Comments on: Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested For Being “A Black Man in America”

By: canna

canna — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:06:22 +0000

Yong Li was a senior software engineer in Raytheon's Marlborough facility. She was constantly harassed by her managers, so that she was worried about her own safety. When she reported to HR about her concern, Raytheon, through company counselor John Didio, interrogated her "do you want to kill someone?" As a result, she was traumatized and became long term disabled ...

http://livraytheon.blogspot.com/

By: mrbucket

mrbucket — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:22:37 +0000

Afrofresh-

When an investigation is going on, and police are trying to control the situation, they are not required to give any information until the situation is under control. Lets all try to keep with the facts in this case.

By: mrbucket

mrbucket — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:46:21 +0000

Gates never showed his Drivers License for proof of residency, only his Harvard ID card. While officers were trying to figure out the situation and make sure he was SUPPOSED to be there, Gates berated the officers and calling them racists. When a person becomes aggressive, either physically or verbally, officers are trained to defuse the situation with restraint for the persons safety and theirs. This is very common.

BTW. The Officer Crowley is a decorated officer, teaches anti-profiling classes for the police dept hand chosen by a black superior officer to do so, tried to revive a black athlete (Reggie Lewis)

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/...

The police dept is backing him completely. Maybe its time for blacks and other minorities to follow the rules when confronted with questions from a police officer? You want to stop racism? Look deeper into your own world and stop the stereotypes yourself. If I knew I was such a target for the Police, and knowing that black people are blamed for 60% of the crime in america, why would I continue to act like an uneducated thug, carry weapons, carry drugs? Stop the cycle yourself. White people are not really the problem anymore.

By: afrofresh

afrofresh — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:01:49 +0000

The news and the people took this too far. first of all I would expect the cops to be called if anyone seems like thier about to kick a door in. No matter if your the pope or mother tarresa. Once mr Gates has proven that it's his house, then the cops should have left the area, and mr Gates should have thanked them for keeping the hood safe. However if mr gates decided to use his Black vito card and asked the officer his name and badge #, then the officer should have presented that since that is our citizen rights to ask for that. So i would have said both parties mr.Gates and the officer need good slap in the face to keep thier sh*ti anger under control…….

But hey that's my opinion.

By: remorse

remorse — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:32:29 +0000

I don't know for sure the specifics of this event, so I'm not inclined to make a judgement. I do know, however, that right or wrong you are a fool to overreact or get belligerent with the police in any circumstances. The place to resolve a dispute is in court, not in the street. Otherwise, you will lose everytime, and you may lose a lot. And whatever right you had on your side is quickly trumped by being too foolish to know this truth.
I remember being outside a bar and watching in a crowd while several cops were using hard force to get a man into their paddy wagon – he was kicking and screaming and they were working him pretty good. I said to my friend on the right who was watching with me, “Police brutality.” I said that very softly, I was astonished that anyone other than my friend could hear, but in two seconds I had a cop in front sticking a club in front of my face yelling at me “You want to go with him?”
Cops don't stand for ANYONE, white or black, trying to take control of a situation. It's too dangerous.

By: jwest

jwest — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:42:18 +0000

Marthajane,

Hopefully, the prison population reflects the proportions of who is committing crimes.

And yes, I believe we are living in a post racial society. Not only can we elect a black President, he can drink from the same water fountains and eat at the same lunch counters.

The only thing that is still off limits is private school for poor inner city kids – and that is because Obama and the Democrats in congress don’t want these kids to get an education if it comes from anyone other than the teacher’s union.

As a liberal, Marthajane, how can you look at yourself in the mirror knowing you’re a party to condemning black children to a life of ignorance, crime and poverty?

Hang your head in shame, woman.

By: casualobserver

casualobserver — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:54:12 +0000

roro, please post your phone number before you leave……..:)”

Ummm…not sure what that's supposed to mean. ? (But I'm a cute white woman) Are you cyber flirting?

No, I simply wanted to explore methods to achieve “bi-partisanship”

By: marthajane

marthajane — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:43:28 +0000

"but the lure of reenacting a civil rights battle from 40 years ago was just too much for him to pass up."
You state this as if we are in a post racial society where numbers of inmates are statistically representative to the nation's population. We may have a black president but look at the rest of the governing bodies:

Men and Women in the 111th Congress
While the partisan composition of the Congress is fairly close to that of the electorate, there are larger disparities between the Congress and the general citizenry in term of sex and race. In the House, there are currently 360 men and 75 women. In the Senate, there are 17 women and 83 men.

Racial Composition of the 110th Congress
House:
African American 42
American Indian 1
Asian 8
Caucasian 461
Hispanic 26
Pacific Islander 1
Vietnamese 1

Senate:
African American 1
Asian 2
Caucasian 95
Hispanic 2

Do the math sir.

By: jwest

jwest — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:03:14 +0000

Just to stay true to form……..

