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There is a difference between thinking you're above the law and thinking you'll never be arrested. I believe his quote was he never thought something like that could happen to him.
I think this whole mess is Henry Gates own fault. If someone reported a break-in in progress and a cop shows up (race of the cop should not matter) and ask for ID, show it to him. Don't start yelling and throwing down the race card. If he would have properly identified himself and not started yelling at the cop. This whole mess could have been avoided. It's nothing about, Race, Education, Class. It is simple common sense. There were both white and black cops there from what I have read. Obama is not helping anything by stepping into this also. I would like to think now this is 2009 we would have all matured and grown a bit by now, where we are judged more on are action then what race we are.
You have idiots in this case all around. The professor for escalating the situation and not cooperating with police, the police for then escalating the situation and arresting the professor, and then Obama for escalating the situation and making comments when he's not informed on the facts of the case( what else is new).
If this was two white guys or a white citizen and black cop, it would be chalked up to another day in the big city. The fact that it was Gates, a race baiter from Harvard, who accused the officer of being racist and whose first words are "I'm a black man in America,'' shows that anything the cop could have done, whether it was right or wrong, would automatically be looked at through a racial lens, because that's the stock and trade of professional race baiters like Gates.
We have got to get away from thinking in racial terms. As Freud said...."sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Sometimes a cop can just be a jerk or sometimes a citizen can just be an a-hole, and it has nothing to do with race. It's just two a-holes being a-holes.
Good post.
Love that saying of Freud's.
Here is my take on this asshat. He is a "professor" at Harvard in a "studies" program. He's of the certain age that affirmative action was key in his success.
Pathetic that a guy like this could even get a job answering phones at Harvard and pathetic the "studies" programs still exist.
But then again Ward Churchill, Mr. Fraud Indian Victim, got as far as he did until he was cut off at the knees.
I have hope for this country and I think this race baiter Gates will go away. Just like Barry. Did you see his race baiting last night? He's in trouble and knows it. Quite lovely to watch his destruction.
Read this article. It was written by Phillip Morris, a columnist that I have alot of respect for.
I already read the article and I think his comments are off-base.
Quote:
"I haven't even come close to being arrested. I would have said it was impossible."
See I guess it's all in the way you read his comment. To me he was saying, "I never thought this could happen to me because I have lived my life in a way that pretty much concludes I will not be on the wrong side of the law."
Quote:
This genius, who has arguably done more to advance progressive racial thought and theory than any American since W.E.B. DuBois, claims that he thought it was "impossible" for him to be on the wrong side of a mistaken police encounter?
yes for some reason, black people seem to believe that if they avoid certain things (poverty, lack of education, drugs, etc.) that they won't be arrested. I guess that's why it threw the writer because he is acknowledging that no matter how educated, how well-known, how wealthy, how whatever you may be at the end of the day you're still black and white people are out to get you. Makes perfect sense.
Quote:
Most urban black males are convinced that they have been racially profiled. Many of us are also convinced that the profiling is orchestrated by black officers as frequently as it is by white officers.
Gates is not urban nor was he living in an urban area.
But that's just my opinion; you and Phillip Morris are entitled to his.
I would like to think now this is 2009 we would have all matured and grown a bit by now, where we are judged more on are action then what race we are.
Many would like to think this. However, I am a realist. And, as an African American, I have learned long ago that I get judged on multiple dimensions. It is just a fact that I have come to accept. Now, this fact has not held me back from being successful. Yet, I remain cognizant of it. And at times, it gets brought to my attention in a very explicit and jarring way.
I feel bad for my earlier rant against cops after reading about this officer. It unfortunate that he is being tarred as a "racist". However, I still find it disturbing that a person can be arrested for ranting on one's own property, even if said ranting is against a cop. The officer should have just left Gates alone in his yard to hoot and holler; arresting him was not necessary.
BAM! Thank you!
also, how long was Gates living in that neighborhood? why didn't the neighbors recognize him? it looks like a quiet residential neighborhood....looks like the neighbors didn't care that he was arrested either.
didn't read the entire thread so i apologize if this has already been posted.
I feel bad for my earlier rant against cops after reading about this officer. It unfortunate that he is being tarred as a "racist". However, I still find it disturbing that a person can be arrested for ranting on one's own property, even if said ranting is against a cop. The officer should have just left Gates alone in his yard to hoot and holler; arresting him was not necessary.
I agree. If he's going to arrest every citizen that yells at him - he's not going to be doing very much good to his community.
I already read the article and I think his comments are off-base.
See I guess it's all in the way you read his comment. To me he was saying, "I never thought this could happen to me because I have lived my life in a way that pretty much concludes I will not be on the wrong side of the law."
yes for some reason, black people seem to believe that if they avoid certain things (poverty, lack of education, drugs, etc.) that they won't be arrested. I guess that's why it threw the writer because he is acknowledging that no matter how educated, how well-known, how wealthy, how whatever you may be at the end of the day you're still black and white people are out to get you. Makes perfect sense.
Gates is not urban nor was he living in an urban area.
But that's just my opinion; you and Phillip Morris are entitled to his.
Well Phillip Morris has been a columnist for a long time and regardless of race he always remains objective. Gates is educated, he should have acted like it!
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