did not call the police since she recognized it was only me.

Incidentally I had a similar circumstance as a ten year when a neighbor called the police because I was climbing on the roof of the school. Once I explained to the officer that I was just playing "Swat Team" with my friends I was off the hook for attempted burglary.

I agree but from the story it doesn't sound like the guy knew anyone called the cops on him.

From the article in the OP:

But in the report, Sergeant Crowley said that as he told Professor Gates he was investigating a possible break-in, Professor Gates exclaimed, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” and accused the sergeant of racism.

Oh, missed that. Still, I can understand where he'd be pissed off. I never willingly open my door to the police.

 

[Anguille]

The more I read about this incident the more I think Gates was trying to get arrested. Nothing like a little street cred to boost enrollment in his African-American history course(s). What a douche.

Yes and yes.

Several points here.

1) Your perception may be right on. Seems like it could have been handled by the professor in a more subtle manner. But it is very possible that getting arrested is almost as good as getting an article published.

2) If you read the article in the Boston Globe, I didn't notice the reporting that the police state that he wouldn't identify himself. But if you read the article in the Seattle Times, :
" According to the police report, Gates initially refused to show identification." Education | Was arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. an act of racism? | Seattle Times Newspaper) (The NYTimes did include this as "He showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card,")

3) Also, it is entirely possible that the professor was simply having an 'Al Sharpton' moment, as he does not have a history, no pun intended, of shouting 'racism.' In fact, this professor was one of those who insists that it is not the total province of blacks to teach and research black history.

4) In summary, the racism aspect appears to be more the direction sought by the paper than the professor.

Gates is also one of those who considers race to be a social construct.
I personally think may have more to do with a class than race. Gates is used to being treated with deference, being a prominent professor and well known intellectual.
The police officer is most likely just a working class guy.

 

[manifold]

The more I read about this incident the more I think Gates was trying to get arrested. Nothing like a little street cred to boost enrollment in his African-American history course(s). What a douche.

This is then guy who sympathies with guys who beat up transvestites who give them blow jobs but who has no concept of what it means to come home, find your house broken into, and the police off on the wrong track?

More incoherent, angry jibberish from an emotional anguille. Ho hum.

 

[Shogun]

I don't think we will either. The story I read said the cops didn't show up until after the cabbie was gone and Gates was inside his home.

you're right, my mistake. i still think the cop was just doing his job and gates overreacted badly.

So if a cop knocks on your door and starts demanding ID you wouldn't be a bit put out?

after having come back from a long trip? fuck no. I'd be glad that I lived in a good neighborhood where my house wuld be less likely to become another burglar statistic.

 

[Anguille]

Let's not forget he was just returning from a long-as-fuck trip from China and had a hard time opening his apartment door... and then a dick of a cop shows up and asks him to prove that he really lives there... Another issue was that according to the Professor, the cop refused to identify himself... I know how dickish cops can be, I myself had a bit of an argument with one about his attitude towards me...

So let's not all just take the cop's side... hm?

The cop refused to ID himself? I guess the name tag and badge didn't help.

My boyfriend and I were harrassed by an off duty cop once. We asked to see ID. That put an end to his misbehavior.

 

[Anguille]

charges have been dropped. assholes come in all colors; gates happens to be a black one. gotta love the"do you know who i am?" aspect of this, though. what a maumauing fuckwit.


"A Cambridge police report described what followed as the police sergeant stood at Gates’s door, demanded identification, and radioed for assistance from Harvard University police when Gates presented him with a Harvard ID. Gates became visibly upset, according to the report, when the officer said he was responding to a report of a break-in. “Why," Gates asked, according to the report, "because I’m a black man in America?’’

“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,’’ the report said. “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.’’

When the officer repeatedly told Gates he would speak with him outside, the normally mild-mannered professor shouted, “Ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside,’’ according to the report.
Gates was arrested after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior’’ toward the officer who questioned him, the report said. He was led away in handcuffs. "

Charges to be dropped against Harvard professor - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

Doesn't surprise me. Black or white, famous people sometimes have an inflated view of their importance.