I’d still be beating this mouthy chump with my nightstick because of his attitude.

But, like I said. That’s just me.

By: SDUPoliticsdotcom

SDUPoliticsdotcom — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:55:17 +0000

From the details of the report, there isn't enough information as to who's word is closer to the truth–that of Gates or the police. Either way, I trust that the judicial system will get to the bottom of the issue and penalize whichever party was in the wrong. The important fact is that this story was in the news with a slant that favored Gates. Perhaps we are closer to achieving equality.

-Politics.com intern

By: roro80

roro80 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:52:30 +0000

Also:

“Liberals WIN!!”

Or, maybe –just maybe — there was no reason to arrest the guy in the first place. You know, 'cause he was at his own house.

By: roro80

roro80 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:30:19 +0000

“roro, please post your phone number before you leave……..:)”

Ummm…not sure what that's supposed to mean. ?

By: casualobserver

casualobserver — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:11:45 +0000

This just in……………charges dropped……….Liberals WIN!! Liberals WIN!!

Take the rest of the day off and celebrate………….we'll try not to miss you.

roro, please post your phone number before you leave……..:)

By: roro80

roro80 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:48:54 +0000

Holy cow, I've missed quite a discussion since yesterday!

Look, it's extremely common for black people to be unduly harassed by police officers. Extremeley common, historically and presently. When something happens that often, eventually it's going to happen to someone who not only knows the history of such things, but has both the education, clout, and attitude not to take it lying down. It's a numbers game. Even if in this case the harassment was not race-based (what was it based on? well dressed guy entering his own home in the middle of the day? where's the suspicious behavior there?), if the cops weren't so hell-bent on harassing black people *in general*, then maybe that wouldn't even come up as a possibility.

I know I have been in similar situations, where I got mouthy with a cop because he was being a jerk, and I can only imagine if I had been in my own home when it happened. But I'm a cute white woman, and so I did not get arrested. Who do you call to get a trespasser out of your home when the trespasser is a cop? Yes, I'd get upset! And yes, I can imagine shouting something to the nosy neighbors gathered to watch.

By: crosspit

crosspit — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:12:56 +0000

Wow. I can't believe some of the comments on this. I had a policeman stop me on my own street. I was turning into my own driveway. I didn't know that it was illegal to have 2 licence plates on my car (stupid and uninformed, yes; criminal, no). The old one was in place with rusted out screws that had to be drilled out. To avoid driving with out of date plates, I put the new one in the back window. The policeman who approached was as arrogant as they always are. (I should mention that I am 50 and a slightly dumpy, white middle-class female in a middle class neighborhood.) It annoyed me that he was talking to me in that you are a criminal, bow down to me because I have a badge attitude. I got really annoyed and had an attitude just because he was being so rude in my own driveway. He was clearly showing off his power to a new recruit, who looked uncomfortable through the entire encounter. Why should I show respect to a policeman who can't even be bothered to approach me in a polite, professional manner? God only knows how that policeman approached Gates, a dangerous black man. If I were Gates, I'd be shouting too. I'd be willing to bet he was just annoyed until after he showed PERFECTLY ADEQUATE ID to the policeman. AND the policeman had no business not immediately apologizing for bothering a private citizen in his own home. The whole incident is absolutely a case of racial stereotyping and I don't blame Gates one bit for going ballistic. I hope the officer gets a major blackmark and demotion: he deserves it.

By: BidEdsBlog

BidEdsBlog — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:58:47 +0000

Let’s see if I’ve got this right. You are seen breaking into your front door in the middle of the night, and when the police arrive you decide to be an a-hole. Well guess what? You get what you deserve no matter what color your skin is.
Read my take on it and stick around for more good content.
http://libertarianhumor.com/2009/07/21/gates/

By: bbb24

bbb24 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:25:05 +0000

Here's a link to the police report which includes the supplemental report.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/polic...

By: bbb24

bbb24 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Gates is full of it because it appears that a non-white cop witnessed the entire thing & filed a supplemental police report.

By: DaGoat

DaGoat — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:42:25 +0000

I am late to the discussion here, but it seems like there aren't enough facts provided to make much of a judgment one way or the other. The link to the police report won't work for me so maybe I'm missing something but it seems like people are taking sides here based on their pre-disposition rather than any real evidence.

By: AustinRoth

AustinRoth — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:31:21 +0000

Kathy -

Do know what you actually write, or do you just write it in a blind rage? You very first comment was "the racist police officer who arrested Prof. Gates". Where is the ambiguity in that? Please show where int this thread, prior to you FINALLY saying "racism is the most likely answer" you made any comment other than racism WAS the answer.

I was the one that said there could be non-racism based answers, and gave two different scenarios, and never said either was the answer, only possibilities. I also am the one that agreed that racism could be the issue. In short, I was the one open to the possibility of multiple different answers to the question of why this happened, not you.

We don't agree on a lot, but at least be honest in your arguments. No one likes a liar.