Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<As I began walking through the foyer toward the front door, I could hear Gates agai,n demanding my name. I again told Gates that I would speak with him outside. My reason for wanting to leave the residence was that Gates was yelling very loud and the acoustics of the kitchen and foyer were making it difficult for me to transmit pertinent information to ECC or other responding units. His reply was “ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside”. When I left the residence, I noted that there were several Cambridge and Harvard University police officers assembled on the sidewalk in front of the residence. Additionally, the caller, md at least seven unidentified passers-by were looking in the direction of Gates, who had followed me outside of the residence. As I descended the stairs to the sidewalk, Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him. Due to the tumultuous manner Gates had exhibited in his residence as well as his continued tumultuous behavior outside the residence, in view of the public, I warned Gates that he was becoming disorderly. Gates ignored my warning and continued to yell, which drew the attention of both the police officers and citizens, who appeared surprised and alarmed by Gates’s outburst. For a second time I warned Gates to calm down while I withdrew my department issued handcuffs from their carrying case. Gates again ignored my warning and continued to yell at me. It was at this time that I informed Gates that he was under arrest.>>
Originally Posted By queenbee Wahoo, if people were "gathering in the street" creating a public disturbance, why were they not arrested or asked to disperse? Why would one arrest Gates?
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Well, I'll defer to the information in #81. But, it is irrelevant to the point I've been trying to make. Cops might have been idiots. Gates might have been an idiot. that all might have been idiots. Either way, the President should have risen above it all instead of inflaming it. Do you think more people are talking about health care today or Cambridge, Mass? Interestingly, Bill Cosby weighed in on the Boston Fox affiliate. Basically said he wasn't there and shouldn't comment...and neither should anyone else who wasn't there. But, he also made the point that the President lived in Cambridge for some time and may have a different take as a result of that. Give Cosby credit though...he thought about it before he spoke. Good lesson.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <a href="http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2009/07/arrest-of-henry-louis-gates-jr.html" target="_blank">http://newblackman.blogspot.co...-jr.html</a> <<According to a statement by his attorney—the equally prominent Harvard legal scholar Charles Ogletree—Gates had returned home from a trip to China where he was working on a documentary for PBS.>> I'm going to have to cut Gates a whole lot of slack here.... I know I would be very exhausted and out of sorts if I just completed a trip back to Boston from China, been there done that.. hated it! Well loved China but its one heck of a LONG flight..... I'm going to have to side with Gates on this one guys. But he needs to pipe down with his charges of "racism" instead of behaving like Chicken Little.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom The Officer should have just cut Gates some slack and walked away. Obviously no crime was committed and there was no need for Police to be at that residence any further.
Originally Posted By mele Okay, why was the president even asked about this situation? Lame. It's also lame that he made a comment. He should know better. I hate this sort of journalism. Is there nothing more important to focus on right now?
Originally Posted By DAR <<The top American black scholar Henry Louis Gates >> So who's the top American White Scholar?? Asian?? Female? Homosexual? That label seems pretty idiotic. <<Tom, "newsbusters" is a right wing opinion site. Not really a viable news source.>> I feel the same way when someone links a Daily Kos article.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I feel the same way when someone links a Daily Kos article.<< You should. I do, too.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom The relevance is that site posted the actual Police Report, which "other" news media scrubbed. If you want to make an informed opinion then you have to do some fact gathering. And the media IMHO left out a crutical fact that Gates had just gotten home to Boston from a trip to China, a 19 hour flight. Gates had to have been exhausted.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I'm going to take a wild, WILD stab in the dark here and guess that neither Gates nor the officer were as saintly and calm as their respective statements make out (both are practically "I offered the gentlemen a glass of Chablis; he responded by stabbing me in the kidney repeatedly"), and that neither was as out of control as each other's statements make out.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Are you suggesting that it is POSSIBLE that one or both of them are exaggerating a bit? How DARE you!
Originally Posted By mele <<"I offered the gentlemen a glass of Chablis; he responded by stabbing me in the kidney repeatedly>> Let's leave my family reunions out of this.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom It seems every 5 minutes a new story is popping out about this. The latest! <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99KBEAO1&show_article=1" target="_blank">http://www.breitbart.com/artic...rticle=1</a> <<Cop who arrested black scholar is profiling expert CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on racial profiling. Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.>>
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Oh we might have an "agenda" here! <<Black students and professors at Harvard have complained for years about racial profiling by Cambridge and campus police. Harvard commissioned an independent committee last year to examine the university's race relations after campus police confronted a young black man who was using tools to remove a bike lock. The man worked at Harvard and owned the bike.>>
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom The White House "clarifies" the President's remarks. <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99KBLHO0&show_article=1" target="_blank">http://www.breitbart.com/artic...rticle=1</a> <<At a Wednesday news conference, Obama had said that the Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" by citing Gates on a resisting arrest charge, which was quickly dropped. He had not faulted the actions of Gates, who he said is a friend. "Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid," Gibbs told reporters as Obama landed in Cleveland for two health care events Thursday. He said Obama felt that "at a certain point the situation got far out of hand" at Gates' home last week.>>
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Um...well...that clears it right up. But, he is right that at some point...the situation got far out of hand.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I guess someone on the White House staff acted stupidly,letting the President comment on this before all of the facts were released, the officer in question is an expert on racial profiling and gives classes to other officers concerning it... Honestly from reading the reports, the officer was in the right....
