POTUS Weighs in on Harvard Prof Arrest

abc_123 · 07-22-2009, 21:03

Man, now the POTUS is trying to take over Jesse Jackson's job too... Big government has no limits!!!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...est=latestnews

Obama Says Police Acted 'Stupidly' in Harvard Professor's Arrest

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that police acted "stupidly" in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and that despite racial progress blacks and Hispanics are still singled out unfairly for arrest.

"This still haunts us," Obama said.

Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn't know all the facts of the case. Nonetheless, Obama said, anyone would have been angry if treated the way Gates claims police in Cambridge, Mass., treated him. Gates, a Harvard University professor, claims he was arrested in his home after showing ID to police who responded to a report of a possible burglary.

"Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home," Obama said during a prime-time news conference that otherwise focused on the health care debate.

Gates' arrest followed a report of a possible burglary. A woman apparently saw Gates force the front door and called police. Police came and demanded that Gates show identification. Gates was arrested shortly afterward for alleged disorderly conduct, a charge that was dropped Tuesday.

"What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately," Obama said. "That's just a fact."

That disparity is a reminder that "race remains a factor in the society," Obama said.

The nation's first black president held himself up as testament to what he called the "incredible progress" minorities have achieved.

The police sergeant accused of racism after he arrested Gates insisted Wednesday that he won't apologize.

Police say Gates at first refused to display ID and then accused the officer of racism.

Sgt. James Crowley said he followed proper procedures in arresting Gates.

Standing in the stately East Room of the White House where he now lives, Obama allowed some humor into the discussion.

Obama ticked off the reported facts of the Gates case -- starting with Gates apparently forgetting his keys and jimmying the door. Police responded appropriately at first, Obama said.

"I mean, if I was trying to jigger into ...," Obama began, and then trailed off as reporters laughed. Obama laughed, too. "Well, I guess this is my house now so it probably wouldn't happen."

Obama said he could understand police responding in good faith if he was forcing his way into his old house in Chicago.

"Here I'd get shot," he joked.

Guy · 07-22-2009, 21:55

I'll bet anyone a $1k that what actually happened was:

"Because of his position and/or status @ Harvard he thought--I'm above the law!" I've been in enough situations w/LEOs that if! You followed their directions during an incident, getting arrested can be avoided.

Stay safe.

abc_123 · 07-22-2009, 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guy

I'll bet anyone a $1k that what actually happened was:

"Because of his position and/or status @ Harvard he thought--I'm above the law!" I've been in enough situations w/LEOs that if! You followed their directions during an incident, getting arrested can be avoided.

Stay safe.

You know that's what happened. The cops just got tired of listening to his shit so they curffed him and threw him in the back of the car. And so, why does the POTUS feel the need to fan the bullshit? Nevermind... I know the answer. h

With that said, I just can't help but be impressed with the POTUS beating Jesse and Al to the draw on this... He's good. I need to keep a Pro-Timer ready for next time.

incarcerated · 07-22-2009, 23:09

While arrogance and pomposity are quite rare among university professors…

...failure to comply will get you detained.
CNN leads the rush to judgment and works to create the next Rodney King:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/22/gates.arrest.reaction/

