The Case of the Oh-So Distinquished Professor Gates and the Oh-So Stupid Po-Po
Know this: Race absolutely plays a role in the way crime is perceived in this country, by law enforcement and by everyday people. Those perceptions contribute to ongoing injustices perpetrated against people of color.
But Gates' huffing and puffing about being criminalized for being a black man at home in America and Obama's rush to judge the Cambridge police as "stupid" are outrageous.
I'm sorry for Obama whose important news conference on health care could have helped turn around some of the inane discussions of health care going on in the conservative media (if ever there was a topic to which the label "stupid" applied . . .). He just couldn't resist weighing in on an issue that he had already admitted to both bias and ignorance about? And when he did weigh in, it was with a knee-jerk reaction that cast the police as neanderthals and the injured black man as righteously indignant?!
This country needs to have the race discussions. But just as we are discussing the tragic consequences of REAL racial injustice, I hope that "Harvard-Gate" doesn't come to define the terms of that debate. What happened there may have been a lot more about class, status, and prestige than about race. Gates: "You have no idea who you are dealing with!"
Right. Which is why police who have been called to the scene of a reported burglary must be suspicious and careful. This is a potentially deadly situation. Asking a potential suspect to step outside the home is not an outlandish request. Asking him for evidence that he was lawfully there is also not outlandish. Expecting him to cooperate without making a scene during an ongoing investigation is also not outlandish.
Would the situation have been different if Gates were white? I don't know. The neighbors may still have called the police if it had been two white men they saw breaking into the house. The police officer may still have asked a white man to step outside the house. The officer may still have asked a white man for identification.
Gates was arrested for DISORDERLY CONDUCT, not for trespassing or breaking and entering. It was Gates whose yelling prevented the officer from communicating with the dispatcher. It was Gates who followed the officer out to the patrol car, demanding his name and badge number. It was Gates who created a scene, insulting and undermining the authority of the police who had no choice but to respond to the call. Was arresting him stupid? Probably. Did race play a part? Maybe.
If it takes the rather pathetic arrest of Henry Louis Gates to bring discussions of race and power back into our politics, then, I suppose some good will have come of it. Especially if part of that discussion is how not only preconceived notions of race, but preconceived notions of RACISM get in the way of true justice in America.
Of all the commentaries I've seen on the Gates case, these were the most engaging:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-303137#
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/24/wright.police.gates/index.html
But Gates' huffing and puffing about being criminalized for being a black man at home in America and Obama's rush to judge the Cambridge police as "stupid" are outrageous.
I'm sorry for Obama whose important news conference on health care could have helped turn around some of the inane discussions of health care going on in the conservative media (if ever there was a topic to which the label "stupid" applied . . .). He just couldn't resist weighing in on an issue that he had already admitted to both bias and ignorance about? And when he did weigh in, it was with a knee-jerk reaction that cast the police as neanderthals and the injured black man as righteously indignant?!
This country needs to have the race discussions. But just as we are discussing the tragic consequences of REAL racial injustice, I hope that "Harvard-Gate" doesn't come to define the terms of that debate. What happened there may have been a lot more about class, status, and prestige than about race. Gates: "You have no idea who you are dealing with!"
Right. Which is why police who have been called to the scene of a reported burglary must be suspicious and careful. This is a potentially deadly situation. Asking a potential suspect to step outside the home is not an outlandish request. Asking him for evidence that he was lawfully there is also not outlandish. Expecting him to cooperate without making a scene during an ongoing investigation is also not outlandish.
Would the situation have been different if Gates were white? I don't know. The neighbors may still have called the police if it had been two white men they saw breaking into the house. The police officer may still have asked a white man to step outside the house. The officer may still have asked a white man for identification.
Gates was arrested for DISORDERLY CONDUCT, not for trespassing or breaking and entering. It was Gates whose yelling prevented the officer from communicating with the dispatcher. It was Gates who followed the officer out to the patrol car, demanding his name and badge number. It was Gates who created a scene, insulting and undermining the authority of the police who had no choice but to respond to the call. Was arresting him stupid? Probably. Did race play a part? Maybe.
If it takes the rather pathetic arrest of Henry Louis Gates to bring discussions of race and power back into our politics, then, I suppose some good will have come of it. Especially if part of that discussion is how not only preconceived notions of race, but preconceived notions of RACISM get in the way of true justice in America.
Of all the commentaries I've seen on the Gates case, these were the most engaging:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-303137#
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/24/wright.police.gates/index.html
I want to post some really intelligient, thought provoking comment but all I can think to say is AMEN SISTER!
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