Obama remark on black scholar's arrest angers cops [Archive] - Big Big Forums

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 06:27 PM

Obama remark on black scholar's arrest angers cops

By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer Melissa Trujillo, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 15 mins ago
BOSTON – Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday.

It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments."

Gates was arrested July 16 by Sgt. James Crowley, who was first to respond to the home the renowned black scholar rents from Harvard, after a woman reported seeing two black men trying to force open the front door. Gates said he had to shove the door open because it was jammed.

He was charged with disorderly conduct after police said he yelled at the white officer, accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after Crowley demanded Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home. The charge was dropped Tuesday, but Gates has demanded an apology, calling his arrest a case of racial profiling.

Obama was asked about Gates' arrest at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night and began his response by saying Gates was a friend and he didn't have all the facts.

"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."

On Thursday, the White House tried to calm the hubbub over Obama's comments by saying Obama was not calling the officer stupid. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama felt that "at a certain point the situation got far out of hand" at Gates' home.

Crowley said he still supports the president, who attended Harvard Law School in Cambridge and garnered 88 percent of the vote there in last year's presidential election.

"I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts as he himself stated before he made that comment," Crowley told WBZ-AM.

Cambridge police Commissioner Robert Haas said Obama's comments hurt the agency.

"My reponse is that this department is deeply pained," Haas said at a news conference Thursday. "It takes its professional pride seriously."

Fellow law enforcement officers across the country sided with Crowley.

"To make the remark about 'stupidly' is maybe not the right adverb," said Santa Monica, Calif., police Sgt. Jay Trisler, who has been in law enforcement for 24 years. "When an incident occurs with a police department, we're not quick to judge."

He lamented negative opinions being directed at police.

"It's unfortunate because there are so many other police cases where an elected official has made a comment that wasn't correct, comments that could have been better worded," he said. "Look at Rodney King. It's a high-profile case, and everyone is entitled to an opinion."

Obama's comments could diminish work done by law enforcement to address racial issues, said James Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Florida State Lodge.

"By reducing all contact between law enforcement and the public to the color of their skin or ethnicity is, in fact, counterproductive to improving relationships," Preston said. "To make such an off-handed comment about a subject without benefit of the facts, in such a public forum, hurts police/community relations and is a setback to all of the years of progress."

Other officers credited the president with using Gates' arrest to highlight the ongoing national problem of racial profiling.

"It wouldn't make any difference whether it was Barack Obama or John McCain. It's appropriate that the leader of this country should still recognize there are still issues in this country in regards to race," said Lt. Charles Wilson, chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers Inc. and a 38-year veteran of law enforcement. "This is an issue that occurs in every single place in this country, so it is not a local issue."

Trisler said Obama's remarks ultimately would not affect how police officers do their jobs. Police have weathered problems before — from the King beating to local corruption cases — and still find ways to work with their communities.

"I think police officers are going to be professional enough not to be affected by his comments," Trisler said. "Not even getting into the race issues, police officers are professional here in Santa Monica, regardless of when a comment comes from an elected official. We're going to do our job for the community."

___

Associated Press writers Karen Testa in Boston, Sarah Larimer in Miami and Solvej Schou in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_harvard_scholar_police;_ylt=As2HeqkYe.VoR TvU.wqEDpkGw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMTMyY3NzYzVpBGFzc2V0A2FwL zIwMDkwNzI0L3VzX29iYW1hX2hhcnZhcmRfc2Nob2xhcl9wb2x pY2UEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzb GsDb2JhbWFyZW1hcmtv

DBackFan

07-23-2009, 06:46 PM

I totally agree with them. That remark reaked of ignorance and was out of line, regardless.

littlebuggy

07-23-2009, 07:01 PM

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 07:28 PM

I agree that he was way out of line saying that, especially since he admitted he didn't have all the facts. I've read several articles about this, and the officer who showed up was alone, and Gates began to yell about race and being uncooperative. The officer asked him to step outside, because he was alone and didn't want to be in the house with someone who was clearly getting angered. The officer was trying to ensure his saftey, and it doesn't matter what race you are, if you yell at an officer it's not going to end well for you. That should be common knowledge. I'm saddened to see that our president is going to bring up the race card.

I was very disappointed in Obama for bringing up the racist issue with blacks & whites.
His statement seemed like an oxymoron statement to me beings he said he believes it still happens in todays world (racismn), but he is an example of how far it has moved on.........
WTF is all I can say about that.

speedygirl

07-23-2009, 07:29 PM

Since I live nearby it's been all over the news and in every paper. I think Obama's comment wasn't necessary during a national press conference on health care. He happens to be friendly with Gates as well as a Harvard alum so I don't think he is at all unbiased.
I think that both Gates and Crowley need to shoulder the blame equally. I'm tired of people like Gates throwing out the racist bullsh!t when the police were just responding after seeing someone forcing himself through a door. If they had BOTH just showed their ID's when asked instead of getting all pissy a lot of this nonsense would have be averted.

According to both men, Crowley—still standing on the porch—told him Gates was there to investigate a break-in. According to Crowley, Gates interrupted him, saying, "Why, because I am a black man in America?" At this point, according to Crowley, Gates didn't strike him as "someone who would break into a house." Still, he found "the way [Gates] responded to [his] routing inquiries peculiar" and accused him in the police report of "yelling" and "exclaiming."

Gates set the tone for the altercation. It looked as if he was baiting Crowley and from there on out the confrontation went south.

ETA I think for Obama to call out a local police officer on national tv before the case has been investigated is totally inappropriate.

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 07:40 PM

Gates set the tone for the altercation. It looked as if he was baiting Crowley and from there on out the confrontation went south.

That's usually how it goes & it is very tiresome.
Here I thought we got pass all this & than Obama says this.........

gmyers

07-23-2009, 07:55 PM

All the man had to do was show the policeman his license with his address on it and tell him he locked himself out. There was no need for him to get an attitude. If it had been a burgler and the cop hadn't asked for ID he would have wanted to sue the cop for not doing anything.

janelle

07-23-2009, 08:10 PM

Sure glad this didn't happen in LA. People would be rioting in the streets about now. Guess that is racist of me but history gives one a learning moment. Sorry.

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 08:14 PM

Sure glad this didn't happen in LA. People would be rioting in the streets about now. Guess that is racist of me but history gives one a learning moment. Sorry.

It's not racist of you IMO, it's complete honesty.

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 08:37 PM

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=14706505&ch=4226713&src=news

janelle

07-23-2009, 08:49 PM

gmyers

07-23-2009, 09:04 PM

I don't see how they could even make something racial out of that. Obama just made that man believe what he did was right which it wasn't.

speedygirl

07-23-2009, 09:14 PM

If Gates is a professor on race relations then he is really dumb to be yelling at a white cop or any cop. Hell I know better than to yell and talk trash to a cop of any race.

He may teach how to have good relations with different races but he doesn't live what he teaches. And if his house was really being broken into by some robber he would have had a fit if the cop let the man go cause he was being yelled at.

I thought that they said that Gates was an English/Lit professor and that Crowley was the one who taught classes for several MA police departments on racial profiling which makes it even more strange. Gates picked the wrong cop to try to pull the race card with.
I say that someone was looking for a fight and attention, especially knowing it'd make it national news with a US president as a friend. The governor of MA is also a close personal friend of Gates.
The Cambridge police dept as well as many others in the state are standing by Sgt Crowley. Most of the public is leaning Sgt Crowley's way as well.

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 09:15 PM

speedygirl

07-23-2009, 09:16 PM

Had the circumstances been opposite of the 2 parties involved, it wouldn't of been news worthy or even a issue IMO.....

It was lol. The cop was the teacher of race relations at various police depts. So the story gets more intersting.

SHELBYDOG

07-23-2009, 09:25 PM

It was lol. The cop was the teacher of race relations at various police depts. So the story gets more intersting.

Lmao! I guess in a very strange sort of way.
However I think both parties put aside their occupations & just ran with it.

SurferGirl

07-24-2009, 08:55 AM

Wouldn't you want the police to varify who you were if you were seen breaking into your home. It's just common sense that they would make sure you are who you say you are. It's for the protection of your property.
Just like so many people getting upset in a small town if they are asked for ID when they pay with a check. I wish all stores would check ID's and not just rely on the fact they have seen that person many times.
It gets really old the way some people play the race card.
The president owes the police departments all over the country an apology.

candygirl

07-24-2009, 12:32 PM

Obama calls white policeman who arrested scholar
AP
WASHINGTON – Trying to tamp down an uproar over race, President Barack Obama said Friday he used an unfortunate choice of words in commenting on the arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and could have "calibrated those words differently."

The president said he had telephoned the white policeman who arrested Gates, and he said the conversation confirmed his belief that the officer was a good man and an outstanding officer.

The president caused a stir when he said at a prime-time news conference earlier this week that Cambridge, Mass., police had "acted stupidly" by arresting Gates, a friend of the president's, for disorderly conduct.

On Friday, Obama made an impromptu appearance at the daily White House briefing in an effort to contain the controversy. He said he continued to believe that the both the officer, Sgt. James Crowley, and Gates had overreacted during the incident, but the president also faulted his own comments.

"This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up," he said. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."

The incident began when police went to Gates' home last week after a passer-by reported a potential break-in. It turned out that Gates had tried to jimmy open his own door, which was stuck, and there was no intruder. Gates protested the police actions and was arrested, although the charges have since been dropped.

gmyers

07-24-2009, 12:37 PM

Well at least he's admitting his mistake and trying to rectify it. I'll give him credit for that.

krisharry

07-24-2009, 12:59 PM

Lesson of the day-Think before you speak. LMAO

pepperpot

07-24-2009, 01:25 PM

Had the circumstances been opposite of the 2 parties involved, it wouldn't of been news worthy or even a issue IMO.....

..or had the POTUS comment on it during an infomercial.....

pepperpot

07-24-2009, 01:25 PM

Well at least he's admitting his mistake and trying to rectify it. I'll give him credit for that.

It's called backpedaling and 'covering your azz'......;)

ElleGee

07-24-2009, 01:57 PM

pepperpot

07-24-2009, 02:03 PM

While I don't agree with what he said about the cops he did say that he was a bit biased b/c Gates is a friend.. He could have been speaking out of emotion for a friend.. But that's just what I think :shrug

That may be true, however.....very unprofessional. Here's the POTUS on national TV interrupting everyone's viewing, trying to peddle his wares to the entire country.....and he makes comments about this because of his friend? Very irresponsible to say the least. And his apology is, "I should have worded it differently"....:doh

SHELBYDOG

07-24-2009, 05:55 PM

Well at least he's admitting his mistake and trying to rectify it. I'll give him credit for that.

Well I had thought this same until this afternoon "breaking news report" where he verified once again basically that blacks & latino's are still treated badly & unfairly by whites.
Now he added the latino's into it today.....

Honestly I feel betrayed, I never imagined my POTUS would start a race issue like this & continue to keep commenting on the issue, when he has laid back from commenting on some serious attacks from the other side bc he was "No Drama Obama!"
WTF!

I hate to say this, but I'm being totally honest.......

gmyers

07-24-2009, 06:00 PM

Well I had thought this same until this afternoon "breaking news report" where he verified once again basically that blacks & latino's are still treated badly & unfairly by whites.
Now he added the latino's into it today.....

Honestly I feel betrayed, I never imagined my POTUS would start a race issue like this & continue to keep commenting on the issue, when he has laid back from commenting on some serious attacks from the other side bc he was "No Drama Obama!"
WTF!

I hate to say this, but I'm being totally honest.......

I agree after hearing what he said too but he did finally say his friend over reacted too, which I think is a major understatement.

SHELBYDOG

07-24-2009, 06:12 PM

Obama rushes to quell racial uproar he helped fire

By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer Nancy Benac, Associated Press Writer – 39 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Knocked off stride by a racial uproar he helped stoke, President Barack Obama hastened Friday to tamp down the controversy. Obama, who had said Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" in arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., declared the white arresting officer was a good man and invited him and the professor to the White House for a beer.

Obama conceded his words had been ill-chosen, but he stopped short of a public apology. He personally telephoned both Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, hoping to end the rancorous back-and-forth over what had transpired and what Obama had said about it. Trying to lighten the situation, he even commiserated with Crowley about reporters on his lawn.

Hours earlier, a multiracial group of police officers had stood with Crowley in Massachusetts and said the president should apologize.

It was a measure of the nation's keen sensitivities on matters of race that the fallout from a disorderly conduct charge in Massachusetts — and the remarks of America's first black president about it — had mushroomed to such an extent that he felt compelled to make a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room to try to put the matter to rest. The blowup had dominated national attention just as Obama was trying to marshal public pressure to get Congress to push through health care overhaul legislation — and as polls showed growing doubts about his performance.

"This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up," Obama said of the racial controversy. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."

The president did not back down from his contention that police had overreacted by arresting the Harvard professor for disorderly conduct after coming to his home to investigate a possible break-in. He added, though, that he thought Gates, too, had overreacted to the police who questioned him. The charge has been dropped.

Obama stirred up a hornet's nest when he said at a prime-time news conference this week that Cambridge police had "acted stupidly" by arresting Gates, a friend of the president's. Still, Obama said Friday he didn't regret stepping into the controversy and hoped the matter would end up being a "teachable moment" for the nation.

"The fact that this has garnered so much attention, I think, is testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America," Obama said.

Obama wryly took note of the distraction from his legislative efforts.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody's been paying much attention to health care," the president said.

Obama, who has come under intense criticism from police organizations, said he had called Crowley to clear the air, and said the conversation confirmed his belief that the sergeant is an "outstanding police officer and a good man."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs refused to say whether Obama had apologized to Crowley.

Asked repeatedly about that, Gibbs said if Obama "doesn't want to characterize" his remarks to Crowley, "I'm not going to get ahead of him."

The story had taken on a life of its own, and the White House scrambled to keep up.

Gibbs said just Friday morning that the president had probably said most of what he was going to say, and that the only problem was media "obsession."

Hours later, Obama showed up to try to put the issue to rest.

There were signs both that Obama's statement had helped to ease tensions and that his critics were not about to let that be the end of it: A trio of Massachusetts police organizations issued a statement thanking the president for his "willingness to reconsider his remarks." The statement said Crowley was "profoundly grateful" Obama was trying to resolve the situation. But a Republican congressman from Michigan, Thaddeus McCotter, said he would introduce a House resolution calling on Obama to apologize to Crowley.

