Henry Louis Gates arrested when trying to force open door of his own home

[Anonymous]

I think there's a right to speak freely and question improperly imposed authority issue that outweighs the "well, Gates was behaving like an ass" consideration. One of the few lucid comments on the Post article wondered why so many people were willing to yield these rights to policemen so easily. Another came from a veteran police officer who acknowledged that too many officers use their badges to bully citizens.

As a society we have a greater stake in protecting an elderly man's right to be a harmless asshole than we have in stopping his diatribe. We have an enormous stake in preventing police officers from over-stepping the bounds of their mandate from the citizenry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If there were the facts (no mention of race), I'd tend to find the officer's narrative very credible, and be imagining some snooty Harvard asshole gets what he deserves. When you mix in race though, my first reaction (just like many here) is that the police must've done something wrong. I also read somewhere that the officer teaches (or used to teach) the no-racial-profiling course at the police academy. It's amazing how much race changes the narrative. Very difficult stuff.

See, once I heard about the officer teaching a course on racial profiling, it convinced me even more that the officer did the wrong thing.

Obviously the racial aspect is quite important in terms of how things are interpreted. One can argue that this shouldn't be interpreted through the lens of race but the reality is that any police officer (especially one teaching about racial profiling) ought to anticipate that this would happen.

But that's neither here nor there. If you remove race from the equation, it still seems like a pretty stupid thing to do. If my dad (a white guy) had yelled at a cop on his own property, I would still expect the cop to be professional enough to disengage from the situation rather than throwing handcuffs on him and arresting him. I see it even more as police officers needing to be professional in a situation that is uncomfortable no doubt but ultimately is better served by disengaging. As I have noted before, sometimes it sucks to be treated badly but a true professional isn't going to take revenge just to feel better about it.

How about it, other pps? If this were your father acting this way, would you be okay with a cop arresting him just because he was rude? What do you think?

No I would not be OK with them arresting my dad for being beligerent. You are right.

I had a neighbor on my street swear at me and my kids when we were out for a walk. I called the police. They went and talked to him. The guy was rude to the cop, said "I didn't do anything illegal" and slammed the door in the cop's face. And the cop did nothing. The cop told me that there was nothing he could do. It's not illegal to be a jerk.


The cop left. That's it. And that's how this situation should have ended once the police ascertained that this was not a break in.

And BTW, the races of the participants in this story were both white and black. Shouldn't matter, and it didn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's a right to speak freely and question improperly imposed authority issue that outweighs the "well, Gates was behaving like an ass" consideration. One of the few lucid comments on the Post article wondered why so many people were willing to yield these rights to policemen so easily. Another came from a veteran police officer who acknowledged that too many officers use their badges to bully citizens.

As a society we have a greater stake in protecting an elderly man's right to be a harmless asshole than we have in stopping his diatribe. We have an enormous stake in preventing police officers from over-stepping the bounds of their mandate from the citizenry.

11:47 here. Those are really persuasive points. And if this were just about the police arresting a rude (even really rude) old man, I'd probably be right there with you viewing this as just another example of police officers misusing their authority. Two factors shift the frame for me though:

(1) Gates' attempt to misuse his Harvard power to sway the action. The police report contains several examples of Gates using his Harvard power to try to bully the police officer.
(2) Gates making the race accusation. If Gates were just pissed off that the police asked him for ID after someone saw him breaking into his house, and that the police officer allegedly didn't provide his own name to Gates, and then Gates called the officer a variety of insulting four-letter words and got arrested, this wouldn't be as charged. However, accusing the officer of racism is a very loaded charge, and not one that should be made lightly. Indeed, making such a charge without a clear record of supporting events (or even a reasonable basis) may make it easier for people to dismiss charges of racism next time (which would be unfortunate).

It is quite unfortunate that Gates was arrested at the end of the confrontation. If the officers had simply walked away and left Gates in his yard shouting about racism, I think public perception would be different. (Maybe, maybe not.) For those who fault the officer, is the actual arrest what you fault him for? Or something previous in the encounter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:I have always considered that this was more of an issue of a self-important professor and a power-obsessed policeman than a problem of race.

I can see exactly the same or worse happening with Alan Dershowitz.

I can totally see that too. Interesting to consider how that situation might be viewed differently.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Or blame the neighbor for calling in the first place!

[Anonymous]

cnn is reporting that Obama spoke to the arresting officer today. And that he's backing off of his statement a little, saying "cooler head should have prevailed".

I'm a big O supporter but I wish he'd just drop it until the investigation is complete. I feel embarrassed by his comments on this; first the indictment without the facts, now the equivocating. I wonder if this is what the Republicans felt like every time Bush committed one of his malapropisms....

[Anonymous]

IMHO what happened to Obama in making his comments has more to do with his friendship with Prof Gates. I mean if this happened to someone you cared about it would make you angry.

I am not embarrassed by his comments because it is an opportunity to have a conversation about police, justice, power, race - stuff we don't normally address in any real way.

I am not surprised that he reached out to the officer - he has to back down some if he wants healthcare to get through - I mean that was the point of the press conference - remember?

[Anonymous]

Agreed- the conversation about "police, justice, power, race" is very important.

[Anonymous]

I find it intersting that the BLACK officer present to witness the incident supports the arresting 100%. Possibly a self-loathing black man or an uncle tom? I can't think of any other possible explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it intersting that the BLACK officer present to witness the incident supports the arresting 100%. Possibly a self-loathing black man or an uncle tom? I can't think of any other possible explanation.

What???

[Anonymous]

Obama should have stayed out of this. He is now President, he needs to be more neutral in these cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it intersting that the BLACK officer present to witness the incident supports the arresting 100%. Possibly a self-loathing black man or an uncle tom? I can't think of any other possible explanation.

Frankly, this comment says a lot more about you.

[Anonymous]

I don't know the history between the police, or the community in general, and Harvard Univ but somehow I think the fact that this was in the neighborhood has some play in what happened.

[Anonymous]

To those who reacted to the "Uncle Tom" comment: I think it was irony. Assuming I'm correct, I would suggest to the poster who made the original comment that subtlety is risky in email.

[Anonymous]

From a Washington post op-ed by Michael Kinsley (a liberal columnist):

"Second, generalizations about race don't lead only to bad things, like an unjustified arrest. They can lead to good things, too. The best example is well known around Harvard Square and other academic communities: affirmative action. Part of the rationale for affirmative action is that African Americans are more likely than whites to have struggled harder, under the burden of greater disadvantages, to reach the point where they are poised to enter Harvard. Therefore, they deserve a break. No doubt this is true on average. And no doubt it is false in many cases. You can easily decide that some generalizations are just too toxic to allow, even if true on average, and race might be a good area to start. But you'd be hard-put to justify forbidding racial generalizations in split-second decisions during tense confrontations between citizens and cops, while allowing them in the relatively leisurely precincts of a college admissions office."