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"I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it," Powell said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal.
"I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' "
I think the above about sums up what should've happened in this case. This interview also offered more insight into life as a black man even an extremely successful one. You're assumed to be the "help" even when you're National Security Advisor. This unfortunately happens regularly. Hopefully the Gates situation, where both men involved deserve fault will open more eyes to the issue.
Powell is in the dessert of politcis since no party really wants him now.
By "dessert", I guess you mean, a place where he can idependently give truthful assessments of happenings without pandering to a political ideology. I think I'd like the "dessert".
"I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it," Powell said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal.
"I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' "
I think the above about sums up what should've happened in this case. This interview also offered more insight into life as a black man even an extremely successful one. You're assumed to be the "help" even when you're National Security Advisor. This unfortunately happens regularly. Hopefully the Gates situation, where both men involved deserve fault will open more eyes to the issue.
But why did you leave out these other Powell quotes from the same interview?
Quote:
Retired Gen. Colin Powell weighed in Tuesday on the controversial arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., chiding his friend for not cooperating with the cops. "When you're faced with an officer trying to do his job and get to the bottom of something, this is not the time to get in an argument with him," Powell told CNN's "Larry King Live."
"I was taught that as a child. You don't argue with a police officer."
"I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it," Powell said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal."
and this from me:
"Hopefully the Gates situation, where both men involved deserve fault will open more eyes to the issue."
Sorry they weren't enough for you. Either way, Powell has added even more context to this issue. Maybe some will actually acknowledge that racial profiling exists even if it may not have occured in this situation.
Yeah, I saw the Larry King thing last night also. Powell also mentioned how he was stopped at the airport because someone thought there was no way a black man could be sec. of state when it was obvious to most people he was who he said he was.
Maybe some will actually acknowledge that racial profiling exists even if it may not have occured in this situation.
Profiling is alive and well... so what? How about all the profiling of those that are Muslim or Middle Eastern descent that went on after 9-11? Do you have any objection to that?
The police are just trying to do their jobs efficiently. And part of what they go on when dealing with a crime is the descriptions that are given to them by the victims and witnesses of the incident.
And in terms of NOT arguing with an officer and sorting it out later, that makes sense to me. And it also makes sense to me that in the majority of situations, the police presence is greatly outnumbered by the regular civilians on the streets. And because of that, they are keen to keep those citizens orderly and respectful towards them at all times. Arguing just makes the whole process more drawn out, and not only that it's really up to a judge to determine the final outcome, not the police officers.
And if the police are stricter on those who live in poorer neighborhoods, it's because they have a history of mob violence since they have nothing to lose. Consider the Rodney King incident or the violence in Oakland when a young man got shot by the BART police. And the black rioters even trashed the storefronts of black owned businesses. Act like savages, get treated like savages.
And yes, I agree that there are bad cops. But some of that blame should be aimed at the dreadful people that they've had to deal with all of their careers. The thing is, cops are just humans too, and it's unreasonable to expect them to keep to a higher standard of behaviour that you hold the regular citizen too. We just don't pay them enough to have to take this sort of verbal and sometimes physical abuse. I also think that it was wrong for the hippes of the '60's to refer to the police as "pigs". Just as black people hate the "N" word being used about them, cops don't like being stereotyped as power hungry pigs.
Maybe since the black community is being so hypersensitive to racial profiling, imagined or real, we should have police forces for black dominated neighbors that are only black. And when the other police forces are looking for or dealing with a black perp, the investigation has to be turned over to a black police unit.
Police have been well known to be abusive, especially toward blacks for over 80 decades - well before the '60s when there was no mob violence. There is no excuse for over-the-top behavior on the part of policemen, such as in the Rodney King episode or in the NY episode a few years ago where the guy was shot 46 times - and only those were made newsworthy because of videocams; thousands of like behavior has occurred of which the public was not made aware.
A friend of mine who is a policeman admitted to me years ago that he gets rid of his daily strife on the job (beating heads). So this sort of thing goes on all the time - only noticed when they're caught, and even then the department defends them.
Powell also said the policeman should have called it a day as soon as he found out Gates was the occupant but that didn't happen; apparently handcuffs were in order.
Profiling is alive and well... so what? How about all the profiling of those that are Muslim or Middle Eastern descent that went on after 9-11? Do you have any objection to that?
The police are just trying to do their jobs efficiently. And part of what they go on when dealing with a crime is the descriptions that are given to them by the victims and witnesses of the incident.
And in terms of NOT arguing with an officer and sorting it out later, that makes sense to me. And it also makes sense to me that in the majority of situations, the police presence is greatly outnumbered by the regular civilians on the streets. And because of that, they are keen to keep those citizens orderly and respectful towards them at all times. Arguing just makes the whole process more drawn out, and not only that it's really up to a judge to determine the final outcome, not the police officers.
And if the police are stricter on those who live in poorer neighborhoods, it's because they have a history of mob violence since they have nothing to lose. Consider the Rodney King incident or the violence in Oakland when a young man got shot by the BART police. And the black rioters even trashed the storefronts of black owned businesses. Act like savages, get treated like savages.
And yes, I agree that there are bad cops. But some of that blame should be aimed at the dreadful people that they've had to deal with all of their careers. The thing is, cops are just humans too, and it's unreasonable to expect them to keep to a higher standard of behaviour that you hold the regular citizen too. We just don't pay them enough to have to take this sort of verbal and sometimes physical abuse. I also think that it was wrong for the hippes of the '60's to refer to the police as "pigs". Just as black people hate the "N" word being used about them, cops don't like being stereotyped as power hungry pigs.
Maybe since the black community is being so hypersensitive to racial profiling, imagined or real, we should have police forces for black dominated neighbors that are only black. And when the other police forces are looking for or dealing with a black perp, the investigation has to be turned over to a black police unit.
Miu I love your posts. Agree 100%...
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