Obama tried to lighten his tone in his public remarks about his phone conversation with Crowley.

He said the police officer "wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn."

"I informed him that I can't get the press off my lawn," Obama joked.

In his conversation with Gates, aides said, Obama and the professor had spoken about the president's statement to the press and his conversation with Crowley.

The case began on Monday, when word broke that Gates, 58, had been arrested five days earlier at the two-story home he rents from Harvard.

Supporters including Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson called the arrest an outrageous act of racial profiling. Public interest increased when a photograph surfaced of the handcuffed Gates being escorted off his porch amid three officers, two white and one black.

Cambridge police moved to drop the disorderly conduct charge on Tuesday — without apology, but calling the case "regrettable."

That didn't end the national debate: Some said Gates was responsible for his own arrest because of his response to Crowley, while others said Gates was justified to yell at the officer.

Obama's criticism of the police only added fuel to the racial debate.

Meanwhile, the police union and fellow officers, black and white, rallied around Crowley, a decorated officer who in 1993 tried to give lifesaving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Reggie Lewis, a black Boston Celtics player who collapsed at practice. Lewis could not be revived.

Crowley, 42, had been selected to be a police academy instructor on how to avoid racial profiling.

A multiracial group of officers and union officials stood with Crowley on Friday at a news conference to show support and to ask Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who is black, to apologize for their comments. Patrick had called Gates' arrest "every black man's nightmare."

Obama's take on the situation: "My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in a way that it should have been resolved."

Democratic activists around the country were hopeful the president's latest remarks would quell the uproar.

"Let's concentrate on the business at hand — fixing the economy and health care for everybody," said Florida state Rep. Luis Garcia, a vice chair of the state Democratic Party.

In Michigan, 19-year-old Mitchell Rivard, the president of the Michigan State University College Democrats, expressed hope the controversy would indeed be a learning experience for the country.

"I think it's going to make people talk about race relations around the United States and in their hometowns," Rivard said. "This will be something that people are going to talk about across the nation in terms of how we can have better race relations."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_harvard_scholar;_ylt=AsfguSZXsdNNNg0Bb_9v PSes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNhcmkyZmxwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkw NzI1L3VzX29iYW1hX2hhcnZhcmRfc2Nob2xhcgRjcG9zAzEEcG 9zAzMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnNfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5 BHNsawNmdWxsbmJzcHN0b3I-

pepperpot

07-24-2009, 06:53 PM

Some of the commentary after the news tonight, I usually watch ABC, they interviewed a few blacks about this. They were going on about how they have to teach their children to be very respectful around police officers, not give any back talk, be cooperative and 'go with the flow, justice later'...... It was supposed to reflect how 'submissive' they must teach their children to be to authority figures and that it was unfair that they and their children must do this, and that it is basically because of their race.

:hmmmm:

The instances and recommendations they were saying they must endure......seemed so familiar to what my parents instilled in me growing up. Respect authority, don't answer back, be cooperative, remain calm and basically that you'd have your opportunity to 'defend' yourself/actions at a more appropriate time.

Have I been racially put upon all these years? or was I taught respect and common sense? :confused:

gmyers

07-24-2009, 06:57 PM

Thats not being submissive its showing respect for authority. Thats whats wrong with this country and chidren today. They don't respect any authority. And not just kids adults don't either. And the parents attitudes is what is making it that way.

speedygirl

07-24-2009, 07:03 PM

hblueeyes

07-24-2009, 10:13 PM

If an officer asks for ID &/or questions me and I am uncooperative, mouthy and verbally abusive, I too would be arrested for disorderly conduct or not obeying an officer. He was protecting the home and safety of the home at the time due to a 911 call placed by a neighbor. The officer acted correctly and the professor was out of line.

Me

observer

07-25-2009, 09:01 AM

This is an interesting perspective on the Crowley-Gates controversy.

The Henry Louis Gates situation is mainly a distraction, where the media has decided to document a sideshow instead of the hundreds of millions of people struggling every day with substandard health care coverage.

But there's also a serious policy component. Policemen should not be allowed to arrest someone for being an ******* in their own home. If that was the case, right-wing bloggers would all be doing 10-20. It appears clear, and I guess there may be audio tape to this effect, that the cop came to Gates' house, figured out that he was not a burglar, words were exchanged, and then the cop arrested him for disorderly conduct. That's really over the line of what cops should be allowed to do, regardless of the motivations, racial or otherwise.

The crime of disorderly conduct, beloved by cops who get into arguments with citizens, requires that the public be involved. Here's the relevant law from the Massachusetts Appeals Court, with citations and quotations omitted:

The statute authorizing prosecutions for disorderly conduct, G.L. c. 272, § 53, has been saved from constitutional infirmity by incorporating the definition of "disorderly" contained in § 250.2(1)(a) and (c) of the Model Penal Code. The resulting definition of "disorderly" includes only those individuals who, "with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof ... (a) engage in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or ... (c) create a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.' "Public" is defined as affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access.

The lesson most cops understand (apart from the importance of using the word "tumultuous," which features prominently in Crowley's report) is that a person cannot violate 272/53 by yelling in his own home.[
Read Crowley's report and stop on page two when he admits seeing Gates's Harvard photo ID. I don't care what Gates had said to him up until then, Crowley was obligated to leave. He had identified Gates. Any further investigation of Gates' right to be present in the house could have been done elsewhere. His decision to call HUPD seems disproportionate, but we could give him points for thoroughness if he had made that call from his car while keeping an eye on the house. Had a citizen refused to leave Gates' home after being told to, the cops could have made an arrest for trespass.
/B]
But for the sake of education, let's watch while Crowley makes it worse. Read on. He's staying put in Gates' home, having been asked to leave, and Gates is demanding his identification. What does Crowley do? He suggests that if Gates wants his name and badge number, he'll have to come outside to get it. What? Crowley may be forgiven for the initial approach and questioning, but surely he should understand that a citizen will be miffed at being questioned about his right to be in his own home. Perhaps Crowley could commit the following sentences to memory: "I'm sorry for disturbing you," and "I'm glad you're all right."

Spoiling for a fight, Crowley refuses to repeat his name and badge number. Most of us would hand over a business card or write the information on a scrap of paper. No, Crowley is upset and he's mad at Gates. He's been accused of racism. Nobody likes that, but if a cop can't take an insult without retaliating, he's in the wrong job. When a person is given a gun and a badge, we better make sure he's got a firm grasp on his temper. If Crowley had called Gates a name, I'd be disappointed in him, but Crowley did something much worse. He set Gates up for a criminal charge to punish Gates for his own embarrassment.

By telling Gates to come outside, Crowley establishes that he has lost all semblance of professionalism. It has now become personal and he wants to create a violation of 272/53. He gets Gates out onto the porch because a crowd has gathered providing onlookers who could experience alarm. Note his careful recitation (tumultuous behavior outside the residence in view of the public). And please do not overlook Crowley's final act of provocation. He tells an angry citizen to calm down while producing handcuffs. The only plausible question for the chief to ask about that little detail is: "Are you stupid, or do you think I'm stupid?" Crowley produced those handcuffs to provoke Gates and then arrested him. The decision to arrest is telling. If Crowley believed the charge was valid, he could have issued a summons. An arrest under these circumstances shows his true intent: to humiliate Gates.

The cop baited the guy into leaving the house so he could arrest him for making a cop feel bad.

I appreciate the work of law enforcement. But regardless of race, too many cops have the belief that if they get insulted, they have the right to turn that into an arresting offense. That's not the law whatsoever, nor should it be. It creates a chilling effect among the public not to call out bad behavior in law enforcement or raise your voice in any way. I know we're all supposed to believe that cops are saintly, but I live in LA. Police misconduct happens all the time, and we should be vigilant when it does.

Instead, the media takes the soccer ball and chases it into the corner, without any semblance of factual records or perspective. It becomes an emotional argument instead of a factual record of misconduct. We pay cops with tax money. We should not risk arrest when arguing with them

The Henry Louis Gates situation is mainly a distraction, where the media has decided to document a sideshow instead of the hundreds of millions of people struggling every day with substandard health care coverage.

But there's also a serious policy component. Policemen should not be allowed to arrest someone for being an ******* in their own home. If that was the case, right-wing bloggers would all be doing 10-20. It appears clear, and I guess there may be audio tape to this effect, that the cop came to Gates' house, figured out that he was not a burglar, words were exchanged, and then the cop arrested him for disorderly conduct. That's really over the line of what cops should be allowed to do, regardless of the motivations, racial or otherwise.

The crime of disorderly conduct, beloved by cops who get into arguments with citizens, requires that the public be involved. Here's the relevant law from the Massachusetts Appeals Court, with citations and quotations omitted:

The statute authorizing prosecutions for disorderly conduct, G.L. c. 272, § 53, has been saved from constitutional infirmity by incorporating the definition of "disorderly" contained in § 250.2(1)(a) and (c) of the Model Penal Code. The resulting definition of "disorderly" includes only those individuals who, "with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof ... (a) engage in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or ... (c) create a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.' "Public" is defined as affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access.

The lesson most cops understand (apart from the importance of using the word "tumultuous," which features prominently in Crowley's report) is that a person cannot violate 272/53 by yelling in his own home.

Read Crowley's report and stop on page two when he admits seeing Gates's Harvard photo ID. I don't care what Gates had said to him up until then, Crowley was obligated to leave. He had identified Gates. Any further investigation of Gates' right to be present in the house could have been done elsewhere. His decision to call HUPD seems disproportionate, but we could give him points for thoroughness if he had made that call from his car while keeping an eye on the house. Had a citizen refused to leave Gates' home after being told to, the cops could have made an arrest for trespass.

But for the sake of education, let's watch while Crowley makes it worse. Read on. He's staying put in Gates' home, having been asked to leave, and Gates is demanding his identification. What does Crowley do? He suggests that if Gates wants his name and badge number, he'll have to come outside to get it. What? Crowley may be forgiven for the initial approach and questioning, but surely he should understand that a citizen will be miffed at being questioned about his right to be in his own home. Perhaps Crowley could commit the following sentences to memory: "I'm sorry for disturbing you," and "I'm glad you're all right."

Spoiling for a fight, Crowley refuses to repeat his name and badge number. Most of us would hand over a business card or write the information on a scrap of paper. No, Crowley is upset and he's mad at Gates. He's been accused of racism. Nobody likes that, but if a cop can't take an insult without retaliating, he's in the wrong job. When a person is given a gun and a badge, we better make sure he's got a firm grasp on his temper. If Crowley had called Gates a name, I'd be disappointed in him, but Crowley did something much worse. [B]He set Gates up for a criminal charge to punish Gates for his own embarrassment.

observer

07-25-2009, 09:04 AM

By telling Gates to come outside, Crowley establishes that he has lost all semblance of professionalism. It has now become personal and he wants to create a violation of 272/53. He gets Gates out onto the porch because a crowd has gathered providing onlookers who could experience alarm.
Note his careful recitation (tumultuous behavior outside the residence in view of the public). And please do not overlook Crowley's final act of provocation. He tells an angry citizen to calm down while producing handcuffs.
The only plausible question for the chief to ask about that little detail is: "Are you stupid, or do you think I'm stupid?" Crowley produced those handcuffs to provoke Gates and then arrested him. The decision to arrest is telling. If Crowley believed the charge was valid, he could have issued a summons. An arrest under these circumstances shows his true intent: to humiliate Gates.

The cop baited the guy into leaving the house so he could arrest him for making a cop feel bad.

I appreciate the work of law enforcement. But regardless of race, too many cops have the belief that if they get insulted, they have the right to turn that into an arresting offense. That's not the law whatsoever, nor should it be. It creates a chilling effect among the public not to call out bad behavior in law enforcement or raise your voice in any way. I know we're all supposed to believe that cops are saintly, but I live in LA. Police misconduct happens all the time, and we should be vigilant when it does.

Instead, the media takes the soccer ball and chases it into the corner, without any semblance of factual records or perspective. It becomes an emotional argument instead of a factual record of misconduct. We pay cops with tax money. We should not risk arrest when arguing with them

http://www.crooksandliars.com/

jeanea33

07-25-2009, 09:06 AM

I want to hear the tapes. Lets hear them so we can all make our own opinion. I am getting kinda tired of the he say she says crap.

Jolie Rouge

07-25-2009, 12:28 PM

The latest on the Gates/Crowley drama
Posted by: Sister Toldjah on July 25, 2009 at 10:52 am

http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2009/07/25/the-latest-on-the-gatescrowley-drama/

It’s the issue that just won’t die:

— President Obama expressed “regret” yesterday – but did not apologize – for the choice of words he initially used to describe the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/07/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word.html

President Obama said Friday that he “could have calibrated” his words more carefully in the controversy over the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. but added that he believed there was an “overreaction” by both sides in a case that has inflamed racial tensions across the country.

Mr. Obama said he hoped the case became “a teachable moment” to be used to improve relations between minorities and police officers.

Oh yes – it’s certainly been a “teachable moment” – at least of terms of how we know our President will use issues like this to his advantage, anyway. http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2009/07/23/obama-solidifies-his-position-as-non-post-racial-president/

— Related to Obama’s “change in tone,” he has also expressed an interest in having both Crowley, who he called Friday, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072400451_3.html?sid=ST2009072301777 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/24/obama-phones-cop-racial-incident/ and Gates visit the WH to “have a beer” with him, in an apparent gesture meant to bridge the racial divide. Gates has responded by saying he would be interested as well … as a way of “using” his “racial profiling experience” as a way to improve the justice system for black people in the future: http://www.theroot.com/views/gates-says-yes-beer-crowley

“It was very kind of the President to phone me today. Vernon Jordan is absolutely correct: my unfortunate experience will only have a larger meaning if we can all use this to diminish racial profiling and to enhance fairness and equity in the criminal justice system for poor people and for people of color.

And to that end, I look forward to studying the history of racial profiling in a new documentary for PBS. I told the President that my principal regret was that all of the attention paid to his deeply supportive remarks during his press conference had distracted attention from his health care initiative. I am pleased that he, too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sgt. [James] Crowley for a beer with the President will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige.

After all, I first proposed that Sgt. Crowley and I meet as early as last Monday. If my experience leads to the lessening of the occurrence of racial profiling, then I would find that enormously gratifying. Because, in the end, this is not about me at all; it is about the creation of a society in which ‘equal justice before law’ is a lived reality.”

Translation: I’m going to milk my “victimhood” status for all it is worth.

