Professor Gates, Harvard's Pride

[glatt]

Cops need to be in charge, until the situation is resolved. Once it's resolved, there is no need to be in charge any more. Once the guy proved it was his house, the situation was over. The cop should leave then.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

As per the transcript linked above, Crowley called the wagon after verifying Gates' identity. He should have been gone at that point.

Officer 52: I’m up with a gentleman who says he resides here (background voice) but uncooperative. But uh, keep the cars coming.

Male patrol 1: Copy.

Officer 52: Can you also send the Harvard University police this way?

Male patrol 1: We can send ’em in. . . .

The investigation was still under way when he said keep backup coming. He asked for the Harvard police, which sounds like Gates showed a Harvard ID and not a Drivers license. I doubt a Harvard ID would have his address on it.

Female dispatcher: Respond to 17 Ware Street for a possible B and E in progress. Two SPs [suspicious persons] barged their way into the home, they have suitcases. R-P 5-SP. Stand by, trying to get further.

Officer 52 (Crowley): 52. Ware Street right now, 17?

Dispatcher: 17 Ware Street . . . both SPs are still in the house, unknown on race. One may be a Hispanic male, not sure. . . .

The cop was working with the information that there were two suspects. The second might be holding a samurai sword to the throats of Gate's grandmother, three babies and a kitten in the attic. The cop doesn't know at this point.

[TheMercenary]

No evidence of racism.

[joelnwil]

The person who made the original 911 call did not identify the people who broke into the house by race - she could not tell from wherever she was. Certainly not a case of racial profiling.

I live on a little street in the city that only has 5 houses on one side and the YMCA on the other side. In spite of a lot of traffic at the Y, 2 of the houses have been broken into during the day within the last 4 years. Just walked up and kicked in the door. I wish somebody had called on them. I feel safer because I have 3 large dogs who sound hungry whenever somebody comes to the door.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

The investigation was still under way when he said keep backup coming. He asked for the Harvard police, which sounds like Gates showed a Harvard ID and not a Drivers license. I doubt a Harvard ID would have his address on it.

Read a bit further down. That exchange had already happened when he called for the wagon. The Harvard cops were there (to lock the door) when Gates was carted away, so Crowley knew Gates was legit at that point at the latest.

[TheMercenary]

Consider the man at the center of this scene, Here are a few items:

Since 1991, Gates has been teaching African American studies at Harvard, where he serves as the director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. De Bois, an American civil rights activist, sociologist, historian and author, was an avowed communist and also a socialist sympathizer

Serving as director for the Harvard institute immortalizing Du Bois, Gates cultivated black radicals to his race studies department, most prominently bringing in Cornel West, a controversial adviser on Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March with close ties to socialist and black extremist groups. West is a declared personal friend of Farrakhan.

Gates also lured to Harvard socialist sympathizer Kwame Anthony Appiah, a Ghanaian philosopher, cultural theorist and novelist, as well as William Julius Wilson, who is close to the Democrat Socialists of America.

Gates authored two books with West, a long-time member and honorary chair of the Democrat Socialists of America. West served on the black advisory board of Obama's presidential campaign.

From a young age, West proclaimed he admired “the sincere black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party … and the livid black [liberation] theology of James Cone.”

Cone's theology spawned Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor for 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ. West was a strong defender of Wright when the pastor's extreme remarks became national news during last year's campaign season.

Gates himself is a strong supporter of affirmative action and a key member of the reparations movement for the descendants of African slaves. He joined an effort to bring a class action lawsuit for reparations and reportedly has been working privately to urge political and business leaders to keep the issue of slavery at the forefront of social-justice discussions and to support his campaign for reparations.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104938

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

I don't disagree with you, HM, but I have to say that throwing the race card is about as shitty as it gets. Like a woman crying rape, out of revenge, it belittles everyone who has actually been hurt as a result of such crimes. It's a cheap cop-out, pun intended, and slimy and sick. It's a bit more than a little "attitude." Someone who is out there every day dealing with the dumbasses of the world might be a little taken aback to be accused of such a thing when they are trying, against all the crap in the world, to be one who protects all law-abiding citizens, regardless of race.


