Charges on Prof. Gates Jr. dropped (Boston, Lowell: how much, university, quality of life)

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I have enjoyed Dr. Gates on PBS, found his study on DNA research among African Americans fascinating, helping them pinpoint people groups in Africa where their bloodline originated. But I have to agree that every time I see him now, this will tarnish how I think of him, especially if he milks it and goes for a lawsuit.

I completely understand that having the police called on you for breaking into your own residence would be a totally frustrating and unnerving situation. However, any chance meeting I have with any law officer, I know to act with humility and respect, this is only common sense whatever your race, gender, socio-economic class, religion, whatever.

I also understand that as a middle aged white male with all the trappings that come with my standard of living, education, income, etc, etc, I don't fit the historic pattern of one that might be "profiled."

This is one of the most important points you could have made. You don't have to worry about police seeing you as the enemy; you are one of the "good guys,' an acceptable entity. No black male is a "good guy."

However, that still doesn't give my any sense of superiority to rile a law officer who is protecting the community as a whole, who is underpaid for the type of work he or she is doing and who has to deal with a lot of garbage in his or her daily line of work.

Did Gates rile the officer because of what he said, or was the officer riled because Gates was a black man who said what he said?

In the late 80s, my wife and I made a trip from Atlanta to Tampa to visit dear friends. This was before cell phones were as common as today and only gave our hosts a time frame of when we would be arriving. Our hostess told us she would leave the front door unlocked if we arrived and she wasn't there. She did run to the store and was gone when we arrived and as was her habit, absent mindedly set her house alarm. When we arrived and opened the door as she told, the sirens were blazing. Knowing the police would arrive (and they did) my wife found their wedding album with pictures of us in the wedding party to stave off any accusations of us breaking and entering. When the police did arrive, we were apologetic as we could be and offered our proof.

Your whiteness, again, was a factor here. I doubt that I would have been treated with the same equanimity or understanding by the police, even if I had shown them the exact same demeanor as you did.

I realize this was not my own home and we were expecting the police, but I bring this story that any citizen should always act with respect and humility with law officers.

I agree. But personal experience has shown me that respect and humility is often not enough.

Two more quick points: Interesting to note that the officer in the forefront of the picture I just saw of Gates' arrest on msn.com is African American.

And?

My other point, and I should probably bite my tongue on this one, but I thought that us southerners had the backwards society where racial issues clouded everything and you northeasterners were beyond anything like this. At least that is the impression one gets from many of the threads on this site.

Sorry, couldn't resist that last one one.

That's why we always called Boston and its environs "Up South."

[bnepler]

This guy had a possible break-in before. Shame on him if he wants speedy service when a real intrusion happens to him. I seem to remember a certain black congresswoman having a similar problem not being recognized by a security person, also slapping him, the arrogance of the "so-called elite" people is coming forward. He should called his buddy, the big "O", when the next break-in happens instead of the police!!

[clevedark]

Originally Posted by miu

And you'd probably think differently if you were a cop or a person who has had a dwelling or car broken into by thieves!!

Well, I've had both done to me and I still will point to the possibility that cops act unjustly and unfairly to ALL kinds of people.

I find it hard to believe that, for example, there isn't any "town and gown" tension between the local police and Harvard students and faculty regardless of race.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by clevedark

Well, I've had both done to me and I still will point to the possibility that cops act unjustly and unfairly to ALL kinds of people.

I find it hard to believe that, for example, there isn't any "town and gown" tension between the local police and Harvard students and faculty regardless of race.

I respectfully disagree. Almost everytime I have had an encounter with my local police here in Texas and back in Georgia, I have been treated with the utmost courtesy and respect. Only once in Cobb County GA did I have an overzealous cop give me a ticket for no turn signal, but I was in a turn only lane, went to court and the judge agreed with me that it was unwarranted and threw it out. (And my beef with this officer was not the mistake on the ticket, but that he was a general all around jerk during the entire procedure).

Recently I had my hands full helping my kids unload their stuff when I dropped them off at their mother's. My daughter then asked for some money, I absentmindedly set my wallet on the trunk of my car instead of back in my pocket. A good citizen found my wallet in the middle of the street some distance away. My local police were on my doorstep a couple of hours later returning my wallet. I thanked them profusely for going out of their way for me.

Another anecdote to illustrate that you will find what you are looking for. It seems on this thread we have several posters that believe the police are only there to cause trouble, be racist, bully citizens and harass minorities. If that is your mindset,that is all you will see. If you believe that they are fellow citizens that are in a profession that doesn't pay much and put themselves in harms way to make our local society a safer place to live and conduct busines, then that is what you will see.

If Obama was serious in his recent speech that minorities should work just as hard as the majority to overcome racism, that all sides involved should let go of past prejudices (I know I am paraphrasing but this is the general gist of the message in my recollection), then his recent comments on the Prof. Gates situation shows he is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

I totally understand that there have been gross abuses by whites against minorities in the past and that in some cases, these situations continue today. But any study and common sense prevailing will show that fantastic strides have been made from our past. However, if those of you responding here are going to continue to hold on to "I'm a black man and EVERY white man will ALWAYS treat me unfairly (and are a fair sampling of the attitudes of most African Americans) then we will never, ever make any progress as a nation in this arena.

[LazyT]

Originally Posted by miu

So much for Obama having a law degree... but wait, he's just doing a favour for an old friend by trying to influence the public with a statement like that.