Yes, I’m sure that will go a long way in “healing” the gash opened by his wild overreaction to police officers at his home responding to a call about a burglary in progress. I hope Crowley declines the offer and still keeps on the table the possibility of suing Gates.

I should note, BTW, that Crowley is a “police academy expert” on racial profiling: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99KBEAO1&show_article=1

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.

— Unified, multi-racial police unions are standing behind Crowley and are demanding apologies from both Obama and MA Governor Deval Patrick, who described the arrest of Gates as “every black man’s worst nightmare.” I hope those unions are not holding their collective breath. http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/police_unions_c.html

— A black police officer who was at the scene of the arrest says Gates was acting very strangely, and supports Crowley “100%.” How soon before the cries of “Uncle Tom!” start? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-harvard-scholar-arresting-officer,0,4731766.story

— Professor Stanley Fish, who has a blog at the NYT, has weighed in as a friend of Gates http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/henry-louis-gates-deja-vu-all-over-again/ and suggests that the arrest incident is “no different” from when Gates first went to work at Duke University 20 years ago and had to suffer from racial stereotypes. He and Obama – who is still having to deal with the “birther” issue, are in the same boat, according to Fish. They have been convicted of the crime of being “Housed While Black”: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/cnn-president-brushes-off-criticism-of-lou-dobbs-continued-floating-of-birther-theories/

It isn’t the legitimacy of Obama’s birth certificate that’s the problem for the birthers. The problem is again the legitimacy of a black man living in a big house, especially when it’s the White House. Just as some in Durham and Cambridge couldn’t believe that Gates belonged in the neighborhood, so does a vocal minority find it hard to believe that an African-American could possibly be the real president of the United States.

Gates and Obama are not only friends; they are in the same position, suspected of occupying a majestic residence under false pretenses. And Obama is a double offender. Not only is he guilty of being Housed While Black; he is the first in American history guilty of being P.W.B., President While Black.

Liberal White Guilt rears its ugly head – again. Fish, fish, and the fishwrap of record have something in common today: They all stink at the same time.

Jolie Rouge

07-25-2009, 12:53 PM

Good reads this morning:

– Patterico: The Officer Didn’t Stereotype Henry Louis Gates — Henry Louis Gates Stereotyped the Officer http://patterico.com/2009/07/24/the-officer-didnt-stereotype-henry-louis-gates-henry-louis-gates-stereotyped-the-officer/

– Jimmie Bise: Upper-Class Gates and No-Class Ambinder http://www.sundriesshack.com/2009/07/24/upper-class-gates-and-no-class-ambinder/

– Heather Mac Donald: Promoting Racial Paranoia http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTU4MGE4MDkwYzhiYjY4OTk2OWRlZjcyMWY0MjFkNmE=

– Dan Riehl: A Gatesgate At Henry Gates’ “Bogus” Charity? http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/07/a-gatesgate-at-henry-gates-bogus-charity.html

Is Henry Gates A Crook?
Dan Riehl discovered a possible reason why Harvard professor Henry Gates famously acted like such a arrogant jerk when approached by a police officer investigating a breaking and entering call last week.

Gates has been running an charity that seems to bank most of its donations, and may have thought the cops were coming to arrest him for that.

It's too soon to know for sure if Gates has done anything illegal with the funds that his charity hasn't properly accounted for, but I was Gates, I wouldn't worry.

If Obama Justice Department will cover for the New Black Panthers, I'm sure they'll cover for a personal friend, even if he acted "stupidly."

http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/290099.php

[b]Harvard plot thickens
by Smitty (via Memeorandum)

The Harvard plot thickens just a bit.

Dan Riehl has some excellent analysis of the seemingly-uncharitable charity the Inkwell Foundation, Inc. Possible motive for taking a reactionary stance towards a policeman?

Big Hollywood had an Amy Holmes post with some Harvard context, about non-students invading the Yard for nefarious reasons. http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aholmes/2009/07/24/inside-harvards-gates/

Carol at No Sheeples Here quotes the good POTUS about having the good fellas over to discuss the kerfluffle he helped build: http://nosheepleshere.blogspot.com/2009/07/gates-quiddick-frenzy-without-end-at.html

"So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about—my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House. He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn. I informed him that I can't get the press off my lawn."

Carol offers

Mr. President, that’s NOT your lawn, it’s the people’s lawn and the White House is NOT your house it is the people’s house.

So, let's put this together. There was gross, rampant, institutionalized racism at one time in the United States. Since then, we've had plenty of people of all ethnic backgrounds arrive in academia and in society who are anointed to preach the evils of the path, and, purportedly, lead us into some shiny, post-racial future.

What Are The Entry Criteria For That Future?

When do we take the police report at face value, and just admit that somebody was disorderly? Because it looks more as though we've simply got a priesthood that is going to manufacture the occasional ritual to perpetuate itself, becoming the very thing it set out to despise.

http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2009/07/harvard-plot-thickens.html

----

That Non-Hate Crime
Erick Erickson
Saturday, July 25th at 11:44AM EDT

Moe wrote about it here. http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/07/25/non-hate-crime-in-austin-tx/ I want to say more about it.

According to the Austin Stateman, a brick was thrown through the window of a 4 year old’s bedroom. The brick had a note attached to it that said “Keep Eastside Black. Keep Eastside Strong.”

The white homeowner has lived in the neighborhood for ten years.

Here is the money paragraph from the article: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/07/24/brick_thrown_through_window_of.html

Police have not classified this incident as a hate crime, said Austin Police Sgt. Richard Stresing, because hate crimes target an individual specifically because of an identifying characteristic, like race. Police say the incident has been classified as criminal mischief and deadly conduct.

Let’s reverse the story. A brick is thrown through the window of a 4 year old’s bedroom. The brick has a note attached that says “Keep Eastside White. Keep Eastside Strong.” The homeowner is black and has lived in the neighborhood for ten years.

By this afternoon, the NAACP would be holding protests in the neighborhood. The police would be forwarding the matter to the Justice Department as a hate crime. Barack Obama would be on television condemning the small minded act of hatred.

But because this was a white family, the presumption is that this was not a hate crime until proven otherwise. Were it a black family in a white neighborhood, the presumption would be that it was a hate crime. In fact, to be clear, this may not have been a hate crime. We know, however, that the starting presumption would be that there was a hate crime were the races reversed.

Congress is now considering hate crimes legislation that will impact the whole nation this way. We will, in effect, nationally be treating crime more or less seriously based solely on the race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation of the victim. We’ll have gone from racial preferences for jobs and education to racial preferences for crime solving.

And these preferences and prosecutorial dumpster dives into the psychological biases of criminals will be fraught with bias and distortion that will overshadow the very simple fact that the bad guy should be punished for being bad, period.

Hate crimes derive from the leftist notion that we can drive hate from society. We’ve seen in Germany, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and elsewhere just what steps the left will eventually take to drive hate from society. In modern democracies, the effort may not be genocidal, but it is just as psychopathic.

Comments

Saturday, July 25th

This is terrible.

Something like this happened on July 4th. A group of black teenagers attacked a White man in Ohio while screaming “This our world, this is a black world!”

Guess what? Police didn’t consider it a “hate” crime”.

http://randyhaddock.com/post/138447275/it-came-after-a-family-night-of-celebrating

The way you decide whether a crime is a hate crime or not is to determine beyond a reasonable doubt what a person was THINKING during the commission of the crime…

It’s already been started by using the IRS to regulate speech coming from the pulpit, they are trying to institute it with a new fairness doctrine, (they’ll call it something else…but the results are the same) and this is just one more step toward censorship and thought control by the government and those who control it!

[quote]Equal protection under the law? Can this eventually end up before the Supreme Court?

What are they going to do when it is a Black on Asian crime, or Latino on Black? Just like they can attack Christianity and even Judaism, but it is all PC when it comes to Islam. In this country, no religion or race should be afforded any more value than any others.

http://media.townhall.com/Townhall/Car/b/gm070802.jpg

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/07/25/that-non-hate-crime/

gmyers

07-25-2009, 01:10 PM

That man is going to milk this for all its worth. Really likes playing the victim.

Jolie Rouge

07-25-2009, 01:33 PM

A black police officer who was at the scene of the arrest says Gates was acting very strangely, and supports Crowley “100%.” How soon before the cries of “Uncle Tom!” start?

CNN's Rick Sanchez: Hispanics Working for Fox News are Sellouts
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/07/25/cnns-rick-sanchez-hispanics-fox-news-are-sellouts

Did you know that if you're Hispanic and work for the Fox News Channel, you're a sellout?

Well, that's what CNN's Rick Sanchez amazingly believes.

Inside Cable News discovered a few rather interesting tweets by Sanchez on Friday which are sure to raise a few eyebrows -- especially from Hispanics working at Fox (h/t NBer Thomas Stewart): http://insidecablenews.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/tweet-of-the-day-6/ http://twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn/

if i didn't believe in doing right thing, i'd be rich anchoring at fox news

do u know how much money i'd make if i'd sold out as hispanic and worked at fox news, r u kidding, one problem, looking in mirror

me? what? i live in burbs, wife, four kids, dog, turtle.. two jobs... yeah... i'm a real rich guy, right?

@lomeinie fox in prime time is not news, not even close. i'm a newsman. where's the paradox?

@Garfug he asked if fox gave me a million. i say no where near enough

Readers should be advised that this is the same man who blamed Fox News and conservative talkers for the cop killings in Pittsburgh back in April http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2009/04/08/cnns-rick-sanchez-blames-fox-news-right-wing-radio-cop-killings and earlier this month asked if Sarah Palin was resigning as Alaska governor because she was pregnant again. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/07/03/cnns-sanchez-palin-quitting-because-shes-pregnant-again

Yeah, Rick...you're a "newsman." :rolleyes:

Exit question: regardless what he's making, who thinks Sanchez is WAY overpaid?

*****Update: FNC's Julie Banderas responds via Twitter (h/t Hot Air) --

As a wise Latina woman, I have no comment other than to say...

...if I were Rick Sanchez, I wouldn't look in the mirror, period.

Jolie Rouge

07-25-2009, 09:26 PM

7/25/2009
Henry Louis Gates: Isn’t It Time We Moved On?

http://patterico.com/2009/07/25/henry-louis-gates-isnt-it-time-we-moved-on/

It appears Henry Louis Gates wants to move on :

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says he is ready to move on from his arrest by a white police officer, hoping to use the encounter to improve fairness in the criminal justice system and saying “in the end, this is not about me at all.”

When they say it’s not about them, it’s about them.

I can understand why Gates wants to move on. His stereotypical narrative of Sgt. Crowley as a racist cop has been pretty well demolished by the facts on the ground. The more we learn about this incident, the more it sounds like Gates was belligerent and in the wrong. Who knows? maybe he had a few too many beers on the plane back from China. For whatever reason, he decided Crowley was a racist simply because Crowley told him to “step outside,” rather than bowing and scraping to his eminence the fancy Harvard professor. A lot of people in the country are starting to think Gates was just a jerk. Time to move on!

Gates makes it clear that if we’re not going to “Move On,” then he wants any future debate to be conducted on his terms:

I am pleased that he, too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sgt. Crowley for a beer with the President will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige.

Yeah. You know, I strongly urge Sgt. Crowley not to have that beer. It’s clear Gates wants to condescendingly “teach” Crowley why his actions really were racist — and if he just understood the history of racism in this country, he would understand why he’s such a racist. Before you know it, Sgt. Crowley will be wishing the Secret Service hadn’t taken his handcuffs away. Best to just skip it entirely, sir.

Anyway, why would you have a beer with someone who has called you a liar? In an interview with Gayle King http://siriusradio.com/oprahradio , Gates claimed that Sgt. Crowley — a guy whom Obama called a decent man — falsified his police report. He directly accuses the officer of making up the quote where Gates said “I’ll speak to your mama outside.”

I wouldn’t have a beer with someone who called me a liar.

:cheers:

there’s more to this than meets the eye. Gates apparently became incensed when Sgt. Crowley asked if he was alone in the house. Logical for Crowley (he was investigating a break in by two black men).

But why would Gates go ballistic over this seemingly straightforward question? Especially given the earlier break-in. Don’t forget, a student was murdered only a few blocks away from Gates’ home (at Kirkland House dormitory on the Harvard campus) less than 2 months ago.

It’s on the arrest report that his door was unsecurable because of a prior break-in. This must be the only black man in America who leaves his door unsecured while going on a trip to China.

Was there some reason for Gates’ over-reaction beyond the “don’t you know who I am” snobbery? The earlier break-in may provide some clue ’cause something’s not right. Perhaps Gates knew who was responsible for the earlier forced entry which would explain why he wasn’t concerned for his safety and more welcoming to the police.

Let’s wait for the recordings to be released. I hope they will be, and my guess is that they will be leaked, mainly due to the President holding forth on this topic.

Anyway, I hope that the transcript and Professor Gates’ accusations are juxtaposed.

But I am sure that the Left will shrug their shoulders and say that it is just part of the metanarrative or some such thing. After all, Nobel Prizes in Literature have been given to people who out and out fabricated large portions of the autobiography (which was one of the major reasons the prize was awarded).

Remember how it was okay to investigate “Joe the Plumber”? I realize that no one will put Professor Gates under a similar microscope, but I would bet good money that this academician felt that the investigations of “Joe the Plumber” were perfectly okay.

But when the shoe is on the other foot—then we hear all about privacy and (just wait) more spurious charges of racism.

Because “…that’s different™…” is the new catchphrase of the modern progressive.

See also : http://townhall.com/blog/g/4840bc36-4939-4f8e-83e8-28815294cb56

Jolie Rouge

07-27-2009, 09:22 AM

So now we have shades of racism ?

Monday, July 27, 2009
The "Olive Colored" Skin Defense
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/07/olive-colored-skin-defense.html

The big, breaking news of the day on the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. case is that the person who called the police to report a possible break-in, Lucia Whalen, denies that in the phone call she identified the race of the two alleged perpetrators, which supposedly contradicts the police report:

The woman, identified in a police report on file in Cambridge District Court as 40-year-old Lucia Whalen, saw the backs of both men and did not know their race when she called 911, said Wendy J. Murphy, a Boston lawyer from New England School of Law. Whalen phoned police, Murphy said, because she was aware of recent break-ins in the area.

In an interview last night, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas said it was ac curate that Whalen did not mention race in her 911 call. He acknowledged that a police report of the incident did include a race reference. The report says Whalen observed “what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the front porch’’ of a Ware Street home on July 16.

