Why wasn't an expert on racial profiling more attuned to the possibility that a distinguished black

[Empowerer]

man who just discovered that a neighbor had called the police on him for trying to get into his own house might get a little agitated and better prepared to handle the situation differently?

It seems to me that a law enforcement officer who was supposedly knowledgeable about racial profiling should have been considerably more sensitive to the dynamics and impact of profiling - even when he is not the one doing it.

Given the history in this country of innocent blacks being accused by whites of all manner of crimes - from petty theft to rape to murder, one would think that it would have occurred to Sergeant Crowley, once he responded to the complaint and discovered that the black man seen on the porch was not a criminal but instead was the esteemed Professor Henry Lewis Gates of Harvard University, that the man whose front porch he was standing on may have been the victim of racial profiling and might react differently to his presence than a white homeowner would. And even if THIS instance was not such a case, Proessor Gates was STILL a victim of racial profiling because the history and continued pervasiveness of the practice made it reasonable for him to suspect that that is what had just happened to him - and that he might react differently to his presence than a white homeonwer would.

Unfortunately, this officer was either oblivious to or just didn't care about the reality that, given the world in which we all still live, that it was perfectly reasonable and easily predictable that Professor Gates might react with anger and frustration at having to prove he was not a criminal because someone he did not know assumed that a 58-year-old black man in a polo shirt, accompanied by a uniformed chauffeur had no legitimate business trying to get into a house in that neighborhood.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Makes you wonder about his expertise

I wonder how many DWB arrests the officer has on his record.

[bluedigger]

6. Have you stopped beating your wife yet?

[Xipe Totec]

10. Exactly!

:rofl:

[bluedigger]

17. Glad you didn't take offense.

Nothing personal!

[Xipe Totec]

21. I never take offense.

I enjoy a wicked sense of humor


:rofl:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. I think this scholar needs to sue

Somebody needs to stop American police from forcing everyone to obey them no-matter-what. It's gone too damned far. They're throwing the elderly on the floor, shooting innocents all the time, arresting anyone who doesn't beg and cower.

I used to be one of the more vocal defenders of police officers but I've finally reached my limit. Courts have to start limiting this unlimited power they have.

[Cha]

11. Well, look at here..

<snip>>>

"Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said this morning that he has not ruled out the possibility of filing a lawsuit over his arrest last week.

“Oh yeah, I’m considering a lawsuit, sure,” the noted scholar told a Globe reporter in a phone interview from Martha’s Vineyard, a day after authorities agreed to drop a disorderly conduct charge against him. “Wouldn’t you?”

He would not provide details on any possible lawsuit against the city or the officer who arrested him outside Gates’s Cambridge house Thursday. He referred further questions to his attorney, Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree. Ogletree was not immediately available for comment.


Gates, seeking peace from the international firestorm his arrest has set off, said he is leaving the Vineyard today for Los Angeles, where he said he would continue to work on his new documentary series on immigration.

Although the criminal charges have been dropped, it appeared to be a case of too little, too late for Gates and others."

<more>>>
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/gates_considers.html

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. I hope he does! nt

[bluedigger]

20. Me too!

Because we really, really need an unbiased witness to the proceedings to tell us what happened. According to the police report civilian witnesses were present, and they need to step forward, before this bullshit non-misdemeanor starts the first race riots of the 21st century.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. Not only that. Police departments have to start being sued

They're out of control.

[bluedigger]

27. I'm in favor of any process that brings actual facts into the open.

The court of public opinion, at least here on DU, appears to be useless. I find no comfort in saying this.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

28. Well, DU is not a court of law. It's a place for us to hang out and share conversation nt

[bluedigger]

35. True dat!

[rzemanfl]

3. The chauffer had a uniform? Ah, it's the old uniformed burglar

gambit.

[4lbs]

22. How true. So, a uniformed chaffeur, with a limo on the street, is trying to break into a house?

I can't recall hearing about too many house burglars riding around in limos.

[LiberalFighter]

29. Doesn't say much for Crowley's awareness of details.

I wonder if there were any pictures in the house of Gates? If the guy is married I would think there would be pictures.

[angee_is_mad]

4. considering the racial history of Massachusetts

particularly Boston, you would think he would have known how to handle the situation better.

[Political Tiger]

5. Republicans are supposed to be the party of "family values" yet

they cheat on their spouses all the time ... so just because someone claims to be an expert on a subject or a believer of a message doesn't mean they actually practice it in their life.

