Arrest of Harvard Professor and Racism/Racial Profiling

[perfeksion]

So this is racism and racial profiling?

I guess we are supposed to overlook the fact that Gates first refused to show his ID and answer if anyone else was in the house. And even when he showed his Harvard ID, it didn't have any address information, so it didn't prove Gates even lived there.

Or maybe the fact that Gates was irate, confrontational, and belligerent right from the start?

Or maybe the fact that when Gates was asked to step out of the house and onto the porch, he replied with something like "I got yo mama on the porch."

Let's overlook the fact that the officer was just doing his job; going into a possible robbery/burglary, not knowing how many people are involved, or if they are armed or dangerous. Heaven forbid he take precautions to protect himself.

Gates deserved to get arrested. If a white person acted like that towards a police officer, not only would they have been arrested and held in jail overnight, but the charges would never have been dropped. Granted, racism and racial profiling DOES happen daily in America, but this is NOT one of those cases.

Sounds like this Affirmative Action Harvard Professor knows that screaming "RACISM" loud enough will get him off the hook for his actions.

As for Obama getting involved and saying the officer "acted stupidly," give me a break. The officer did what he had to do. Gates is the one acting stupidly; yelling at police officers and refusing to comply. It's not like they were asking Gates to do anything out of the ordinary or difficult to do.

I guess Obama doesn't have enough on his plate with the American and Global depressions, North Korea, Iran, Israel, and Health Care issues.

 

[Tigersoap]

Hello Perfeksion,

Contrary to your short introduction, it seems that you haven't spent much time on the SOTT to understand what you're talking about.

Next troll in line please.

 

[Jeremy F Kreuz]

Or maybe the fact that Gates was irate, confrontational, and belligerent right from the start?

Isn't more a case of a not yet enough ponerized police officer not recognising his master psychopath? And in that case another psychopath has to point out: you stupid fool, he is one of my kind, you are supposed to arrest and harress humans, not psychopaths, no matter what color of skin they have.

If a white person acted like that towards a police officer, not only would they have been arrested and held in jail overnight, but the charges would never have been dropped.

change 'white person' in 'human' and you are right on the ball. It is not about black and white, it is about psychopath and not psychopath.

 

[perfeksion]

Hello Tigersoap!

I appreciate your reply and I apologize if you mis-interpreted my post. I do not mean to be a troll.

However, there comes a point where you have to say enough is enough.

Not all police officers in the world today are psychopaths who go around tasering people and arresting them without cause. In this case, I find it an outrage that a police officer who is just doing his job and following precautionary measures gets singled out and harrassed by the public, and especially the President of the United States.

He did nothing wrong, nothing illegal, and did not harm Mr. Gates in anyway except to damage his pride. Mr. Gates acted completely over-the-top considering the situation, and was not arrested because he was black but because he was refusing to do something as simple as show a valid ID that proved he lived there and to answer the police officer if anyone else was in the house. The officer was investigating a break-in report, he can't just assume that Mr. Gates lived there because of an ID that only had his name and a picture, he needed proof that Mr. Gates was who he said he was.

Instead, Mr. Gates decided to refuse this simple request, yell at the police officer and call him names, insult his mother, and otherwise act belligerently. Had Mr. Gates grabbed even a piece of mail to match the name on the Harvard ID to show that it was in fact his residence, the officer would have left and the situation would not have ended the way it did.

 

[PepperFritz]

I appreciate your reply and I apologize if you mis-interpreted my post. I do not mean to be a troll.

TigerSoap interpreted your post as he did because your post has all of the characteristics that we have come to associate with the "trolls" that visit this forum:

(1) a highly emotional inflammatory tone, seemingly with the intent of provoking similar emotional responses from others;

(2) a highly subjective, declarative "This is the way it is!" style of writing that demonstrates a high degree of self-importance;

(3) an assumption that you know the complete facts of the situation due to what you have read in the press, even though you don't present any data to support your point of view, and the reported facts of this case have been highly inconsistent, depending on the source; and

(4) a strong impression that you are here with a specific agenda/beef that you wish to give voice to (rather than an interest in this forum and its work), given that you would choose such an aggressive approach and this particular subject as your introductory thread/post.

 

[Laura]

I do think that Gates was kinda carrying a chip on his shoulder ... that's understandable. And I understand he was in pain and is elderly, so he may not have been thinking clearly. I also understand that the cop was more or less doing his job. But I do NOT think that it should have resulted in the arrest of Mr. Gates. THAT was over the top. The cop should have realized that the guy lived there, that he was elderly, and maybe there were circumstances that needed a little patience and "bedside manner." And since the cop obviously lacked any sensitivity skills, he SHOULD apologize.

That's just what I think based on the reports up to now. It could change with more data.

 

[Renaissance]

Isn't more a case of a not yet enough ponerized police officer not recognising his master psychopath? And in that case another psychopath has to point out: you stupid fool, he is one of my kind, you are supposed to arrest and harress humans, not psychopaths, no matter what color of skin they have.

Jeremy, do you have any information on Gates that indicates he is a psychopath?

 

[PepperFritz]

I do think that Gates was kinda carrying a chip on his shoulder ... that's understandable. And I understand he was in pain and is elderly, so he may not have been thinking clearly. I also understand that the cop was more or less doing his job. But I do NOT think that it should have resulted in the arrest of Mr. Gates. THAT was over the top. The cop should have realized that the guy lived there, that he was elderly, and maybe there were circumstances that needed a little patience and "bedside manner." And since the cop obviously lacked any sensitivity skills, he SHOULD apologize.

