The Professor, the Policeman and the Neighbor

[Cal33]

A lot has been written about the professor and the policeman, but what about the neighbor
who phoned the police that someone was breaking into that house? How is it possible for
a neighbor living that close not to recognize her own neighbor? All I know about that
neighbor is that she's a woman -- nothing else! She seems to have been the one (most likely
innocently) to have started all this hullabaloo. I think more should be known about her.
What do you think?

[havocmom]

1. what do I think?

I think you don't really want to know what I think. :rofl:

[seabeyond]

2. i have to wonder about someone who sees luggage and calls it back packs. a person

who sees a car pull up in a driveway, middle of day, sittin on front porch adn assumes burglar.

[Trocadero]

3. How could you not know what your own neighbor looks like?

[Stephanie]

4. Why don't you read up on the story before you post?

To get you started, she wasn't a neighbor...

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Then who was she?

I hadn't heard she wasn't a neighbor.

[Cal33]

10. Nor have I

[Stephanie]

13. She works for Harvard Magazine.

http://gawker.com/5318918/black-professor-and-white-lady-reenact-crash-in-cambridge?skyline=true&s=x

Oh, and the white lady who called the cops on him, Lucia Whalen? She's a fundraiser for Harvard Magazine.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Very interesting.

Thanks.

[merh]

24. She appears to be a neighbor, she lives on Ware Street and Gates

lives on Ware Street.

[Cal33]

14. There is soooo much to read and hear! TV, newspapers,

magazines. I'm almost drowning in it, and am writing here to try to find some explanation, some sense.
You're the first one I read from to say that it wasn't a neighbor. This does make sense that she
didn't recognize him. Now comes the question, should a passer-by call the police about a possible
break-in, when she doesn't know the people in the area?

[Stephanie]

18. You're joking, right?

You can't possibly be serious. In the improbable case that you are, please understand that Prof. Gates does not blame the woman at all. If you'll read his interview at The Root, he says that he's glad she called 9/11 when she thought someone was breaking in. What he objects to is being arrested in his own home after showing his ID. He blames the cop, not the woman.

http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,0

[merh]

26. As so he should.

I wonder where his driver was. I'd bet he can back up Gates.

Also, note that Crowley's report claims there were "passers-by" to try to legitimize the charge (disturbing the peace requires the potential to insight violent acts by those publicly witnessing the behavior), yet they were just "passing-by" and no names are provided to establish they witnessed a thing.

[Cal33]

32. Thanks for the info. I feel turned off (a bad habit?)

when I perceive the news media inundating us with and trying to make something sensational
out of a news item -- especially when there is something really important, like the
present health care reform, going on at the same time. I sometimes wonder if it is a
ruse on the part of the media concerned to deliberately distract the public's attention.

I usually avoid reading the details of murders, rapes...etc... I didn't watch
the O.J. Simpson trial of ten years ago, until the very last day. If I remember
correctly, it lasted two hours.

[Stephanie]

33. Racial profiling is an impt issue too. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.

But why are you talking about rape and murder and OJ? What on earth does that have to do with this incident? And speaking of profiles, yours is hidden...

[Cal33]

34. Rapes and murders are further examples of the sensationalism

that the news media push on to the public -- for whatever reason of the moment. Yes, I am a rather private
person. I'll give my profile only when necessary.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I said this last night! Also the cop described her as "reliable"

:wtf:

How would he know if she was "reliable"?? Does she call 911 often enough for the cops to know her?

[Joanne98]

7. Gladys Kravitz! He should SUE her!

[MUAD_DIB]

8. She was a passer by that works in the area. She was not a neighbor.

[Cal33]

9. That would explain it, because it makes some sense. She

didn't know the professor, and automatically assumed that he was trying to break in.
It wasn't a neighbor who made the call. Now the other questions can follow:
Since she didn't know the people in the area, should she have called the police in
the first place? If he were white, would she have assumed that he was breaking in?
...etc...

[MUAD_DIB]

11. I'm not arguing this point any longer. This has become farce.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Why did the cop refer to her as "reliable"??

[MUAD_DIB]

16. I don't know. What does reliable mean in cop speak?

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. White

[gabby garcia]

20. spot on. n/t.

[MUAD_DIB]

22. Another bigoted post I see. DU is full of them lately.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Prove otherwise

I am sitting here watching this cop on TV right now. Every time he opens his mouth, he makes it worse. While Dr Gates is quiet. Interesting.

[MUAD_DIB]

27. I haven't seen the officer on the tube, but Gates hasn't been quiet either.

He's been on TV as well.


What is the Officer saying?

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. OMG he's on every 5 minutes!

I haven't seen Gates except for one video of him getting bags out of a car and not talking to reporters.

Cop is saying Obama offended him and all cops, he's not racist, Gates was belligerent and had to be arrested, police chief is defending Gates and some reporter from Boston was just on MSNBC painting cop as a saint.

[MUAD_DIB]

30. OMG! I don't watch TV. I saw Gates on the CNN internets.

Here's a link.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/07/23/bia.henry.gates.cnn?iref=videosearch


If that is all the cop has said then it isn't much.

If he says something dumb and racist then he's gone.


This whole thing is such a time-suck.

[Fumesucker]

19. Every single time in my fairly lengthy life I have gotten too involved with my neighbors

It has ended badly, one way or another..

These days I pretty much wave if I see them and avoid other contact.

There is an old New England saying about "Good fences make good neighbors", that's pretty much my take on things neighborly.

The house next door or directly across the street I would probably recognize the neighbors by sight but another house or two away and there's an excellent chance I wouldn't know them from Adam.

[Cal33]

28. Well, New Englanders are said to be formal and distant. :o)

But I don't find them more formal and distant than anybody else.

[WI_DEM]

21. I don't have anything against the person who called the cops

I doubt she did it because he was black. All I know is she saw two people breaking in a door, she didn't know who they were and she called police to investigate.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Why is the cop calling her 'reliable'??

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. I have wondered similarly about how she came to think the house was being burgled.

[TexasObserver]

35. A busy body who thought she was playing citizen cop saw a black man ...

... A black man where she didn't think he belonged. So she called the police.

Someone said "Gladys Kravitz." Yeah, that's close.