That reference is there, said Haas, because the police report is a summary. Its descriptions - like the race of the two men - were collected during the inquiry, not necessarily from the initial 911 call, he said.

Actually, this news is not big, although it is breaking. The Police Commissioner is correct. The police report does not say that the race of the alleged perpetrators was identified in the 911 call. It says that Whalen identified their race when she met the police outside the house. So this breaking news story is based on a misreading of the police report.

But what is more interesting is that in the statement released by Whalen's attorney, Whalen emphasized that Whalen has "olive colored" skin:

"Contrary to published reports that a 'white woman' called 911 and reported seeing 'two black men' trying to gain entry into Mr. Gates home, the woman, who has olive colored skin and is of Portuguese descent, told the 911 operator that she observed 'two men' at the home," Murphy's statement read.

Is this what we have come to?

Measuring skin tone as an indicator of intent?

So if Whalen were black, no racial profiling; if white, racial profiling; but olive colored people? :hmmmm2:

Whalen's reaction is not surprising. Whalen has been pilloried by the blogosphere as being a white racist neighbor (actually passer-by) who only called the police because she didn't feel that two black men on the porch of a nice house could be up to anything but no good. So it is natural, but unfortunate, that Whalen falls into the trap of playing the skin-tone game.

But the skin-tone game is a dead end. Whalen will find that out soon enough.

See also : We Need The Truth, Not Beer and Apologies http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-need-truth-not-beer-and-apologies.html

Race and Class In Harvard Square http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/07/race-and-class-in-harvard-square.html

SHELBYDOG

07-27-2009, 10:15 AM

On Thankgiving of 1998 I was kidnapped, robbed & car-jacked. When I finally escaped out of my own car in a very bad ghetto street in Gary, IN & ran screaming for help, some nice black woman heard me coming down the street screaming & let me into her house. I dialed 911 which was the Gary Police Dept & explained everything to the dispatcher. I was than asked if I was a caucasian woman & when I answered yes, no officer ever showed up at the address that night o get me. The black woman gave me a ride to my grandmothers house right down the road 1 hour later, where we waited 3 more hours for the police.
This was very racist & very wrong, but this is okay in a minority city..
I went to the police station & raised all kinds of hell to the point that the police sargent went back to replay & listen to my 911 cry for help & offered up the city to pay for the tow job on my car that was recovered 3 days later.

I wasn't hurt or in need of medical help, I wasn't shot or raped, so the police weren't at any type of fault!

End of story.............

pepperpot

07-28-2009, 11:06 AM

Shelby....that really happened to you? How horrible. I'm glad you are alright....that's terrifying.

Jolie Rouge

07-28-2009, 09:34 PM

:lol: ;) :) :lol: ;) :)

‘Racial Harmony Through Beer’ initiative kicks off Thursday
By Doug Powers • July 28, 2009 11:42 AM

A date and time has been set for the re-education of Officer Crowley — I mean, some meaningful dialog on race:

A White House official tells ABC News that Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley will have beers with President Obama Thursday at 6 pm ET.

“The president sees this as an opportunity to get dialogue going on an issue that’s been historically troubling,” senior adviser David Axelrod told CBS Sunday.

In this case, the dialog was the problem. Traditionally, adding alcohol to any already tense situation doesn’t work out very well, but I’m sure things will be different just as soon as Crowley settles in for a mandatory viewing of the Rodney King video.

As I wrote in my column yesterday, The Gates of Babble-On http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=105092 I was disappointed that Officer Crowley accepted the invitation, because to do so is a tantamount to an admission of guilt to a charge of racism. This much is certain: Crowley isn’t being invited over to be the recipient of an apology or even to engage in “meaningful dialog” – but for an intervention, community organizer-style.

I was hoping that Crowley would only accept Obama’s offer if the president and Gates also agreed to meet with him and some of his fellow officers at the Cambridge Police Station.

In any case, maybe this meeting might at least inspire a commercial:

Bud Light presents: Real men of racial genius

(♫ “Reeaaal men of racial geniuuussss …” ♫)

Today, we salute you, Mr. anti-racial profiling racial profiler guy.

(♫ “Mr. Anti-Racial Profiling Racial Profiler Guy!” ♫)

Armed with knowledge of a long history of past injustice and a laundry list of “yo momma” jokes, you proudly defend yourself against the racist cop who showed up assuming you were a crook. And why? Because somehow that racist made one of your own neighbors call the cops on you.

(♫ “Put that night-stick away!” ♫)

Undaunted in your quest to prove that the best way to win the long struggle to end profiling is by assuming that all white cops are racists, you demonstrate that oppression has to have been experienced to be understood. And who better understands the nightmare of minority oppression in America than a university professor who earns a high six-figure salary and has summers off?

So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, oh beacon of blind assumptions. Because ironically, even though the honkies are out to get you, you’ll always be welcome in the White House.

:rolling: :rolling: :rolling:

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

---

I’m sure if it was up to Crowley, the last place he’d be on Thursday is the WH having a brewski with Obama and Gates. Rather he was told by his chief or someone else higher up in the chain of command that “you will show up and you will have a good time.” Anyone who’s been in the service industry (and the police force is the same) has had such a moment and knows what I am talking about.

From hearing him speak on this issue, Crowley appears to be a pretty sharp dude. I’m sure he’ll go in, play it low-key and get the hell out of there asap.

A word to the wise, Sgt. Wear a wire!

:goodnight:

SHELBYDOG

07-28-2009, 09:53 PM

Now that is funny! :lol

Everyone is having a field day with the kegger party that is going to happen at the WH on talk shows tonight.

pepperpot

07-29-2009, 06:01 AM

Bud Light presents: Real men of racial genius

(♫ “Reeaaal men of racial geniuuussss …” ♫)

:rofl: :rofl: :lol

SurferGirl

07-29-2009, 08:57 AM

Does anyone else think it's strange that they will be drinking their beer on a picnic table outside? I guess Obama doesn't want the police officer in the white house. It just seems rude to me. Both Obama and Gates should apologize for their misconduct.

It seems like the Harvard crowd lacks common sense. Everyone knows there are good reasons that the office wanted Gates to step outside. One of the reasons is that someone inside may have been pointing a gun at him. There is no excuse to be that rude to a police officer.

ElleGee

07-29-2009, 09:01 AM

Does anyone else think it's strange that they will be drinking their beer on a picnic table outside? I guess Obama doesn't want the police officer in the white house. It just seems rude to me. Both Obama and Gates should apologize for their misconduct.

Why does them drinking a beer outside have to be some type of conspiracy? Maybe b/c it's July and it's nice outside? I'd rather drink a beer outside in the fresh air instead of inside. Plus a picnic table is more informal and a nice place to have a chat.

ahippiechic

07-29-2009, 09:20 AM

We drink out on balcony sometimes when friends come over. And even at dusk, it's over 100* here. It's just nice to be outside sometimes.

krisharry

07-29-2009, 11:25 AM

IMO, racism is alive and well in this country. However, every single thing that happens is not racism. I wish people would stop crying racism over everything because it just diminshes the reactions to actual racism out there.

I also see nothing wrong w/having a beer outside. If you were to come to my home and it is nice out, the first thing I would probably do is invite you out to my deck to have a drink.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:25 AM

Why does them drinking a beer outside have to be some type of conspiracy? Maybe b/c it's July and it's nice outside? I'd rather drink a beer outside in the fresh air instead of inside. Plus a picnic table is more informal and a nice place to have a chat.

Because conservatives wouldn't have it any other way. No matter where they sit to have their cold beer & talk it'll be wrong. The fact that everyone involved is getting together to hash this ordeal out drives the conservatives nuts, they don't find peace at anything a good thing obviously.
Just MHO!

gmyers

07-29-2009, 11:28 AM

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:30 AM

911 caller in Gates case hurt by racist label

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer – 30 mins ago
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The woman who dialed 911 to report a possible break-in at the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. said Wednesday she was pained to be wrongly labeled a racist based on words she never said and hoped the recently released recording of the call would put the controversy to rest.

With a trembling voice, Lucia Whalen, 40, said she was out walking to lunch in Gates' Cambridge neighborhood near Harvard University when an elderly woman without a cell phone stopped her because she was concerned there was a possible burglary in progress.

Whalen was vilified as a racist on blogs after a police report said she described the possible burglars as "two black males with backpacks."

Tapes of the call released earlier this week revealed that Whalen did not mention race. When pressed by a dispatcher on whether the men were white, black or Hispanic, she said one of them might have been Hispanic.

"Now that the tapes are out, I hope people can see that I tried to be careful and honest with my words," Whalen said. "It never occurred to me that the way I reported what I saw be analyzed by an entire nation."

Cambridge police Commissioner Robert Haas acknowledged that the police report contains a reference to race, but said the report is merely a summary of events. The arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, has said his information on the race of the suspects came during a brief encounter with Whalen outside Gates' house; she contradicted that Wednesday, saying she made no such description.

The arrest of Gates for disorderly conduct in his own home by a white police officer sparked a national debate over racial profiling and police conduct. The controversy intensified when President Obama said police "acted stupidly" when they arrested Gates, his friend.

Gates has said he was outraged and has demanded an apology from Crowley; Crowley said he followed protocol and responded to Gates' "tumultuous behavior" appropriately.

Whalen, a Harvard alumni magazine employee who is a first-generation Portuguese-American, said she lived in fear during the immediate aftermath of the arrest when she was dogged for comment and maligned based on the information attributed to her in the police report.

"The criticism at first was so painful I was frankly afraid to say anything. People called me racist. Some even said threatening things that made me fear for my safety," said Whalen, whose husband, Paul, put his hand on her shoulder in comfort her as she spoke. "I knew the truth, but I didn't speak up right away because I did not want to add to the controversy."

She said she felt more comfortable speaking publicly after the tapes were released. She refused to answer any questions about the police report or what she saw that day.

"I am proud to have been raised by two loving parents who instilled in me values including love one another, be kind to strangers and do not judge people based on race, ethnicity or any other feature than their character," she said.

Obama, the nation's first black president, has said he chose his words badly when he reacted to his friend's arrest, and he has invited Crowley and Gates to meet with him at the White House for a beer on Thursday evening.

Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy, said the three men — Gates, Crowley and Obama — all overreacted, while Whalen kept her cool.

"The three highly trained guys who reacted badly are getting together for a beer," Murphy said. "The one person whose actions have been exemplary will be at work tomorrow in Cambridge. I don't know — maybe it's a guy thing. She doesn't like beer anyway."

Whalen said she has worked in Cambridge for 15 years and hopes that the community's reputation would be restored. She also said she respected both Gates and the Cambridge police department and hoped her decision to finally speak out would not add to the controversy.

"I was called racist and I was a target of scorn and ridicule because of the things I never said," she said. "The criticism hurt me as a person, but it also hurt the community of Cambridge."

(This version CORRECTS the day of week to Wednesday.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090729/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_caller

This is a common problem with our society, here's a lady who was doing a good neighborly duty & is now hurt & being labeled a racist......

FFS!

gmyers

07-29-2009, 11:31 AM

Because conservatives wouldn't have it any other way. No matter where they sit to have their cold beer & talk it'll be wrong. The fact that everyone involved is getting together to hash this ordeal out drives the conservatives nuts, they don't find peace at anything a good thing obviously.
Just MHO!

What does being conservative have to do with this conversation? You like to put people in categories when its not necessary. Its republicans do this or conservatives do that with you on every topic.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:34 AM

What does being conservative have to do with this conversation? You like to put people in categories when its not necessary. Its republicans do this or conservatives do that with you on every topic.

Oh I don't know, why did SG find a problem with whether they had their beer inside or outside. I use conservative when I don't want to pick on SG directly, is this okay with you or do I need your permission 1st b4 I type my opinions now?

gmyers

07-29-2009, 11:44 AM

Oh I don't know, why did SG find a problem with whether they had their beer inside or outside. I use conservative when I don't want to pick on SG directly, is this okay with you or do I need your permission 1st b4 I type my opinions now?

You don't need my permission for anything but people keep saying people are labeling or saying stuff about them for being liberal or democrat but you're doing the same thing when you keep saying conservatives or republicans do or say this or that. I guess we're all guilty of doing it at one time or another.
So I guess none of us should get mad when the other does it.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:44 AM

I believe people use the race card to get out of things. I know they do because I've heard African Americans say they do. They don't want to be stopped by a Black cop because they can't use it then. I've heard them say this myself.

Nothing like labeling the entire African American race as looking for a free ride by using the race card.....

gmyers

07-29-2009, 11:46 AM

Nothing like labeling the entire African American race as looking for a free ride by using the race card.....

When they say they do it themselves I don't see where thats labeling. They even laugh about it when they're saying it. Not all African Americans but some do.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:50 AM

You don't need my permission for anything but people keep saying people are labeling or saying stuff about them for being liberal or democrat but you're doing the same thing when you keep saying conservatives or republicans do or say this or that. I guess we're all guilty of doing it at one time or another.
So I guess none of us should get mad when the other does it.

I thought I was being courtiuos by not picking on certain people in here, guess I'm wrong.

So take it all out on me here, I'm a democrat & I'm usually giving MHO when I speak of republicans or conservatives & it's usually on a political thread, so once again no matter how I answer this I'm wrong in your mind Gymers..

people keep saying people are labeling or saying stuff about them for being liberal or democrat but you're doing the same thing when you keep saying conservatives or republicans do or say this or that.

SurferGirl

07-29-2009, 11:52 AM

Oh I don't know, why did SG find a problem with whether they had their beer inside or outside. I use conservative when I don't want to pick on SG directly, is this okay with you or do I need your permission 1st b4 I type my opinions now?

Why do you have a need to pick on me or anyone else for that matter, maybe you should talk to a professional about that.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:52 AM

Not all African Americans but some do.

Thank you! :bouquet

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 11:55 AM

Why do you have a need to pick on me or anyone else for that matter, maybe you should talk to a professional about that.

Gymers this exactly why I use republicans & conservative instead of names......

SG it might be time once again for your meds dear! :)

SurferGirl

07-29-2009, 12:01 PM

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 12:04 PM

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 05:27 PM

Comics find something to laugh about with Gates

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer David Bauder, Ap Television Writer – Wed Jul 29, 4:51 pm ET
NEW YORK – Late-night comics found a few things to laugh about in the racially charged arrest of a Harvard professor — once beer was added to the equation.