The 'unfathomable' arrest of a black scholar

updated 2:07 p.m. EDT, Wed July 22, 2009
By Wayne Drash
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Boris Kodjoe owns a mansion in Atlanta. But when he goes to answer his door, the black actor knows what it's like to be an outcast.
"When I'm opening the door of my own house, someone will ask me where the man of the house is, implying that I'm staff," said Kodjoe, best known for starring in Showtime's "Soul Food."
It's a feeling some African-Americans say is all too common, even to this day in America: No matter your status or prominence in society, you're still typecast. That's why the recent arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's most prominent African-American scholars, has stirred outrage and debate.
Jelani Cobb, an author and professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, says it's troubling on many levels when "one of the most recognizable African-Americans in the country can be arrested in his own home and have to justify being in his own home."
"It's really kind of unfathomable," Cobb said. "If it can happen to him, yeah, it can happen to any of us."
That's a sentiment echoed by Jimi Izrael. "If a mild-mannered, bespectacled Ivy League professor who walks with a cane can be pulled from his own home and arrested on a minor charge, the rest of us don't stand a chance," Izrael wrote Tuesday on The Root, an online magazine with commentary from a variety of black perspectives that's co-founded by Gates.
"We all fit a description. We are all suspects."
In an interview with The Root, Gates said he was outraged by the incident and hopes to use the experience as a teaching tool, including a possible PBS special on racial profiling….
Gates had just returned from a trip to China when a police officer responded to a call about a potential break-in at his home that was phoned in by a white woman. According to the police report, Gates was in the foyer when the officer arrived.
The officer asked Gates to "step out onto the porch and speak with me," the report says. "[Gates] replied, 'No, I will not.' He then demanded to know who I was. I told him that I was 'Sgt. Crowley from the Cambridge Police' and that I was 'investigating a report of a break in progress' at the residence.
"While I was making this statement, Gates opened the front door and exclaimed, 'Why, because I'm a black man in America?' "
According to the report, Gates initially refused to show the officer his identification, instead asking for the officer's ID. But Gates eventually did show the officer his identification that included his home address.
"The police report says I was engaged in loud and tumultuous behavior. That's a joke," Gates told The Root. "It escalated as follows: I kept saying to him, 'What is your name, and what is your badge number?' and he refused to respond. I asked him three times, and he refused to respond. And then I said, 'You're not responding because I'm a black man, and you're a white officer.'"
Known as Skip by friends and colleagues, Gates is the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University, and an acclaimed PBS documentarian….
Kim Coleman, a Washington radio host, cultural commentator and blogger, said she grew numb when she saw the mugshot.
"I was not prepared for that," she said. "To see one of my heroes in a mugshot was not something that I was expecting. ... It just tells me we're not in a post-racial society."…
Rebecca Walker, an award-winning author, said the arrest was devastating to scholars, writers, and artists "who work so hard to keep a free flow of information."
"It seems eerily ironic Mr. Gates was returning from China, where surveillance is so high and freedom of speech and ideas so curtailed," Walker said. "To see the mugshot of Skip was a blow to all of us who feel some sense of safety based on our work to try to mend all of these broken fences in America -- to make ourselves into people who refuse to be limited by race and class and gender and everything else."
"To end up, at the end of the day, treated like a criminal, unjustly stripped of our accomplishments and contributions even if only for a moment, is profoundly disturbing. We must ask ourselves what it means, and to allow ourselves to face various scenarios regarding power and freedom and how these will intersect in the coming years."…
Gates said he has a newfound understanding of exactly what that means. "There's been a very important symbolic change and that is the election of Barack Obama," he told The Root. "But the only black people who truly live in a post-racial world in America all live in a very nice house on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

alright4u · 07-23-2009, 01:17

He refused to follow the officer's directions. And now our POTUS jumps in with both feet. What a jerk. This is the NPR articlce:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...98&ft=1&f=1001

**Pete** · 07-23-2009, 05:52

Officer in Henry Gates flap tried to save Reggie Lewis

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/reg...ome&position=0

A little background on the "rogue cop".

"....Gates, who upon his arrest allegedly bellowed to a gathering crowd on Ware Street, “This is what happens to black men in America!” believes he was targeted by Crowley - whom he called a “rogue” cop - because of his race...."

Once again the press helps to stir stuff up. "Allegedly"? Dude, either he was or he was not. This ain't a court of law. If there was a crowd somebody saw what was going on.

Man, I'm a firm believer in if you're doing something odd and a LEO walks up your first words are "Yes, officer".

And for the "neighbors" - this was in daylight. What kind of "neighbor" who can see the front porch well enough to see what they were doing can not see.... Arrr, I'd of stepped out on the porch with my phone and shouted "Hey, Mr Gates, got a problem?" Wrong reply and hit 911.

JAGO · 07-23-2009, 06:05

Firgue the odds for a quick police response to that address next time there's a report of a problem? Hopefully their CADS flags the address with a warning for the next officer that is dispatched.