IOW, just because this cop was supposedly an expert on racial profiling doesn't mean he followed those tenets in his duties.

[Cha]

18. Exactly..and it sounds like

this cop's ego is outta control.

tj2001 (296 posts) Thu Jul-23-09 09:33 PM
Original message
Crowley: It was Gates' tone of voice
http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_12902510

"Crowley, a native of Cambridge, told a local sports radio station Thursday that Gates... "seemed that he was very upset, very put off that I was there in the first place. Not just what he said, but the tone in which he said it, just seemed very peculiar — even more so now that I know how educated he is." ...

After getting in and calling Harvard's maintenance department to fix the door, Gates said, he saw Crowley on his porch. The sergeant was disrespectful from the beginning, the professor said, asking him to step outside without explanation and demanding identification while refusing to provide his own name or badge number.

But Crowley said Thursday that he was only protecting himself when he asked Gates, whom he did not recognize, to come out and identify himself. Daytime break-ins are not unheard of in the neighborhood, he said.

Crowley described the woman who reported the possible break-in — who works at Harvard Magazine, on Gates' street — as "reliable," and said that while the professor did not "look like somebody who would break into a house," his tone was troubling."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6134956

[LiberalFighter]

31. How does Crowley know that the woman was reliable?

[Cha]

32. I think he's just shootin' the shit..

I wondered that, too.

[LiberalFighter]

34. Can you imagine a good attorney cross examining the officer?

The officer would end up on the other end of a meat grinder.

[Cha]

37. Yes, and can you

imagine how many good attorneys Skip Gates is on friendly terms with?

[Cha]

7. I'm thinking crowley's

ego took over and it was a case study in... do what he says not how he acts!

[masuki bance]

8. The woman who called this in is a racist? nt

[MUAD_DIB]

23. Apparently anybody who plays the devil's advocate

and simply wants all the truth to come out before rushing to judgment is considered a racist freeper.

[Rex_Goodheart]

9. Bullcrap.

There was no racial profiling. A neighbor called the cops, and the police responded.

Let's turn your silly scenario around.

Gates is supposed to be the expert on racial profiling. If he knew that the white policeman would react in such a way, why did he provoke him by asking for his name and badge number when the policeman had done nothing unreasonable up to that point. Was he baiting the officer?

[Beetwasher]

13. He Wasn't The One W/ A Gun

Clown.

[Celebration]

14. who thinks this had something to do with his fatigue?

When I got back from a trip to Japan I was not in any mood to take any crap off anyone, even if I only thought it was crap. I would have been in a terrible mood if I was locked out of my house.

And it is no crime to be in a bad mood and tell people off that don't necessarily deserve it. The cop is the one who is the professional here. It is his job to diffuse situations like this.

[fishwax]

24. asking his name and badge number is "baiting" him?

:crazy:

[lexanman]

36. asking for the officer identification

is not provoking anyone. It is Gates right. Are you saying Gates exercising his legal rights is baiting? Provoking? I can not wait until this goes to a court. I predict these types of responses will suddenly dissapear around here with nary an apology or even an admission that the cop arrested Gates for no legal reason after he showed his ID.

[JI7]

15. what the fuck is an "expert on racial profiling" ?

[LiberalFighter]

33. Wouldn't an officer that is an expert on racial profiling...

know how to profile based on race (the bad kind)?


And if he was such an expert at racial profiling (the good kind if it was scientific) wouldn't the officer be able to determine immediately that Gates was not committing a crime?

[HughMoran]

16. At the least he really should apologize for acting the fool.

Even if he is normally the most in-tune person in all of Cambridge, he clearly had a bad day.

[eleny]

19. And Gates just returned from a trip to China

For pity sakes the man was probably pretty tired. So he didn't mince words and let his feelings all hang out. I applaud him.

And I don't believe that Obama spoke off the cuff. I have the feeling that he was ready to deal with the issue at some point in the near future. So he meant what he said and said what he meant given what he knew at the time.

If anyone doesn't like how each man reacted then I say, "Tough shit, chew harder".

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. It is a well known fact that the best way to learn something is to teach it.

Perhaps he was assigned to teach what it was felt he needed to learn.

[johnaries]

30. Makes me wonder - was he training them on HOW to do

racial profiles?