OTaxya will probably make Gates a policy czar by August, like has done with many of his buddies.

[missionhill]

Had he been white, Prof Gates probably would not have been arrested because he would not have gotten as angry as the actual Prof Gates got. Still, there's a big class element in this incident--middle class cop berated by a lauded, celebrity professor; cop gets mad, arrests the professor on a "tumultous behavior" charge. I'm afraid it's Prof Gates who should apologize for making such a scene and then continuing to say it's about race when it's just as much about an offense to his sense of social rank and privilege. Why not be gracious instead? Sorry guys, I over reacted. Let's put it behind us...

By the way, to those who say the neighbor as neighbor should have recognized Prof Gates rather than suspecting a burglary, if you check out Ware Street on Google Earth or something like that you see that his is only one of about three houses on a block that's otherwise apartment buildings and institutions--not the kind of block where neighbors are likely to know one another.

P.S.-- I love Skip Gates's PBS shows and his New Yorker Mag pieces. Scholarly he may be, but he comes across as relaxed, funny, and unpretentious--except in this case!

[KRISTINsf]

Some people here keep using the "this is not about race" card. But sadly, it is and in your face.

We now know this policeman a little bit better. His station in life is what it is. The Harvard professor's station was a bit more elevated so the question of class comes into focus also.

Analyzing these events demonstrates that no matter how esteemed a person's station is, racists can and will play the race card first and foremost. Above whatever station you may occupy.

The latest we heard in the news is that this cop will not apologize because he feels that he is in the right and has done nothing wrong. Was it because he didn't humiliate and falsely arrest a pompous Harvard professor? Or was it because he was a pompous ::Black:: Harvard professor? It's apparent there's a big difference.

Some say Obama shouldn't get involved, that he made a fool of himself. But Obama knows that if this happened to an esteemed, renowned Harvard professor who happens to be Black, could it also happen to him, being Black also?

Well Obama did get involved and now I hate to say it but he misjudged how unimportant his office really is. After he came on the news and said what he did in support of the professor, the cop has dug in and said he would not apologize no matter that the president himself, of the United States of America, the leader of the free world, the supreme commander of the most powerful nation on earth, couldn't get a lower level cop to stand down. Now that is sad.

I wonder how this will play in the international scene who no doubt are having a field day with it. It's a joke. When he tries to get firm with North Korea? Or Iran? They'll snicker in his face. People's Republic Of China? Faggeddaboudit! The Arab world? Hah!

They'll say, Mr. Obama, you're not addressing a cop on the beat. Now you are talking to a head of state. You couldn't deal with him and no way are you gonna deal with us!

For those who want us to support our cops, will you support your commander-in-chief, no matter his color? This is not about domestic squabbles any more. It's about closing ranks and international implications. Some could argue that this incident would be adjudged treason.

[Lucario]

[quote=missionhill;9908459]

Had he been white, Prof Gates probably would not have been arrested because he would not have gotten as angry as the actual Prof Gates got. Still, there's a big class element in this incident--middle class cop berated by a lauded, celebrity professor; cop gets mad, arrests the professor on a "tumultous behavior" charge. I'm afraid it's Prof Gates who should apologize for making such a scene and then continuing to say it's about race when it's just as much about an offense to his sense of social rank and privilege. Why not be gracious instead? Sorry guys, I over reacted. Let's put it behind us...

It is quite possible that I could agree with you. Gates did berate the cop and "pull rank" to some extent. He actually might come out looking like the bigger man. I can't quite pull the trigger though (so to speak) because I still don't know what (if anything) the Sgt. did to make Gates react the way he did.

[Jimrob1]

I don't know all that transpired with this case, I guess it got out of hand. I would be grateful though, that I had a neighbor that called the police and the police promptly arrived. After that I would guess some work needs to be done on how situations such as that are handled.

The police had no idea if that was the owner or a burglar. So some type of education and research on situations such as that need to be studied.

I will say where I live in Portland, Oregon, I seriously doubt anyone would have called the police. So Cambridge you can consider yourselves lucky, at least the neighbors care enough to call the police. They just need to work on how the situations are handled. Thankfully no one was hurt.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by KRISTINsf

Well Obama did get involved and now I hate to say it but he misjudged how unimportant his office really is. After he came on the news and said what he did in support of the professor, the cop has dug in and said he would not apologize no matter that the president himself, of the United States of America, the leader of the free world, the supreme commander of the most powerful nation on earth, couldn't get a lower level cop to stand down. Now that is sad.

Had the cop been a cop in the People's Republic of China, he would have been forced to issue an apology not just to Professor Gates but to President Obama as well by the police department and if he still said no, the cop himself would have been arrested, detained, subject to lengthy interrogations, questioned about his political views, charged with treason or at least insolence, and possibly banished to a "reform" camp to reeducate his mind. No one dares to go against the president.

Oh wait, we are in the United States of America . The president is not the supreme figure of the nation here. Great, just great . I fear that President Obama opened a can of worms with his remarks and I hope he has a way to salvage any political damage that will come out of this.

Obama's comments remind me of some stupid comments made by President Nixon about Charles Manson back in '69. He reportedly mentioned Manson as a sadistic psychopath WHILE Manson's trial was going on. Manson's lawyer then tried to get his client acquited on account of the president's big mouth. That was a really close call.