President Barack Obama's invitation to the two men involved to hoist a few at the White House on Thursday opened the comedy floodgates. Before that, the late-night TV world dominated by white comics largely stayed away from the subject of Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s confrontation at his home with white police officer Joseph Crowley.

"Alcohol usually cools things off — have you noticed that?" CBS' David Letterman said on Tuesday night.

Letterman joked that Vice President Joe Biden has already been put to work buying a keg for the meeting.

"If it goes well, then President Obama is going to invite (South Carolina) Gov. and Mrs. Sanford to come up and have a beer," he said.

NBC's "Tonight" show host Conan O'Brien said that if the White House meeting works out, "Obama is going to have Ahmadinejad and Netanyahu over for Jaeger bombs."

Since O'Brien and his NBC late-night colleague, Jimmy Fallon, both have audiences with a concentration of young men, beer was something they could appreciate. "How cool is that?" Fallon said.

"They'll come over, one beer will lead to two, two will lead to nine, next thing you know everyone will forget that they were ever mad at each other," he said. "They'll start doing Jaeger shots out of Betsy Ross' thimble. They'll make prank phone calls on the Red Phone. Someone will be like, `Let's TP the Capitol building!'"

But none of the comics had addressed the topic in their monologues until the invitation from Obama.

Gates was arrested July 16 for disorderly conduct after a 911 call reported two men on Gates front porch and a possible break-in. Gates' arrest in his own home by a white police officer sparked a national debate over racial profiling and police conduct. The controversy intensified when Obama said police "acted stupidly" when they arrested his friend. The charge was later dropped.

Gates, director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, has said he was outraged and has demanded an apology from Crowley; Crowley said he followed protocol and responded to Gates' "tumultuous behavior" appropriately.

Obama, the nation's first black president, has said he chose his words badly when he reacted to his friend's arrest, and extended his invitation to Crowley and Gates for a chat at the White House over brewskis.

Humor is often the best way to deal with sticky situations, comic D.L. Hughley said Wednesday.

"I've never been one to ask permission to tell a joke," he said. "It's kind of false humility to pretend like you don't want to say something when we do. What it says is that we are still a country that is licking its wounds."

Hughley doesn't believe the Gates incident was a case of racial profiling, and thought it wouldn't have escalated if the professor had known one of his neighbors had called the police. He also doesn't think it will be a lasting issue.

"If Al Sharpton ain't marching, then it ain't a big deal," he said.

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were quicker to the story last week, but talked around the edges. Stewart targeted the media for spending so much time on Obama's initial remark about how Cambridge, Mass., police had reacted during the incident.

Colbert noted that police had dropped charges on Gates even though "he committed the perfect crime, robbing his own home. Think about it. He knew exactly when he wouldn't be home."

Stewart's "The Daily Show" also talked about the incident on Tuesday, poking fun at Obama for an awkward attempt to dial back from his original characterization of Crowley's actions.

Comedy Central also flew in Larry Wilmore from California, identified as the show's "senior black correspondent," for the most direct jokes at Gates' expense on late-night TV.

He showed a picture of the stocky professor and asked, "What's his black anthem? We shall overeat?"

Wilmore noted that Gates had said "yo mama" during his confrontation with Crowley.

"How many decades has he been holding that in?" Wilmore said. "Did he call him a jive turkey, too?"

Wilmore did have one thing in common with white comics: He couldn't resist a beer joke.

"Alcohol — that'll end well," he said. "Booze isn't how you resolve a racial conflict. It's how you start one."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090729/ap_en_tv/us_harvard_professor_comics;_ylt=AgekQ.tgq.geKQBin SewG8RxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTNkZjRzNG1zBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwM DkwNzI5L3VzX2hhcnZhcmRfcHJvZmVzc29yX2NvbWljcwRjcG9 zAzIEcG9zAzQEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnNfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX 3N0b3J5BHNsawNjb21pY3NmaW5kc28-

He's dead right on that.

speedygirl

07-29-2009, 05:57 PM

A little abstract thought on the racial issue.
A few months ago I was watching a friend's little girl because my friend was in the hospital. This friend does happen to be black. Anyway I loaded up the kids to go to McDonald's for lunch and to play in the play area. While we were there a family from India walked in and the man was wearing a turban. The little girl I was watching was terrified and started screaming, she's 5 years old. I found out later that she saw something on the news while her parents were watching the news and she thought the people were terrorist and would bomb her. The little girl isn't a racist at all but saw people in middle eastern headgear on TV and they were doing bad things so she thought anyone wearing headgear was bad.

This incident can become a good teaching moment for a parent. This the time when a parent can expunge any seeds that might be planted and lead to racism. If the parent doesn't take the time to explain the difference then fear and stereotypes are reinforced.

Okay a little OT but this has been bugging me for some time. I might be a little picky but I really get offended with this generalization

It seems like the Harvard crowd lacks common sense.

One of my kids is an alum of one of their grad schools and has more common sense in his pinky then others have in their entire bodies. I'm tired of people assuming that Harvard grads are liberal, elitists without a moral compass and no common sense. There are plenty of grounded people from middle class families like ours, who worked hard to get a good education and are stereotyped by some.

I've seen a number of people making comments about what they think Harvard people are like and I can assure you, I've met a lot of great kids and adults.

SurferGirl

07-29-2009, 06:29 PM

speedygirl

07-29-2009, 06:33 PM

Maybe I should always remember to add things like many or some or whatever but I've worked with several people that graduated from some prestigious schools and most of them lack common sense and for the first several years they work they think they know it all but create one disaster after another.

It is a good rule of thumb. Some people get that impression by a the small sampling they know when the majority are good, focused individuals. It's like that with any group of people.

SurferGirl

07-29-2009, 07:56 PM

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32920

How About A National Conversation on Race Hoaxes?
by Ann Coulter

07/29/2009

You could not ask for a more perfect illustration of the thesis of my latest book, Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault on America, than the black president of the United States attacking a powerless white cop for arresting a black Harvard professor -- in a city with a black mayor and a state with a black governor -- as the professor vacations in Martha's Vineyard.

In modern America, the alleged "victim" is always really the aggressor, and the alleged "aggressor" is always the true victim.

President Barack Obama planted the question during a health care press conference, hoping he could satisfy the Chicago Sun-Times, which has been accusing him of not being black enough. He somehow imagined that the rest of the country might not notice the president of the United States gratuitously attacking a cop in a case of alleged "racial profiling."

Oops.

Suddenly, with the glare of the national spotlight being turned on a small local story, it became clear that there was no "racial profiling" involved -- other than by the black Harvard professor, who lorded his credentials and connections over a white working-class cop.

We wouldn't have known about this case at all if the professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., hadn't blast e-mailed the universe that he was harassed by racist cops. Gates thought it would be a feather in his cap, not realizing there are huge areas of the country where people don't think it's heroic to browbeat cops checking on you after you break into your own house, such as 99 percent of the country outside of Cambridge.

Contrary to liberals' ardent desire, Sgt. James Crowley was not on tape saying, "I know it's his house, but let's stick it to this uppity negro." (Curiously, the tape of Gates' call demanding to talk to the chief of police to "report" Crowley has been withheld. Some watchdog group has got to demand that tape.)

But what if Crowley hadn't been a model policeman who taught diversity classes and once famously gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a black athlete?

What if the 911 caller had identified the suspected burglars as black, which it turns out she did not?

What if Crowley hadn't been fully supported by other cops at the scene, one Hispanic and one black? (Liberals will say cops stick together, but I say liberals stick together.)

What if, at some point in his life, Crowley had been accused -- falsely or not -- of racism?

His life would be ruined.

Desperate to blame the cop, despite the facts, some liberals have begun making up their own facts. Radio talker Opio Sokoni claimed Crowley told Gates to "shut up" and "I'm going to win, you're going to jail." Even Gates doesn't claim the cop said that.

On MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews said that Gates did not say, "I'll speak with your mama outside," as stated in the police report.

"He didn't say this," Matthews asserted as fact. This invented fact allowed Matthews to accuse the cop of engaging in "projection" and to conjure Crowley's psychological state, saying, this is "what a white guy thought a black guy would say."

Eugene Robinson endorsed Matthews' invented fact, saying: "I cannot imagine in this universe Skip Gates saying, 'I'll speak with your mama outside.'" As proof, Robinson explained that Gates "rolls with kings and queens and Nobel Prize winners." (I'm not "projecting" what I think a black man would say; he really said that.)

And then they both had a laugh about the cop applying racist stereotypes to such an esteemed figure as Professor Gates, who apparently would NEVER use the phrase "your mama."

First, unlike these aesthetes, I don't consider "your mama" such an implausible expression for someone to use.

Second, Sgt. Crowley wrote his police report, including the "your mama" line, long before he, or anyone else, could have imagined the arrest was going to become nationwide, front-page news.

Third, there's a video of Gates using the N-word all over the Internet, and in that short, three-minute video, Gates uses the phrase "your mama."

The only contrary evidence is that Gates recently denied that he told the cop he'd "speak with your mama outside." He also desperately wants to drop the subject.

The left's last-ditch attempt to defend a powerful black man's attack on a powerless white man is to say the arrest was improper. In Time magazine, Lawrence O'Donnell factually announced, "Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts."

You can argue the facts in court, but there's no question that the police report described the misdemeanor offense of "disorderly conduct" under Massachusetts law, which includes engaging in "tumultuous behavior" in "any neighborhood," thereby causing public "inconvenience, annoyance or alarm."

As everyone who's read the police report knows, Gates is described as going on an extended tirade against the officer, calling him a racist, saying the officer didn't know who he was messing with, acting irrationally, following the officer outside to continue haranguing him, and engaging in "tumultuous behavior" in and outside his house, drawing a small crowd of alarmed onlookers and police.

Suppose a cop didn't arrest a guy who was ranting and raving -- in his own home -- and, an hour later, the hothead assaults someone. Policeman: I was as surprised as anyone that he shot his girlfriend! Every liberal in the country would demand the cop's head.

And by the way, try screaming at a judge that he's a racist and see what happens. Why should police officers deserve less protection than judges? They're in more danger.

The disorderly conduct charge was not dropped because it wasn't a good arrest. It was dropped, according to Gates' own lawyer, because of Gates' connections.

Before liberals declare that this a case of racial profiling and move on, how about liberals produce one provable example of racial profiling that isn't a hoax?

Jolie Rouge

07-29-2009, 08:13 PM

So what if Lucia Whalen had told the 911 operator the alleged “burglars” were black?
Posted by: Sister Toldjah on July 29, 2009 at 6:55 pm

The woman who made the now-famous 911 call reporting on behalf of a concerned resident about a suspicious possible break-in in a nearby home spoke for the first time publicly today about what she said on the call, and insists she never said the word “black” – not on the call, nor directly to Crowley when he arrived on the scene:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Lucia Whalen, whose 911 call led to the arrest of the Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home, made her first public comments Wednesday, saying at no time did she ever mention race to the responding police officer.

Ms. Whalen’s statements contradict the police report filed by Sgt. James Crowley, who said Ms. Whalen told him outside Mr. Gates’s home that she had seen “what appeared to be two black males with backpacks” on the porch of the yellow single-family house.

Ms. Whalen said that the only words she exchanged with Sergeant Crowley in person were, “I was the 911 caller.” She said that he responded, “Stay right there.”

Ms. Whalen, 40, her voice cracking and body shaking, said she was deeply hurt by the reaction to the incident on July 16 and had been the target of threats. She said she was reluctant to speak out earlier but finally decided to do so with the support of her husband, Paul, and her family.

“When I was called a racist, I was the target of scorn and ridicule because of things I never said,” she told the reporters gathered in a park here at midday. She added, “The criticism hurt me as a person but also hurt the community of Cambridge.”

On Monday, the Cambridge police released the tape of Ms. Whalen’s 911 call in which she told the dispatcher she had “no idea” if two men — who turned out to be Professor Gates and his driver — were breaking into the house, repeatedly mentioning that they might live there. She said that the two men pushed a door in with their shoulders, and that she was unsure “if they live there and just had a hard time with their key.”

Ms. Whalen did not mention the men’s race until a dispatcher asked her if they were black, white or Hispanic.

“There were two larger men,” she said in the audio released Monday. “One looked kind of Hispanic, but I’m not really sure,” she said, adding that she did not see what the second man “looked like at all.”

Ms. Whalen also told the dispatcher that she called 911 on behalf of an elderly neighbor who saw the men trying to get into the house.

On Wednesday, she said she hoped that with the tapes out, “people can see that I tried to be careful,” adding that she never thought that her words “would be analyzed by an entire nation.”

“Tried to be careful”??

I feel for this woman and the intense scrutiny she and her call have been put under by the perpetually offended race hustlers, race baiters and others, primarily on the left, who routinely and shamelessly use the issue of race for political gain. She’s being made to feel bad about something she didn’t say on the call – but there is a dispute, of course, as to whether or not she said “black people” to Sgt. Crowley once he arrived on the scene. His report says she did; she said today that she did not. Keep in mind that two days ago her lawyer said Whalen had “never” mentioned race ever, but she did on the 911 call. Her lawyer also said that Whalen told her she never spoke with Crowley in person, but today she admitted she did. There’s a lot of misinfo being spread, so I want to make sure I have my facts in order.

Back to the “black people” issue: so what if Officer Crowley is right and Whalen did mention that the two people trying to get into the house were black? They WERE black! No one should be made guilty for trying to do the right thing by giving every detail they can about the alleged crime they believe they are witnessing. But as we’ve seen all too often before with our wallowing-in-liberal-white-guilt mainstream media, any mention of the word “black” – whether it be made by a conservative Republican or a woman describing a possible criminal breaking into a house – it’s wrong, it’s “racist,” it’s “profiling,” and, in this instance, it would make what President Obama said last week about the Cambridge police “acting stupidly” sound a little less, well, stupid. Anyone who has read Coloring The News knows how the media is often loathe to describe a criminal suspect as black for fear of accusations of “negative stereotyping.” Heck, to be frank, you don’t even have to read CLN to know that.

What we have here is another fine example of what “post-racialism” in America looks like: A woman whose every word and syllable has been analyzed, scrutinized, criticized, ridiculed, etc simply because she allegedly referred to the two people who were trying to get into the house – who were black – as black. BS like this is exactly why have so much trouble moving forward in this country on the issue of race – because the victimhood mentality in which liberals deliberately stay immersed on the issue won’t let us. Everyone’s a victim, everyone’s being stereotyped and that’s wrong!