That's just what I think based on the reports up to now. It could change with more data.

The problem lies in sorting out all of the conflicting reports about what actually happened, what was actually said to whom and by whom and at what point, what documents were produced and when, etc. There are agendas involved on "both sides" that are naturally going to lead to deliberately distorted pictures. But, as you say, none of the circumstances that have been reported to date -- from any source -- would seem to justify the arrest of Gates.

 

[PepperFritz]

Isn't more a case of a not yet enough ponerized police officer not recognising his master psychopath? And in that case another psychopath has to point out: you stupid fool, he is one of my kind, you are supposed to arrest and harress humans, not psychopaths, no matter what color of skin they have.

Jeremy, do you have any information on Gates that indicates he is a psychopath?

Jeremy:

I do not understand what you were trying to express in the above post. You do seem to be suggesting that Gates is a psychopath, and I'm rather baffled by that. Can you please clarify?

 

[perfeksion]

Hello again PepperFritz! And hello to you as well, Laura!

I understand where you are coming from on this PepperFritz. However, while you can do some digging and find other evidence supporting parts of other articles (ones more based in science and tangibles), in one such as this where it is more of an emotional subject matter, there is no other evidence to go on other than what is reported by the media.

Granted there are other sources to look at, and I could quote any number of articles online to support my views on this, but I could just as easily find any number of articles condemning the police officer as well (in fact, far more than ones supporting the officer in question).

That being said, everything I have read over the last several days points to Gates just acting ridiculous given the situation. I was too quick to judge and say he deserved to be arrested, but on the other hand, neither does the officer deserve the condemnation he has received. As far as we know at this point, the officer did not verbally abuse or physically assault Mr. Gates. He simply arrested a man who was not complying with a simple request.

For instance, if you get pulled over for a stolen car while driving, regardless of if it is actually stolen or not, and the cop asks to see your ID and registration to prove the vehicle is yours and you just flat out refuse and go off on him, yelling insults about him and his mother, you are going to get arrested. While if you had just been polite and showed the necessary documentation that the car is yours, you most likely would have been sent on your way without a hassel or incident.

The officer was probably just doing what he felt was necessary to protect himself in a possible break-in/robbery situation. The officer did not know Mr. Gates lived there, if there were other people in the house, or if any of the possible suspects were armed or dangerous.

It could have been far worse. The officer could have easily been a psychopath who decided to taze Mr. Gates into submission, or even pulled his gun on him.

All in all, this is not a case of racism or racial profiling, and I find it completely ridiculous that it is even considered as such, given the circumstances.

 

[Beau]

One thing that hasn't been pointed out is that it was the guy's neighbors who called the cops on him. You'd have to be really solitary for your neighbors to not know you live at the house you are trying to get into. The story goes that when he arrived home from China, the lock on his door was tampered with so he and his cab driver apparently pushed the door in. The cynical mind might think that if a white person were doing the same thing the results may not have been the same.

 

[Beau]

Perfeksion, here is one description of the incident which should change your mind about how much the guy "deserved" to get arrested:

Gates's home is owned by Harvard so he picked up the phone to call the university's real estate maintenance office. Before he could finish the conversation, a police officer was standing on his porch and asking him to come out of the house.

"Instinctively, I knew I was not to step outside," Gates said, describing the officer's tone as threatening. Gates said the policeman, who was in his 30s and several inches taller than him, followed him into his kitchen where Gates retrieved his identification.

"I was thinking, this is ridiculous, but I'm going to show him my ID, and this guy is going to get out of my house," Gates said. "This guy had this whole narrative in his head. Black guy breaking and entering."

After handing the officer both his Harvard and Massachusetts state identification, which included his address, Gates said he began to ask the officer this question, repeatedly. "I said 'Who are you? I want your name and badge number.' I got angry."

Obviously, once the policeman realized who he was and that he lived there, he should have apologized and left.

And who can really blame him for getting upset and being emotional. We are not perfect beings, and like a wise man once said, it's hard enough just living life, but add to that being black, it just adds that little edge to everything. With all the pressure that most Americans are living under, I find it rather harsh and totally unreasonable that you would suggest he deserved to get arrested. By the way, all charges against him were dropped.

 

[perfeksion]

Hello Pinkerton!

Could you let me know where you found the article stating Mr. Gates showed his Massachusetts ID, please? There has been no previous mention of this that I have heard of, and it sounds almost like that is Gate's version of the story.

Here is the official police report filed by Sgt. Crowley with no mention of seeing any ID other than the Harvard ID, and going a little more in depth as to the actions of Mr. Gates.

__http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

Also, this report states a fellow officer who arrived on the scene (who happens to be black) agrees 100% with how Sgt. Crowley handled the situation. Obama also nearly apologizes for his remark (and mentions that Mr. Gates is a personal friend of the President):

__http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32122967/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity

 

[Beau]

From here - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072101771.html?nav=rss_email/components

 

[Beau]

Here is the official police report filed by Sgt. Crowley with no mention of seeing any ID other than the Harvard ID, and going a little more in depth as to the actions of Mr. Gates.

__http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

Also, this report states a fellow officer who arrived on the scene (who happens to be black) agrees with how Sgt. Crowley handled the situation. Obama also nearly apologizes for his remark:

__http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32122967/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity

We shouldn't be surprised that the officer's and Mr. Gates' reports on the incident differ, as well as that another cop backs Sgt. Crowley's actions. Those are both common occurrences in situations like these.