**Pete** · 07-23-2009, 06:11

Police report

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/Police%2...s%20arrest.PDF

Interesting.

Richard · 07-23-2009, 06:42

People across the spectrum who know Gates say he is a wholly law-abiding type of guy with a track record of being academically supportive of law enforcement - contrary to many of his peers - and not an agitator sort at all.

Actually - it seems to me as if the media are the ones attempting to keep this pot boiling - must be a slow news day as far as they're concerned - YMMV.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

Quote:

Statement on Behalf of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
-- Charles Ogletree

This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client, friend, and colleague, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is a statement concerning the arrest of Professor Gates. On July 16, 2009, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 58, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor of Harvard University, was headed from Logan airport to his home [in] Cambridge after spending a week in China, where he was filming his new PBS documentary entitled “Faces of America.” Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates’ luggage into his home.

Professor Gates immediately called the Harvard Real Estate office to report the damage to his door and requested that it be repaired immediately. As he was talking to the Harvard Real Estate office on his portable phone in his house, he observed a uniformed officer on his front porch. When Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to step outside. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the officer why he was there. The officer indicated that he was responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this address. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him. Professor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer. Both include Professor Gates’ photograph, and the license includes his address.

Professor Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’ request for this information. After an additional request by Professor Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’ home without ever acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor Gates. As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door, he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification, said to him, “Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,” and then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch.

Professor Gates was taken to the Cambridge Police Station where he remained for approximately 4 hours before being released that evening. Professor Gates’ counsel has been cooperating with the Middlesex District Attorneys Office, and the City of Cambridge, and is hopeful that this matter will be resolved promptly. Professor Gates will not be making any other statements concerning this matter at this time.

http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers...louis-gates-jr

**Pete** · 07-23-2009, 06:53

"This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client......"

Two views of the same situation that do not match. One that he was as nice as pie and the other that he was shouting.

One view in the arrest report and one view from Gates' lawyer.

Seems simple to me. The press knows who made the 911 call and they know she was standing in front of Gates' house. I would think a good reporter would interview her, get the names from her of who else was a witness in the front yard and interview them.

Would be really funny if half said he was nice as pie and the other half said he was shouting.

Utah Bob · 07-23-2009, 07:07

Quote:

Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn't know all the facts of the case. Nonetheless, Obama said, anyone would have been angry if treated the way Gates claims police in Cambridge, Mass., treated him.

Damn the facts, full speed ahead!

swpa19 · 07-23-2009, 07:51

Quote:

Actually - it seems to me as if the media are the ones attempting to keep this pot boiling

In a lot of these similar cases, I give the MSM about as much credibility as the newspapers on display at the check out counters of the local supermarkets.

It seems that responsible and investigative reporting by the MSM has fallen by the wayside. The absolute paramount of importance is ratings not facts.

Richard · 07-23-2009, 08:02

This whole situation sounds as if it should have been resolved quite easily and quickly - but wasn't for whatever reasons - and is now beginning to seem as if it would serve as a good script outline for a sequal to the movie Falling Down (Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall).

As for the POTUS - I would think a wise attorney would have just responded with a comment about not having been there but trusting that our legal system would resolve the matter to the benefit of all concerned.

Richard's $.02

SF-TX · 07-23-2009, 10:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Police report

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/Police%2...s%20arrest.PDF

Interesting.

In case you can't open the above link (I could not), the report is also posted here:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive...092gates1.html

Sigaba · 07-23-2009, 11:34

I think it was inappropriate for the president to comment publicly on the event at all.

I wonder about the relationship between Professor Gates and Ms. Whalen. Is she new to the neighborhood? Had the two met?

The discussions at the Cambridge Police Department would be something to observe. They have to worry not only about the incident itself, the president referring to Professor Gates as "a friend of mine," they also have to deal with Charles Ogletree and, potentially, the umbrage of Harvard University.

Is bringing up Reggie Lewis the best move? Not everyone has forgotten how Mr. Lewis was treated when he was house shopping after being drafted by the Celtics. (To this day, you'll come across reports of current Celtics having to give assurances about living in the Boston area to potential team mates.)