Except when you are, of course, a white, conservative Christian. But I digress.

But fear not! Obama apologist extraordinaire Andrew Sullivan is trying to help Whalen rehab her reputation with the liberal elite – and in the process trying to make his Presidential hero look better over “StupidGate” – by declaring Whalen’s story 100% factual and accurate, and furthermore suggests that this issue is more than just about race … it’s also about “freedom of speech”:

So Crowley made the assumption that they were black and treated Gates as a criminal because he was a black man in a nice house. Meanwhile, Forbes points out the core issue here: freedom of speech. Crowley thinks he can arrest you for it. I think it’s important to insist that that isn’t true. But if you come across Crowley, it’s worth remembering that if you insult him, he will arrest you. And you probably aren’t as powerful as Skip Gates.

So you see – it’s not that Crowley’s just some closet racist whose anti-black tendencies boiled to the surface when he confronted who he thought may have been a potential burglar in a neighborhood where there had been some recent break-ins, but he’s also a virulent anti-First Amendment type who, as it is implied, would just as soon burn your right to free speech as arrest an “innocent black man.” Apparently in Sullivan’s world, it’s ok to get away with creating a public disturbance and just being an all around rude jerk showing your a$$ as long as you are sticking it to “the man” – and making President Obama look better for calling the authorities “stupid” in the process.

Oh – but just to prove that Sully’s not a total Obama shill, I point you to one of his posts today on the “Birther” issue:

But why are we supposed to rely on the testimony of Dr Fukino, whom I believe entirely. It is not my job as a journalist or yours as a citizen to take public officials on trust. They are not to be trusted, whoever they are. It is our job to demand all the evidence we want or need. I know the electronic record is legit. I have no doubt that Obama has every constitutional right to be president. I think the Birthers are nuts. But there is no reason on earth that the original cannot be retrieved and shown. Jon Klein and CNN were wrong, and I retract my apology of yesterday.

Obama promised total transparency. Where is it? Or will it arrive at the moment when he tackles the deficit, and withdraws from Iraq?

I’d say it depends on whether or not Crowley – who is strongly supported and respected by whites, blacks, and Hispanics on the Cambridge police force – tries to get away with arresting both Obama AND Gates tomorrow night after drinking a few bad beers at the “reconciliation” table. After all, Crowley just can’t help himself when it comes to arresting black people for “no reason.” The state is out to get you!!!!! and all that …

Let’s hope and pray that the photos that come out of the staged “bridge building” won’t be too nauseating to look at.

http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2009/07/29/so-what-if-lucia-whalen-had-told-the-911-operator-the-alleged-burglars-were-black/

gmyers

07-29-2009, 08:25 PM

I'm for freedom of speech but it seems like he was just being smart elic to the cop.

speedygirl

07-29-2009, 08:35 PM

You know, I took a self defense course a long time ago and one of the first thing we were told was to identify race as that was able to eliminate a large amount of potential suspects. We were then told to cue in on other physical atributes after that.
This whole situation is ridiculous.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 08:50 PM

This whole situation is ridiculous.

Yes it is, I didn't agree with Obama getting involved or his remarks on the matter, but he did, when he wouldn't on so many other issues, but when is it all gonna stop?
I mean it's gone as far as calling the woman who was doing a great courtesy to their neighborhood a racist.....
How f-ing sad is that?

Jolie Rouge

07-29-2009, 09:20 PM

July 29, 2009 12:00 AM

Disaster in the Making
Obama’s repeated demonstrations of his amateurism and immaturity.

By Thomas Sowell

After many a disappointment with someone, and especially after a disaster, we may be able to look back at numerous clues that should have warned us that the person we trusted did not deserve our trust.

When that person is the president of the United States, the potential for disaster is virtually unlimited.

Many people are rightly worried about what this administration’s reckless spending will do to the economy in our time and to our children and grandchildren, to whom a staggering national debt will be passed on. But if the worst that Barack Obama does is ruin the economy, I will breathe a sigh of relief.

He is heading this country toward disaster on many fronts, including a nuclear Iran, which has every prospect of being an irretrievable disaster of almost unimaginable magnitude. We cannot put that genie back in the bottle — and neither can generations yet unborn. They may yet curse us all for leaving them hostages to nuclear terror.

Conceivably, Israel can spare us that fate by taking out the Iranian nuclear facilities, instead of relying on Obama’s ability to talk the Iranians out of going nuclear.

What the Israelis cannot spare us, however, are our own internal problems, of which the current flap over President Obama’s injecting himself into a local police issue is just a small sign of a very big danger.

Nothing has torn more countries apart from inside than racial and ethnic polarization. Just this year, a decades-long civil war, filled with unspeakable atrocities, has finally ended in Sri Lanka. The painful irony is that, when the former British colony became an independent nation in 1948, its people were considered to be a shining example for the world of good relations between a majority (the Sinhalese) and a minority (the Tamils). That all changed when politicians decided to “solve” the “problem” that the Tamil minority was much more economically successful than the Sinhalese majority. Group identity politics led to group preferences and quotas that escalated into polarization, mob violence, and ultimately civil war.

Group identity politics has poisoned many other countries, including at various times Kenya, Czechoslovakia, Fiji, Guyana, Canada, Nigeria, India, and Rwanda. In some countries the polarization has gone as far as mass expulsions or civil war.

The desire of many Americans for a “post-racial” society is well-founded, though the belief that Barack Obama would move in that direction was extremely ill-advised, given the history of his actions and associations.

This is a president on a mission to remake American society in every aspect, by whatever means are necessary and available. That requires taking all kinds of decisions out of the hands of ordinary Americans and transferring them to Washington elites — and ultimately the number one elite, Barack Obama himself.

Like so many before him who have ruined countries around the world, Obama has a greatly inflated idea of his own capabilities and of what can be accomplished by rhetoric or even by political power. Often this has been accompanied by an ignorance of history, including the history of how many people before him have tried similar things with disastrous results.

During a recent TV interview, when President Obama was asked about the prospects of victory in Afghanistan, he replied that it would not be victory like in World War II, with “Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.” In reality, it was not Emperor Hirohito who surrendered on the battleship Missouri. American troops were already occupying Japan before Hirohito met Gen. Douglas MacArthur for the first time.

This is not the first betrayal of his ignorance by Obama, nor the first overlooked by the media. Moreover, ignorance by itself is not nearly as bad as charging full steam ahead, pretending to know. Barack Obama is doing that on a lot of issues, not just history or a local police incident in Massachusetts.

While the mainstream media in America will never call him on this, these repeated demonstrations of his amateurism and immaturity will not go unnoticed by this country’s enemies around the world. And it is the American people who will pay the price.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGI0OWJhZGRmN2E1N2EzMzQ1YzA3ZjU4YjE2Y2E2OWI=

SurferGirl

07-29-2009, 09:45 PM

It is a good rule of thumb. Some people get that impression by a the small sampling they know when the majority are good, focused individuals. It's like that with any group of people.

We might have to agree to disagree on the majority issue but it made me think of a college professor who said: "those that can do, those that can't teach". Actually this professor had worked in the business world and then went back to teaching.

No offence to any teachers out there, you work really hard and don't get paid enough for all your hard work.

SHELBYDOG

07-29-2009, 09:57 PM

Boston cop suspended after racist outburst: police

2 hrs 18 mins ago
BOSTON (AFP) – Boston police said they had suspended an officer for a racist email likely to renew tensions over the recent arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

"Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis placed Officer Justin Barrett, 36, on administrative leave pending the outcome of a termination hearing," a spokesman for the force told AFP in a statement.

"Commissioner Davis was made aware of a correspondence with racist remarks and yesterday removed the officer of his gun and badge."

The email describes Gates, who was arrested and briefly detained earlier this month at Harvard, near Boston, as a "banana-eating jungle monkey," according to a copy published by news site MyFoxBoston.com.

The city's mayor, Tom Menino, was quoted referring to Barrett as a "cancer in the department" and calling on him to be fired.

Gates became the center of a national debate on racism when he was charged with disorderly conduct after arguing with police sent to investigate a suspected burglary at his home near Harvard University.

President Barack Obama became embroiled in the uproar when he said police acted "stupidly." On Thursday, Obama is due to host both Gates and the arresting officer at the White House for what officials say will be a friendly beer.

But the email has reignited the controversy and dealt Boston's police a severe image blow just when they and the White House were hoping to calm tensions.

The email allegedly written by Barrett lambasts Gates for getting into an altercation with police.

"I am not a racist, but I am prejudice towards people who are stupid," reads the alleged diatribe -- containing frequent grammatical and spelling errors -- against Gates and local newspaper the Boston Globe.

"He has indeed transcended back to a bumbling jungle monkey."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090730/ts_alt_afp/usracismarrestuniversitypolice

Happy hour won't be so happy today...

I can't frickin believe it, it's never gonna end now!

hesnothere

07-30-2009, 02:06 AM

Boston cop suspended after racist outburst: police

Happy hour won't be so happy today...

I can't frickin believe it, it's never gonna end now!

I'd say he acted stupidly.

SHELBYDOG

07-30-2009, 05:51 AM

I'd say he acted stupidly.

In this email yes, he should of kept his racist thoughts to himself, which only raises more questions & speculation now as to what was really said at the oringinal confrontation.

What an idiot!

SHELBYDOG

07-30-2009, 08:19 AM

Poll: Obama mishandled comments on race

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 6 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of how President Barack Obama dealt with the racially tinged dispute between a white Cambridge, Mass., police officer and a well-known black Harvard scholar — with disapproval especially strong among white voters, according to a poll released Thursday.

The July 16 arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct in his own home sparked a national debate over racial profiling and police conduct. The controversy intensified after Obama last Wednesday said police "acted stupidly" when they arrested Gates, who is a friend of his.

The poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that 41 percent disapproved of Obama's handling of the Gates arrest, compared with 29 percent who approved. The poll also found the incident and Obama's reaction saturated the public consciousness. As many as 80 percent of Americans said they are now aware of Obama's comments on the matter.

The president's approval ratings fell, especially among working class whites, as the focus of the Gates story shifted from details about the incident to Obama's remarks, the poll said. Among whites in general, more disapprove than approve of his comments by a two-to-one margin.

The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday last week. Among those interviewed on Wednesday and Thursday, 53 percent of whites approved of Obama's job performance. This slipped to 46 percent among whites interviewed Friday through Sunday as the Gates story played out.

Obama's overall job approval in the poll was 54 percent, down from 61 percent in a mid-June Pew poll.

White House aides had sought to play down the president's comment, but the subsequent outcry and constant commentary reached such a pitch that Obama acknowledged publicly that he should have been more diplomatic with his words.

"Over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care," Obama told reporters on Friday when he surprised them in the White House briefing room to revisit the Gates issue.

Gates, who is black, was taken into custody by Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley, who is white, after Crowley accused him of disorderly conduct for protesting the policeman's actions in responding to a mistaken report of a possible burglary at Gates' home. The charges were later dropped.

White House aides said it became clear the matter was not going away.

So Obama made phone calls to each participant and invited them to join him for a beer at the White House. The meeting is set for Thursday evening.

Pew re-contacted 480 of the poll respondents on Monday, July 27, to ask them more questions about the Gates matter. They found that people are divided as to who should be blamed for the Gates arrest: 27 percent blame Gates and 25 percent Crowley. Another 13 percent of respondents say both or neither are at fault.

A separate poll said almost a third blame both the scholar and the sergeant. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 27 percent think Gates was at fault, 11 percent blamed Crowley and 29 percent said each was equally at fault.

The Pew poll of 1,506 adults was conducted July 22-26. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For the re-interview survey of 480 adults on July 27, the margin of error is plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of 1,011 people was conducted Friday through Monday. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090730/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_harvard_scholar_poll

SHELBYDOG

07-30-2009, 08:25 AM

"Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis placed Officer Justin Barrett, 36

I'm not understanding who this guy is other than another police office & who he was emailing this to.....

SHELBYDOG

07-30-2009, 06:47 PM

Obama, Gates, policeman pledge to try and move on

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – 17 mins ago
WASHINGTON – With mugs of beer and calming words, President Barack Obama and the professor and policeman engulfed in a national uproar over race pledged Thursday to move on and try to pull country with them.

There was no acrimony — nor apology — from any of the three: black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., white Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley who had arrested him for disorderly conduct, and Obama who declared on national TV that the police had "acted stupidly." But neither Gates nor Crowley backtracked either, agreeing they still had differences.

Said Obama after the highly anticipated, 40-minute chat at a picnic table on the White House South Lawn: "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart."

"I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode," said the nation's first black president.

Under the canopy of a magnolia tree in the early evening, Obama joined the other players in a story that had knocked the White House off stride. Vice President Joe Biden joined them for drinks and snacks.

The policeman and the professor both expressed respect for each other after their dispute had unleashed a furor over racial profiling in America.

It all began when Crowley was called to investigate a potential burglary at Gates' house and ended up arresting the protesting professor for disorderly conduct. The matter mushroomed when Obama made his comment in a prime-time news conference. He later expressed regret.

"We agreed to move forward," Crowley said Thursday night when asked if anything was solved in the meeting. "I think what you had today was two gentlemen agreeing to disagree on a particular issue. I don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. We spent a lot of time discussing the future."

For his part, Gates said he and Crowley had been caught up as characters in a much larger narrative about race over which they had no control.

"It is incumbent upon Sgt. Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us," Gates said in a statement. He said their task must be to foster sympathy among Americans about "the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand."

Although Obama had invited Crowley and Gates as part of what he called a "teachable moment," it wasn't quite reachable for the masses. The coverage allowed the public to get the we've-come-together photos and video footage that the White House wanted, while keeping the discussion private among the men.

They were seen chatting with each other, each with a mug of beer — except Biden, who had a nonalcoholic drink. The media were stationed far away, out of earshot, and ushered away quickly.

In Massachusetts, meanwhile, a black sergeant who was with Crowley at Gates' home said he's been maligned as an "Uncle Tom" for supporting the actions of his white colleague, according to an e-mail that CNN said it received from the sergeant. The officer, Leon Lashley, said he "spoke the truth" about the arrest, and he said Gates should consider whether he "may have caused grave and potentially irreparable harm to the struggle for racial harmony."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_harvard_scholar

gmyers

07-30-2009, 06:57 PM

The black cop told the truth and they're calling him uncle tom. He was there he should know what happened he heard what happened.

ilovecats

07-31-2009, 08:55 PM

Boston cop suspended after racist outburst: police

Happy hour won't be so happy today...