There, I said it.

And you said it well, Shawnee.

I think there's hope for you yet. Great meringue heaps of hope if you keep writing like this.

I was just going to quote your first sentence and say that was my take on it all, too, but the rest of your para changed my mind. The good professor showed an ugly bigoted side to him -- maybe a beer at the White House with the sergeant would be just the thing to finish the affair.

And Obama's not dumb; I just wish he believed in better things. He's got this little social chip on his shoulder that doesn't become a President and I'd sure like to see him flick it off.

The last sentence summing up the cop's task -- well, that is known to come with the territory of being a policeman. It also tends to be one reason not every young policeman stays in to collect his police pension at twenty years. I've met one -- started as a football lineman, then a cop, and one day to defend his partner's life shot a man dead, quit police work, went to seminary, and ended up as the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles.

[Shawnee123]

He likes me. He really likes me.

I've seen so much of it, in my career, and I can't stand people playing victim, especially when the victim shirt doesn't fit.

If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll cop to seeing tiny bits of conservatism in me. I know that you'll see that as me getting smarter; I see it as a bit of moderation on my part.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Read a bit further down. That exchange had already happened when he called for the wagon. The Harvard cops were there (to lock the door) when Gates was carted away, so Crowley knew Gates was legit at that point at the latest.

Officer 2: (inaudible) to patrol. Do we have a wagon coming through to the location?

Male patrol 3: Patrol to wagon.

Wagon: Wagon.

Male patrol 3: 17 Ware Street.

Wagon: Copy.

No, there's no mention of the Harvard police being there, or that they were to lock the door. The above quote follows the last section I quoted in the transcript you linked. Crowley is officer 52, not officer 2, or male patrol 3.
There is no indication that Gates was under arrest when officer 2 asked if the wagon was still coming.

[Happy Monkey]

The wagon call was after they called the Harvard cops, and the Harvard cops were there when they took Gates away, as they gave Gates' key to one of them to lock the door.

[xoxoxoBruce]

After they called the Harvard cops. It was still an investigation in progress when they asked if a wagon was coming. Dispatching the wagon simultaneously is probably SOP for a report of a multiple perp break in.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

After they called the Harvard cops.

That's what I said. And the Harvard cops were there when they carted him away.

[TheMercenary]

No evidence of racial profiling.

[TheMercenary]

Someone please tell this dumbass to STF up. It is not about her and her 15 min of fame. No one gives a shit. We have your cracker ass on tape. Move along.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...pH5FgD99OENK00

[Elspode]

For me, the question boils down to this: no one has claimed that the cop came on with attitude first. Why did Gates suppose that he could or should be a dick? Why did he just not say, "This is my residence, officer. If you'll follow me, I'll get my ID to prove that."

Cop looks at ID, apologizes for the inconvenience, explains the reason they are there if Gates asks, tells him they were just watching out for his property and safety, and leaves. No incident.

Having a king sized chip on your shoulder, even though you are within your rights, makes you a dick. A scholarly, educated, Harvard-tenured dick, but a dick nonetheless. And before anyone says it, yes, being a dick is legal. Covered by the First Amendment.

And now, I'm gonna say something, and you can all call *me* racist.

Having a major fucking attitude is verging on being a cultural imperative in the African American community - or at least a significant percentage of it. Making goddamn good and sure *everyone* knows that you are The Shit, all that and a bag of chips, seems to be foremost when asserting one's presence in the world. You don't have to actually *have* any substance to you, but everyone on the planet had damn well better treat you like you do, or you're gonna get even more attitude. And all of that respect is due up front, BTW, no matter how big a piece of shit the person may turn out to be.

So fire away, folks. Tell me what a racist, bigoted fuck I am. Personally, I don't see anything in what went down in the first minute or so at Hahvahd that day that warranted *anyone* being a dick, but then I generally don't get why people seem to feel compelled to be dicks to begin with...regardless of their racial heritage.