I can't frickin believe it, it's never gonna end now!

On the local news this morning they said his lawyer is saying his comments were misconstrued.Banana eating jungle monkeys?Yep,he sure was misunderstood:nono.He clearly is racist and trying to make people believe otherwise isn't going to work imo.

speedygirl

07-31-2009, 09:05 PM

Professor Gates sent flowers to the woman who called 911.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/gates_sends_flo.html

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has sent a bouquet of flowers and a note to the woman whose 911 call led to his arrest earlier this month.

Wendy Murphy, lawyer and spokeswoman for Lucia Whalen, said today that Gates had sent her client a bouquet of flowers as an "expression of gratitude.'' Murphy said she believed it was a bouquet of tulips. The flowers came with a note from Gates, the contents of which Murphy would not disclose.

"[Whalen] said that she really appreciated it,'' Murphy said. "She's been getting a lot of apologies and people have been saying nice things."

It was Whalen's call about a possible break-in at Gates's home that brought Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley to the scene to investigate. Crowley's July 16 arrest of Gates for alleged disorderly conduct in his own home led to a national debate over police relations with minorities.

The controversy over the charge, which was dropped, gained momentum when Gates demanded an apology, Crowley refused, and President Obama jumped into the fray with criticism of the Cambridge police. Obama later said he regretted his choice of words and all three men had a beer at the White House on Thursday, in an attempt to calm the frenzied debate.

Jolie Rouge

07-31-2009, 09:19 PM

Boston cop suspended after racist outburst

Boston police said they had suspended an officer for a racist email .... "Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis placed Officer Justin Barrett, 36 ..."

In this email yes, he should of kept his racist thoughts to himself, which only raises more questions & speculation now as to what was really said at the oringinal confrontation.

What an idiot!

What do the actions ... er emails ... of BOSTON cop Justin Barrett have to do with the accusations against CAMBRIDGE cop James Crowley ?

:confused:

That being said ... hard to put a positive spin on the phrase "Banana eating jungle monkeys" ... idiot. But do we now have a Thought Czar to tell us what is acceptable to say or think when OFF the job ? While I do NOT agree with the mentality ... isn't this censorship ?

:confused:

Photo Of The Day

http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2009/07/31/photo-of-the-day-3/

http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/files/2009/07/afterbeers7-09-300x200.jpg

Or as Melissa Clouthier dubs it, “Compassion and indifference.” http://twitter.com/MelissaTweets/status/3059589159

Meanwhile, Allahpundit explores the latter half of that equation in depth: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/31/video-gibbs-rips-media-for-moronic-coverage-of-moronic-white-house-publicity-stunt/

If nothing else good came of this, at least Gates’s daughter got a chance to meet Crowley’s daughter and then comment snottily about her overuse of eyeliner in an op-ed http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-31/what-i-saw-at-the-beer-summit/ — a bit of jackassery that made even the lefties at TNR blanch. http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/07/31/department-of-taking-the-low-road-gates-edition.aspx

More healing, please.

And less finger pointing from the White House: Dan Blatt (found via Steve Green on PJTV) does some superb juxtaposing with these two quotes:

“And one of the things that I’m trying to break is a pattern in Washington where everybody is always looking for somebody else to blame.”

– President Barack Obama
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (March 2009)

“Prez Blames Media for Cops Remark Dustup.”

– Today.

By the way, I am the only person who never wants to hear the words “teachable moment” uttered by an American president (from either side of the aisle) ever again? Last time I checked “First Teacher” wasn’t part of the job description.

SHELBYDOG

07-31-2009, 09:29 PM

What do the actions ... er emails ... of BOSTON cop Justin Barrett have to do with the accusations against CAMBRIDGE cop James Crowley ?

I wasn't awake yet when I typed this. I posted this early the other morning & had thought it was about Crowley, but that night I pieced it together & never edited my post.
My bad!

speedygirl

08-01-2009, 03:07 PM

What do the actions ... er emails ... of BOSTON cop Justin Barrett have to do with the accusations against CAMBRIDGE cop James Crowley ?

Both the Boston police and the Cambridge police often work in conjunction with each other. Cambridge and Boston border. To be honest, any cop who spews out sh!t like that deserves to be suspended. This is the kind of fallout you get from an incident like this. It's all connected as a result of the Gates/Crowley incident.

whatever

08-01-2009, 05:07 PM

Sure glad this didn't happen in LA. People would be rioting in the streets about now. Guess that is racist of me but history gives one a learning moment. Sorry.

Okay I don't know the circumstances of this. But I know lately with colored people they are giving cops big time grief here in Des Moines. Something will happen and the cops are called, come to the scene and they are overtaken (literally) by colored people calling then racist names etc. It ends up they have to call EVERY freaking cop on duty to calm it down. It has happened twice here in July. It ridiculus. If you are NOT part of the crime scene its none of your freaking business thats what I always say. And they are all saying "racism" of course!
Please!!!!!!

Jolie Rouge

08-01-2009, 05:49 PM

August 1, 2009
Obama's post-racial claim just another campaign promise

The Gates arrest had nothing whatever to do with racial profiling by police. It was a racial strawman injected into the controversy by the president who, like Gates, sees the world through the lens of race.

From Heather MacDonald: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzNiZjZlYzQ3Y2I2YWNjOTQ2Y2M5OGE2ZGU0YzdkYzg=

[Obama's] post–beer summit statement was silent on the only question of importance to come out of Cambridge-Gate: Do the police in “fact” stop blacks and Hispanics for “no cause,” as Obama charged in his July 22 press conference? Beer summit behind him, Obama has let that false allegation stand unchallenged in the record; even Gates showed more graciousness towards the police by acknowledging the dangers they face every day.

Obama’s Oval Office endorsement of the myth of racial profiling is the real legacy of this strange sequence; the damage from that endorsement will live on long after the press loses interest in whether it was racist to call 911 about a possible burglary in Cambridge and racist of the police to respond to that call.

Read the rest. It's too bad Obama missed the opportunity to have a substantive discussion on profiling with Sgt. Crowley, who instructs police academy students on the issue. It's technically possible that the president might have had some of his assumptions challenged.

Victor Davis Hanson has figured out Obama's modus operandi on this: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzFmY2RiOWZlMTk4ZGQwYTI5ZmNlY2NiMTc1MjY2OWQ=

The point here is that the public is starting to sense two things:
One, Obama's first impulse when speaking out on race is his most genuine and most disturbing; and two, his statesmanlike disavowals always come not out of genuine embarrassment over his initial remark (such as praising the racist Wright), but out of real concern that he is going to be hurt politically without such a "correction" — an awareness that in turn seems to engender only more anger, and leads to the next incident in the series.

[. . .]

At some point, even the media is going to start tallying up these teachable moments, like "typical white person" and the Pennsylvania stereotyping quip, and see that the post-racial president is one or two such "gaffes" away from being the most racially polarizing figure in recent memory, as a majority of African-Americans seems to respond with approval to his racial-identity politicking that so terribly disturbs most others.

Attorney General Eric Holder offers some anecdotal non-evidence that racial profiling exists. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/07/eric-holder-says-he-has-been-racially-profiled.html What else would one expect from a nation of racial cowards? Holder asserted that "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race." Obama must have been trying to rectify that when he recklessly intruded on this matter.

While we're on the subject of Holder, here's a thorough look at his justice department by Jennifer Rubin: Eric Holder's Justice Department: It's all politics, all the time

I haven't read it yet but I'll offer one excerpt: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/799hlime.asp?pg=1

To Representative Frank Wolf, a moderate Republican from Northern Virginia, the "most egregious" action by Holder and the Obama administration concerns the disposition of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and Justice's interference with the flow of information from the FBI. His annoyance obvious, Wolf explains that he sent multiple letters to Holder asking a list of questions concerning the potential release of detainees, and in particular about the Uighurs, who news reports suggested at one point were about to be released in Northern Virginia. He was rebuffed: "I'm the ranking member, and I can't get them to answer a question." Wolf says that the Justice Department even went so far as to forbid FBI briefings with his office unless a Justice Department representative was present, which he terms "outrageous." He received one briefing from the FBI, but "then the political guy came in and chilled the entire meeting."

Transparency, draining the swamp, post-racial, hope 'n' change. Not so much.

http://www.punditandpundette.com/2009/08/obamas-post-racial-claim-just-another.html

Both the Boston police and the Cambridge police often work in conjunction with each other. Cambridge and Boston border.

So if a cop in New Orleans behaves "badly" or rather - in a politically incorrect manner - then all cops everywhere are held accountable ? People now have to be PC in private correspondance or fear to lose their jobs ?? :confused:

To be honest, any cop who spews out sh!t like that deserves to be suspended.

Does this apply only to cops ? Are teachers allowed to make PIC statments ? Waitress', cab drivers, firepersonel ? Whatever happened to "I may not agree with what you have to say... but I'll defend your right to say it" ? That pesky First Amendment ....

speedygirl

08-01-2009, 06:05 PM

Does this apply only to cops ? Are teachers allowed to make PIC statments ? Waitress', cab drivers, firepersonel ? Whatever happened to "I may not agree with what you have to say... but I'll defend your right to say it" ? That pesky First Amendment ...

That pesky first ammendment but...
Of course not, If anyone at his or her job is deliberately hateful with the fullest intent to defame, they should be reprimanded especially since they have to deal with diversity and do show a predilection towards bias or disdain for a certain group.
If I came on here and said "Jolie is a %$$#&&" and made disparaging comments to you and about you, you'd think it was okay and that I shouldn't receive infractions or even a little time out?
What happened to common decency and the good old golden rule? ;)

Jolie Rouge

08-01-2009, 06:32 PM

If I came on here and said "Jolie is a %$$#&&" and made disparaging comments to you and about you, you'd think it was okay and that I shouldn't receive infractions or even a little time out?

I am quite sure that in emails and PM's certain people here have refered to me as a "%$$#&&" or worse... if it was PRIVATE then it is just that - a private personal missive. If placed on a public forum - ( did the Boston cop sent it to others in the department ? An op-ed in the local paper ) - then the reprecussions should be more public. But there is a differnce between someone getting a "forum time out" and losing their job ... don't you think that it is a bit overboard ?

If anyone at his or her job is deliberately hateful with the fullest intent to defame....

Under this line of thought, Gates - a professor at Havard - should be terminated for his comments about Crowley and other members of the Cambridge police department ... if not the entire "Brotherhood" of cops.
( I have family members who are cops, so I may have a different POV here. )

Do I think the Boston cop, Barrett was out of line ? YES.
Do I think he was less then politically astute to commit such idioccy to paper at a time when race relations and police are under a microscope ? Ab-so-pos-a-lutely !
Should he have a writen reprimand in his file ? A term of "less then desirable" duty assigned ? Oh Yeah...

But fired for personal thoughts in a private missive ... even such banality as ""Banana eating jungle monkeys"" - the maturity of which is more indicitive of a grammar school playground the a trained and prfessional adult - then we are beyond "common decency and the good old golden rule" and into political expediancy and groupthink.

Jolie Rouge

08-01-2009, 06:52 PM

Beer Summit: The final summary
By Doug Powers • July 31, 2009 11:40 AM

The “Beer Summit” is over, and here’s a brief summary of what was said and written after the history-making meeting:

[quote]Sgt. Crowley said nobody apologized and they “agreed to disagree.” But Officer, how is anybody supposed to have a fair and balanced discussion of race issues if you refuse to apologize? http://www.breitbart.tv/cordial-and-productive-cambridge-police-sgt-crowley-says-no-one-apologized/

Professor Gates wrote after the meeting that he doesn’t necessarily think that Crowley profiled him and is semi-confident he won’t do it again. http://www.theroot.com/views/accident-time-and-place

President Obama said the discussion was constructive, in spite of the noticeable absence of his teleprompter, and also said that nobody should be calling it a “beer summit.” http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/07/30/obama-beer-summit-is-not-a-beer-summit-so-dont-call-it-that/ ( Okay, “Opportunistic photo op for reasons of gratuitous blame-deflection with beer backdrop” it is. ) ;)

Joe Biden just showed up out of nowhere apparently uninvited like the unemployed brother-in-law living in your basement who you hope doesn’t wake up when you’re having friends over for cocktails who stumbles up the stairs in his underwear, sneezes on the hor d’oeuvres, scratches his butt and pees in the sink. Okay, maybe not, but that’s how it appeared to me. Biden reportedly drank non-alcoholic beer. Heaven forbid he have any alcohol and say something stupid.

:rolling: :rolling:

http://theonion.com/2009/07/31/beer-summit-the-final-summary/

Beer summit: The final cartoon.

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/91/understocked.png
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/91/understocked.png

This boils down to “Don’t you know who I am?” Gates just won’t drop it. He was wrong in the worst way but it too proud and narcissistic to admit it. We’ll get the real damage once his “documentary” is aired by PBS. Keep your powder dry, Crowley. This ain’t over.

Not to point out another “intellectual” who is actually an elitist imbecile, but:

How can Officer Crowley “not do it again” if you’ve just acknowledged that he didn’t “do it” in the first place?

Gates just said he doesn’t believe Crowley profiled. If that’s the case, the chaser that he “won’t do it again” is a sign that Gates is either:

a. An imbecile
b. Lying, and actually believes that he *was* profiled, or
c. Both

And, btw, Crowley should do EXACTLY the same thing, if this ever happens again. He followed procedure by the letter.

An interesting point was made last night after seeing the same beer-summit scenes being played and replayed and replayed… We wondered if the reason Biden was invited (seemingly at the last minute) would be becuase they didn’t want it to appear that two black guys were ganging up on one white guy?

Am I the only one who thinks that Joe spends most of his time wandering around the lawn in a Homer Simpson-like fog? It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Biden said “Mmmmm… Beeeeer…” and just stumbled over to the empty chair. Wasn’t the BeerSummit in the White House Rose Garden? Perhaps Biden used the secret underground pathway to the WH from Cheney’s “secret” bunker when he heard they were serving free drinks.

speedygirl

08-01-2009, 06:57 PM

I am quite sure that in emails and PM's certain people here have refered to me as a "%$$#&&" or worse... if it was PRIVATE then it is just that - a private personal missive. If placed on a public forum - ( did the Boston cop sent it to others in the department ? An op-ed in the local paper ) - then the reprecussions should be more public. But there is a differnce between someone getting a "forum time out" and losing their job ... don't you think that it is a bit overboard ?

Under this line of thought, Gates - a professor at Havard - should be terminated for his comments about Crowley and other members of the Cambridge police department ... if not the entire "Brotherhood" of cops.
( I have family members who are cops, so I may have a different POV here. )

Do I think the Boston cop, Barrett was out of line ? YES.
Do I think he was less then politically astute to commit such idioccy to paper at a time when race relations and police are under a microscope ? Ab-so-pos-a-lutely !
Should he have a writen reprimand in his file ? A term of "less then desirable" duty assigned ? Oh Yeah...

But fired for personal thoughts in a private missive ... even such banality as ""Banana eating jungle monkeys"" - the maturity of which is more indicitive of a grammar school playground the a trained and prfessional adult - then we are beyond "common decency and the good old golden rule" and into political expediancy and groupthink.

It's a fine line here and I look at it differently. Barrett is in a position to use his power as a police officer unlike most of the general population.
When someone is in a position of authority and has the ability to make a decision that can alter people's lives and is a proven racist by his written comments, he is no longer an impartial party who can be trusted, nor will he be safe on the streets of Boston. If he's not mature enough to use self control, he is not mature enough to serve the people of Boston.

The different between Barrett and Gates is that Barrett is paid for by the taxpayers and Gates works for a private institution and had not taken an oath to uphold the laws, code of conduct and ethical standards of the state of MA. (BTW, he has violated the BPD code of conduct according to several news stories)
The bottom line is how does one expect Barrett to apply justice is a fair and impartial manner.
I expect a more level headed individual to be entrusted with our safety.

pepperpot

08-01-2009, 06:58 PM

An interesting point was made last night after seeing the same beer-summit scenes being played and replayed and replayed… We wondered if the reason Biden was invited (seemingly at the last minute) would be becuase they didn’t want it to appear that two black guys were ganging up on one white guy?

Am I the only one who thinks that Joe spends most of his time wandering around the lawn in a Homer Simpson-like fog? It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Biden said “Mmmmm… Beeeeer…” and just stumbled over to the empty chair. Wasn’t the BeerSummit in the White House Rose Garden? Perhaps Biden used the secret underground pathway to the WH from Cheney’s “secret” bunker when he heard they were serving free drinks.
:rolling: Of course he was only allowed to stay because it was being held on the lawn out of earshot of reporters/media!

I've only seen pictures of him at this 'affair' from behind...is that so we couldn't 'read his lips'?......:rolling loose lips, sink ships....:nono

Jolie Rouge

08-01-2009, 07:33 PM

It's a fine line here and I look at it differently. Barrett is in a position to use his power as a police officer unlike most of the general population.
When someone is in a position of authority and has the ability to make a decision that can alter people's lives and is a proven racist by his written comments, he is no longer an impartial party who can be trusted, nor will he be safe on the streets of Boston. If he's not mature enough to use self control, he is not mature enough to serve the people of Boston.

Are you saying that his life is in danger due to his comments ?

Otherwise, your arguement is that he is too dumb - because he commited his PIC thoughts to paper - or because he hold such views at all - to handle a loaded weapon ?

I think that a teacher who certainly holds a position of authority and who makes decisions that affect peoples lives should be held to the same standard.

SHELBYDOG

08-02-2009, 06:24 PM

Okay I don't know the circumstances of this. But I know lately with colored people they are giving cops big time grief here in Des Moines. Something will happen and the cops are called, come to the scene and they are overtaken (literally) by colored people calling then racist names etc. It ends up they have to call EVERY freaking cop on duty to calm it down. It has happened twice here in July. It ridiculus. If you are NOT part of the crime scene its none of your freaking business thats what I always say. And they are all saying "racism" of course!
Please!!!!!!

Just FYI only, I have black or African American friends & I had said in conversation once "colored people" & was put on the spot & asked what color do you think I am?
They prefer to be called black or African American, colored is a very old term, this is what I was told :coy

SHELBYDOG

08-02-2009, 08:34 PM

Small Beer, Big Hangover

By FRANK RICH
Published: August 1, 2009
THE comforting thing about each “national conversation on race” is that the “teachable moment” passes before any serious conversation can get going.

This one ended with a burp. The debate about which brew would best give President Obama Joe Six-Pack cred in his White House beer op with Harvard’s town-and-gown antagonists hit the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Had Obama picked a brand evoking an elitist whiff of John Kerry — Stella Artois, perhaps? — we’d have another week of coverage dissecting his biggest political gaffe since rolling a gutter ball at a Pennsylvania bowling alley.

You can’t blame Obama if he’s perplexed about the recent events. He answers a single, legitimate race-based question at the end of a news conference and is roundly condemned for “stepping on his own message” about health care. It was the noisiest sector of the news media that did much of the stepping. “Health care is bad for ratings,” explained one cable anchor, Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC, with refreshing public candor. What a relief, then, to drop dreary debates about the public option and declare a national conversation about black-white fisticuffs. Especially when this particular incident is truly small beer next to the far more traumatic national sea change on race that will keep sowing conflict and anger long after Henry Louis Gates Jr. finishes his proposed documentary on racial profiling.

I’ll return to the larger picture, but before the battle of Cambridge fades entirely, let’s note that the only crime Obama committed at his news conference was honesty (always impolitic in Washington). He conceded he did not know “all the facts” and so wisely resisted passing judgment on “what role race played” in the incident. He said, accurately, that “separate and apart from this incident” there is “a long history” of “African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcing disproportionately.” And, yes, the police did act “stupidly in arresting” — not to mention shackling — “somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.” If Obama had really wanted to go for the jugular, he might have added that the police may have overstepped the law as well.

The president’s subsequent apology for his news-conference answer was superfluous. But he might have used it to acknowledge the one exemplary player in Cambridge, Lucia Whalen, the white passer-by whose good deed of a 911 phone call did not go unpunished. In his police report, Sgt. James Crowley portrayed Whalen as a racial profiler by saying she had told him that the two men at Gates’s door were black. She denied it, and the audio tape of her original call backs her up: she had told the dispatcher (only when asked) that one of the men “looked kind of Hispanic” and that she couldn’t see the other. Yet Whalen, who was pilloried as a racist because of Crowley’s report, received no apology from him and no White House invitation from Obama. That’s stupid behavior by both men.

It’s also stupid to look at Harvard as a paradigm of anything, race included. If there was a teachable moment in this incident, it could be found in how some powerful white people well beyond Cambridge responded to it. That reaction is merely the latest example of how the inexorable transformation of America into a white-minority country in some 30 years — by 2042 in the latest Census Bureau estimate — is causing serious jitters, if not panic, in some white establishments.

Ground zero for this hysteria is Fox News, where Brit Hume last Sunday lamented how insulting it is “to be labeled a racist” in “contemporary” America. “That fact has placed into the hands of certain people a weapon,” he said, as he condemned Gates for hurling that weapon at a police officer. Gates may well have been unjust — we don’t know that Crowley is a racist — but the professor was provoked by being confronted like a suspect in the privacy of his own home.

What about those far more famous leaders in Hume’s own camp who insistently cry “racist” — and in public forums — without any credible justification whatsoever? These are the “certain people” Hume conspicuously didn’t mention. They include Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich, both of whom labeled Sonia Sotomayor a racist. Their ranks were joined last week by Glenn Beck, who on Fox News inexplicably labeled Obama a racist with “a deep-seated hatred for white people,” presumably including his own mother.

What provokes their angry and nonsensical cries of racism is sheer desperation: an entire country is changing faster than these white guys bargained for. We’ve been reminded repeatedly during Gatesgate that Cambridge’s mayor is a black lesbian. But a more representative window into the country’s transition might be that Dallas County, Tex., elected a Latina lesbian sheriff in 2004 (and re-elected her last year) and that the three serious candidates for mayor of Houston this fall include a black man and a white lesbian.

Even Texas may be tinting blue, and as goes Texas, so will all but the dwindling rural minority of the Electoral College. Last month the Census Bureau released a new analysis of the 2008 presidential election results finding that increases among minority voters accounted for virtually all the five million additional votes cast in comparison to 2004. Black women had a higher turnout rate than any other group, and young blacks turned out at a higher rate than young whites.

It’s against this backdrop that 11 Republican congressmen have now signed on to a bill requiring that presidential candidates produce their birth certificates. This bizarre “birther” movement, out to prove that Obama is not a naturally born citizen, first gained notice in the summer of 2008 when it was being advanced by the author Jerome Corsi, a leader of the Swift boat assault on Kerry. That it revved up again as Gatesgate boiled over and Sotomayor sped toward Senate confirmation is not a coincidence.

Obama’s election, far from alleviating paranoia in the white fringe, has only compounded it. There is no purer expression of this animus than to claim that Obama is literally not an American — or, as Sarah Palin would have it, not a “real American.” The birth-certificate canard is just the latest version of those campaign-year attempts to strip Obama of his American identity with faux controversies over flag pins, the Pledge of Allegiance and his middle name. Last summer, Cokie Roberts of ABC News even faulted him for taking a vacation in his home state of Hawaii, which she described as a “foreign, exotic place,” in contrast to her proposed choice of Myrtle Beach, S.C., in the real America of Dixie.

Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter have condemned the birther brigades and likened them to “the truthers” who accused the Bush administration of engineering the 9/11 attacks. But those conspiracy theorists couldn’t find 11 congressmen willing to sponsor a bill supporting their claims. Even Liz Cheney has publicly refused to dispute the libels on Obama’s citizenship.

One of the loudest birther enablers is not at Fox but CNN: Lou Dobbs, who was heretofore best known for trying to link immigrants, especially Hispanics, to civic havoc. Dobbs is one-stop shopping for the excesses of this seismic period of racial transition. And he is following a traditional, if toxic, American playbook. The escalating white fear of newly empowered ethnic groups and blacks is a naked replay of more than a century ago, when large waves of immigration and the northern migration of emancipated blacks, coupled with a tumultuous modernization of the American work force, unleashed a similar storm of racial and nativist panic.

As Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post and Helene Cooper of The Times have pointed out, a lot of today’s variation on the theme is class-oriented. Some whites habituated to a monopoly on the upper reaches of American power just can’t adjust to the reality that Obama, Sotomayor, Oprah Winfrey and countless others are now at the very pinnacle, and that they might sometimes side with each other just as their white counterparts do. Threatened white elites try to mask their own anxieties by patronizingly adopting working-class whites as their pet political surrogates — Joe the Plumber, New Haven firemen, a Cambridge police officer. Call it Village People populism.

Sometimes the most revealing expressions of this resentment emerge in juvenile asides — Bill Kristol (on The Weekly Standard’s blog) ridiculing Gates for writing a flowery travel magazine article about his privileged vacation home of Martha’s Vineyard, or Heather MacDonald (in National Review) mocking Gates as a “limousine liberal” for his supposedly hypocritical admission that he has a “regular car service” and a “regular driver” to fetch him at the airport. Who does Henry Louis Gates Jr. think he is, William F. Buckley Jr.?

The one lesson that everyone took away from the latest “national conversation about race” is the same one we’ve taken away from every other “national conversation” in the past couple of years. America has not transcended race. America is not postracial. So we can all say that again. But it must also be said that we’re just at the start of what may be a 30-year struggle. Beer won’t cool the fury of those who can’t accept the reality that America’s racial profile will no longer reflect their own.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/opinion/02rich.html?_r=1

Jolie Rouge

08-02-2009, 08:55 PM

The New Black Panther Party’s teachable moments on race
By Michelle Malkin • August 2, 2009 06:49 PM
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/02/the-new-black-panther-partys-teachable-moments-on-race/

Here’s a White House beer summit invite list I’d like to see:

*New Black Panther Party thugs Malik Shabazz, King Samir Shabazz, and Jerry Jackson;

*The Department of Justice trial team that successfully won default judgments against the NBPP for their Election Day voter thug tactics in Philadelphia last fall;

*The poll workers and election lawyers who provided sworn testimony about the racist behavior of the billy club-wielding Samir Shabazz and Jackson;

*Attorney General Eric Holder and any other Obama DOJ appointees who meddled in the case on behalf of the NBPP menaces;

*And GOP Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, whose investigation of the NBPP whitewash the DOJ continues to stonewall.

http://michellemalkin.cachefly.net/michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/nbpp2.jpg

http://michellemalkin.cachefly.net/michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/nbpp2.jpg

Let’s have President Obama lead an honest discussion about the “No Whites Allowed” sign on Jackson’s home pictured above (and please do note that Jackson is an official Democrat Party and Obama campaign poll watcher, as well as an elected member of Philadelphia’s 14th Ward Democratic Committee). http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2009/jul/30/disturbing-content-new-black-panthers-myspace-page/

And let’s have a public conversation about this NBPP/Trenton chapter “block party” music video, which calls on black followers to “bang for freedom,” “put the bang right into a cracker’s face,” and if you’re going to bang, bang for black power… hang a cracker [unintelligible] . . .if you’re going to bang, bang on the white devil. . . . burying him near the river bank with the right shovel. . . . community revolution in progress…. banging for crackers to go to hell, we don’t need em:”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m63RY914Gjc&feature=related

Welcome to post-racial America in the Age of Obama!

By dropping the case against the NBPP extremists who yelled “You’re about to be ruled by the black man, cracker” as they physically attempted to block poll watchers, crime-coddling AG Eric Holder — a charter member of the Culture of Corruption Dirty Dozen — has sent an unmistakable signal to these armed militants: Keep doing what you’re doing.

Judge the Obama bully boys by the company they keep.

***

(Some questions about whether these examples are authentic, so I’m moving them down here and looking for more verification. “The Obama Forum” is apparently a spoof site by anti-Obama website founders that many pro-Obama activists mistook for a real forum for their rantings.)

*Let’s have a teachable moment about this recent posting from defendant Samir Shabazz (click here or on .jpg below for full-size image), which declares: “i has waited all my life for the day that Strong black men could stand outside a voting poll in a Honk neighborhood and beat republiKKKan voters with a baseball bat to keep the motherf**kers from voting for they racist candidate and walk away scott free and be a hero in the Black community…it time we ante up on these white motherf***kers and take it to the next level.” (And yes, it’s really Shabazz posting, according to a source close to the NBPP case. He’s posted more than 1,400 times in this forum. Also note in his tagline that he lists ACORN):

…Guess what? They’re taking their cues. Another militant cheers Eric Holder for “standing with NBPP” and brays: “If they think the Philly voter booth incident was threatening wait till the census..or better yet 2012.”

:sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: