I love navel-gazing on the part of the media, where they decide collectively that they were right to create a meme which takes over the media. On this weekend's The Chris Matthews Show, pundits Howard Fineman, Michael Duffy and Ceci Connolly agree that it was appropriate for them to ask President Obama about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., because "it's an important issue."
MATTHEWS: It’s all about identity politics again, and at the same time these people on the far, far right are talking about whether he’s a citizen or not, this comes up.
DUFFY: And when the White House Press Secretary calls it a ‘distraction’, you know it was a mistake. And his mistake was pretty simple, which was that he didn’t really have all the facts, and was not in a position to talk about it. He was right to take it up, because it is an issue that is important, and it’s one in which he is completely versed, and you can see from the rest of his statement, that he knows exactly what to say. But I also think it came at the end of that press conference, which was about a completely different subject, and I think he was a little punchy by then. He was talking about you know what would happen to him in the White House, and it was a joke and he kind of lost the seriousness of the moment and I think got off track…
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I agree with that, the moment was important. I think he was a little angry, a little fatigued. These guys get up at five in the morning and this was eight at night. Is this going to be around a while?
Get the meme? Obama the angry black man being asked to speak on behalf of the entire African American community--and you know he is versed in this. Howard Fineman sort of treads along the edges of why even asking Obama his opinion of Gates' arrest was racist (because, honestly, can you imagine the media doing this to President McCain, had he won? I don't think so), without fully realizing it:
FINEMAN: ...(T)he progress that he made—the Sotomayor nomination—she did convince people, by her bearing, by her knowledge, by her experience, that she was eminently qualified and in that sense, was beyond this. Both of her race, but beyond it. This is not what Barack Obama’s political advisors wanted him to be doing up there. Because it turns it into a racial conversation, per se, at a time when he’s being president of all the country. And trying to be president of all the country and this feeds into the narrative of what I call the RNC—the Rush Newt Cheney RNC—which is all about fear, accusation and division. Barack Obama as president has to be about national unity.
Apparently to Howard, Barack Obama has been doing a good job up until this point of not making white Americans realize that he's African American and making them feel comfortable with other people of color. But now, Howard's worried that Obama has lost his white constituency:
FINEMAN: He went to great lengths as a candidate, to say that he could be president of all America. He understood all the different cultures and wanted to learn about all the different cultures of America. This kind of thing sets him back with working class whites.
Sigh. Can I remind you bobbleheads that it was YOU collectively that raised this subject? This was a local issue, albeit with a semi-famous person involved. This is not a federal issue, nor did it need to be addressed by the President of the United States, especially since the only justification for it is that Obama and Gates outwardly share a skin color (although both are of mixed-race heritage). Isn't it reasonable to assume that the President of the United States has enough on his plate without being thrust the mantle of spokesman for the entire African American community and trying to make white people more comfortable with the age-old issue of racial profiling?
As far as Gates is concerned, there was no clear cut right or wrong on his arrest; both sides escalated the situation beyond where it should have gone. But in terms of pulling Barack Obama into the debate and letting it take over the news cycles for days and days when very real issues (um Afghanistan, any one? Health care reform? The economy? Any of those ring a bell?) are left undiscussed is simply giving red meat to the right wingers eager to derail any actual progress in this country. And the responsibility for that falls on bobbleheads like these clowns, not Obama.
Transcripts below the fold
MATTHEWS: He (Obama) made himself the focus of a lot of attention about empathy and who he is, what side are you on, do you think he was thinking he was doing that at the time when he did this? Started all this?
FINEMAN: No, because the progress that he made—the Sotomayor nomination—she did convince people, by her bearing, by her knowledge, by her experience, that she was eminently qualified and in that sense, was beyond this. Both of her race, but beyond it. This is not what Barack Obama’s political advisors wanted him to be doing up there. Because it turns it into a racial conversation, per se, at a time when he’s being president of all the country. And trying to be president of all the country and this feeds into the narrative of what I call the RNC—the Rush Newt Cheney RNC—which is all about fear, accusation and division. Barack Obama as president has to be about national unity.
MATTHEWS: It’s all about identity politics again, and at the same time these people on the far, far right are talking about whether he’s a citizen or not, this comes up.
DUFFY: And when the White House Press Secretary calls it a ‘distraction’, you know it was a mistake. And his mistake was pretty simple, which was that he didn’t really have all the facts, and was not in a position to talk about it. He was right to take it up, because it is an issue that is important, and it’s one in which he is completely versed, and you can see from the rest of his statement, that he knows exactly what to say. But I also think it came at the end of that press conference, which was about a completely different subject, and I think he was a little punchy by then. He was talking about you know what would happen to him in the White House, and it was a joke and he kind of lost the seriousness of the moment and I think got off track…
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I agree with that, the moment was important. I think he was a little angry, a little fatigued. These guys get up at five in the morning and this was eight at night. Is this going to be around a while?
CONNOLLY: I think that it has that possibility. If you look at what Gov. Deval Patrick said up in Massachussetts, another African American leader close to Barack Obama, he said, “This is every black man’s nightmare.” This is a topic that perhaps needs a little bit more exploring, but in a calm, rationed sort of conversation.
DUFFY: I think it does…I think we’re going to see now an accelerated crime initiative from the Obama administration, just to get…just to signal, no, I’m not kidding, just to signal to police that he’s on their side…
MATTHEWS: That he’s on their side…
DUFFY: …That he’s not completely clueless… That’s right.
FINEMAN: He went to great lengths as a candidate, to say that he could be president of all America. He understood all the different cultures and wanted to learn about all the different cultures of America. This kind of thing sets him back with working class whites.
et tu, Fineman?
Some stuff you can't make up!
I've always felt Fineman isn't as "fine" as his name proclaims.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
and fineman becomes comfortable channeling the clinton campaign racism. another WTF moment from msnbc. OK America! the black man can't call something stupid because it will show he hates white working class Americans. thanx so much for that, fineman
Some stuff you can't make up!
on Countdown?
Will Keith call him on the carpet? I hope so.
"Let's talk dirty to the animals"
Happy Sarah Palin Quits Day everyone!
Now go out and quit something!
she wasn't resigning when she resigned!
Nah, after the party!
You go, girl! Really, just GO. But please stay in Alaska.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
don't pull your winkee.
That will be the new Payme sound bite.
"Let's talk dirty to the animals"
shiny object to help the insurance companies get control of the message and keep single-payer out of the discussion.
Get it?
After Gates produced ID showing he was in his own home, he was perfectly entitled to tell the officers to go away in whatever language he desired. This crap about "law enforcement" officers using their official powers to enforce an "attitude test" is way out of hand. Who works for whom?
And why was the officer involved himself not cited with trespass, or battery, or professional misconduct?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I know what you're saying, but I think both parties had their heads full of historical precedents instead of the reality before them and both were guilty of escalating it beyond where it should have gone.
I don't want to re-argue the Gates arrest, we've covered it already. My material point is that it served no purpose to ask POTUS about it except to give more red meat to the wingnuts and give us another media-driven meme to distract us from real issues.
Strange how "red meat to the wingnuts" is even effective as a distraction considering the pounding conservatives have taken in the past two election cycles.
How is it that news organizations supposedly looking for "ratings" still cater to a virtually irrelevant subgroup?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
The only thing the officer should have done was give him his badge number, and left. Gates wasn't a professional in an arrest situation, nor is there any reason that he should be, but there are years of reasons that a police sergeant should be, and he wasn't.
Repeatedly
against their own interests
on the meaning of your comment. It is not just whites that are being kicked to the curb.
complain about the "Race card" -- which they've been dealing from a stacked deck since time immemorial.
Yes... those damn `whites`
but white collar caucasians are ok?
The irony of this is that Gates is one of the more eminent voices behind the need to include class distinctions in Affirmative Action, in order to help the same working-class whites about whom people like Fineman and Matthews (and a great deal of other elite whites in the newsmedia) are constantly concern trolling.
Of course, preying on racist tropes has been the calling card of wealthy elites in this land since the days of Bacon's Rebellion in Jamestown.
excelerated should be accelerated.....
And yes, I can be "fussy" about words.
What makes me more nervous is that the Drupal spellcheck didn't catch that.
Amato has been futzing with the spellcheck, I think.
Need more coffee...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Man." Doesn't Obama understand that, in the interest of keeping DC comfortable in their illusions, he's supposed to suspend his blackness for the duration of his presidency?
It was right to ask Obama about the arrest. After all, people were losing interest in Michael Jackson, and there was the possibility of people getting interested in the health care reform effort.
It's amazing - in a 55 minute press conference, Obama managed to direct more attention to race relations instead of health reform. He should of (could of) said he didn't have enough information to comment.
All the idealism aside, it did derail the point of the press conference, which was to put focus on health reform.
Who asked the fucking question?
Skip Gates is a friend of his.
Whites have NEVER accepted this country's history and they never will. This country was built on rape, murder, wholesale theft and slavery
LIVE WITH IT!!!!! I SURE AS HELL HAVE HAD TO!!!!
What happened is, he put his foot in his mouth. Now Obama's has backtracked.
"I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically," Obama told reporters. "I could have calibrated those words differently, and I told this to Sgt. Crowley."
So, I guess the officer didn't act stupidly after all? If so, what did this whole thing accomplish, except derail the focus of the press conference from health care reform?
Somehow, I don't think you're the big winner you think you are with health care reform being sidelined.
and the charges were dropped as a result
but the prez should not have allowed the question to be raised during the presser
end of story
The cop did act stupidly, and a hell of a lot of cops have said so.
“Who asked the ... question?”
Maybe someone who wanted Obama to fall into a trap. Whether that was the point or not, it worked. There's a lot of money out there to derail health care reform, and their minions were present at that press conference.
I think you missed the snark in NoBuddy's post.
The whole world was built on "rape, murder, wholesale theft and slavery" if you look at it the way you apparently are.
You might want to tone down your prejudice though. Lumping everyone into categories based upon the color of their skin is a bit counter productive.
was Wendle Potter on healthcare today? Why isn't he invited to comment on the healthcare insurance industry?
and Obama's 20 year Doctor David Scheiner
I will concede that most likely Mr. Gates probably did give the officer a verbal tongue lashing( He was in his own home), and should have handled this better, but what you fail to realize is that the officer knew who he was well before the cuffs were put on him. I still believe a man has the right to yell and act a fool in his own home as long as he is not a danger to the public, and clearly he wasn’t.
If I were that officer, once I found out that this was his residence, I would have left the scene even if professor Gates was calling me everything but a child of God in his house.
If the police was so sure they did the right thing, then they should have stuck with the charges and took him to trial. But they didn’t do that. I’m just glad that this didn’t escalate in the death of professor Gates. This wouldn’t be the first time a black man was killed for just going into his residence. Dose Amadu Diallo ring a bell?
As soon as I heard Matthews proclaim Lynn Sweet's off topic question on Gates, immediately after Obama's news conference on health care, as what "all the msm will talk about" the next day, I could see corporate media wanted to change the subject. Matthews is a tool, too bad he hides that well with his friendly villager persona.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
on Friday's open thread.
cop hassles a black man for being rude
wealthy, privileged black man hassles a cop for being judgemental
I can throw a rock in any direction of my house and see the same argument, at any time of the day.
we've got a "war" in Afghanistan which wasn't authorized by Congress, and battles waged by robotic radio-controlled airplanes, for the 1st time in our history.
we've got public health care option on the table for the 3rd time in our history.
we've got a newly appointed Supreme Court justice whose first few trials deserve scrutiny so we can verify we appointed a capable candidate (before indenturing another useless Thomas or Scalia)
***
and these two morons think the president should focus more on this specific one-off cop vs. civilian argument?
my god. its not like Gates got tazed or beaten in public. its not like Officer Crowley has a history of racism, google the man.
he's a dick cop, sure, but a whole lot of them are. so, whatever.
White House Press Secretary Gibbs was right. this *IS* a distraction, dammit. thanks for continuing to distract us, mainstream media.
Oh WHATEVER!
But four news cycles on whether Obama is an angry black man and a cop-hater IS a distraction and prevents us from getting real work done.
PERIOD!
Tweety, Howard Fineman, et al., discussing race and talking about how Obama needs to make the white community feel comfortable again actually advances the racism discussion at all?
I'd love an honest discussion of race on TV, which (IMO) would include a big fat "White people, get over yourselves" statement, but the mainstream media isn't interested in doing that.
Look at the "Black in America II" on CNN last week. They specifically said they would not deal with racism.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/24/officer.gate...
Obama backtracked on what he said. The headline might as well read "Whoops - Obama puts foot in mouth".
And the story may have legs if "Authorities have said they may release tapes of the officer calling in, in which Gates is heard in the background".
Meanwhile, the matter harmed the health care reform effort. The big winners was the health insurance industries. If you support that win, then indeed work did get done. But that's the only work that got done.
We need single payer, and we're not going to get it from Barry.
Obama did not backtrack. and he invited everyone to his house for a beer.
Some stuff you can't make up!
What you write (your link and these posts) is lacking of anything substantial. You sound like an angry high schooler who's so angry he wants badly to do something, but so clearly can only see one view he comes across as tantrum-esque. Your bigoted writing is childish - highlighted by, "that trio of house ******s — Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas —". You link to these posts of yours like they explain everything, but all they do is explain the ridiculous posts on this thread you've been making.
Redstate offers and idea of how to ruin conservative professional agitators and right wing hater assemblies http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/07/26/h...
that the Judge threw out the "Disorderly Conduct" charge.....
If there was a "real case" the prosecutor and Judge would not have thrown out this ridiculous charge. And the Judge mind you, threw it out before Obama's comments were made.....
I guess we did not see a lot of white people's outrage when Jeb Bush fixed it so Rush Limbaugh could get off his drug trafficking by going to rehab when there are people in prison right now who did exactly what Limbaugh did.
There are two justice systems in America whether one wants to admit it or not. If Rush Limbaugh was black or brown, he would have been tried and convicted for drug trafficking.....
So, I do not want to hear any right-wing outrage on the Gates case here. Limbaugh certainly received preferential treatment......
Yet, the media look to Limbaugh as some kind of "authority."
Again, the charges against Gates were ludicrous that the judge and prosecutor threw it out. If there was a real case, they wouldn't have done so....
Listening to the likes of Chris Matthews discuss race is also ludicrous. I turned him off last week and the week before when he and his fellow caucasin bretheren were sounding either on the edge of being racist or sounding quite racist in their tone and inflection, of what they were saying about Sonia Sotomayor. Matthews is very clumsy when discussing race issues and he often resorts to the word "ethnic" instead of "race," which demomstrates how uncomfortable he and his fellow caucasin travelers become regarding this issue. I find it quite interesting but "understandable" that Matthews can talk about race issues with no blacks or Latinos there as well. That is a problem to begin with.
This little fact keeps getting missed in the media/press and with all the blabberheads who supposedly are "smarter" than everyone else.
It pays to have friends in high places.
and fineman becomes comfortable channeling the clinton campaign racism. another WTF moment from msnbc. OK America! the black man can't call something stupid because it will show he hates white working class Americans. thanx so much for that, fineman
Some stuff you can't make up!
Why should "white America" need to be reassured that Obama isn't an angry* black man, when what he's angry about should anger everyone EXCEPT racists?
Why isn't the news focused on the far more extraordinary factor of: Wow, look who isn't upset by this arrest?
*angry=militant
that is intended to discredit/dismiss the validity of anything said by a minority.
Plain and simple. The more times they can link "Obama" to "angry", regardless of the validity, the better it is for the framing.
I was out of the county the last week and had cable but no internet. Caught a glimpse of the story on fox as I was channel surfing and quickly headed over to other networks to find out what happened. Couldn't find anything but every time I went to fox they were going on and on about it, but I still didn't know what happened cause all fox was going on and on about was Obama and the poor officer. I was shouting at the TV "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?!?" I guess thats the basic mental state of fox viewer's hm? Angry and clueless.
that this is a meme that minorities learn well in order to "make white America reassured", including, I might add, women.
We have to calmly and non-threateningly explain why we are affronted by something in order to not put white men on the defensive. If it is not done in that manner, than the entire charged is dismissed as being from an angry black man or a hysterical woman, etc., etc.
One of the things that I think you can squarely place Obama's seemingly overwhelming need for "bipartisanship" is the fact that he has spent his ENTIRE LIFE having to accommodate white men threatened by his very existence. I've had conversations with my African American friends about this and they think there is something to it...this need to reassure them just becomes part of your psyche because you know that fighting it gets you nowhere.
I'm not quite sure I agree with that. Sometimes I think that Obama is overly pragmatic. I also have African American friends and people I do business with and I never felt that any of them were "accomodating" me, nor I them.
That question should not have been asked of Obama in the press conference about something completely different from the subject at hand. Obama should have said he didn't know all the facts of the case and moved on. It is unlike him to have a sort of knee jerk reaction like that.
That being said, I think that in all fairness both Gates and Crowley share responsibility for the escalation of a situation that should have not gone as far as it did. Personally, I can imagine coming home from overseas, tired and not being able to get into my house. Gates' frustration level must have been pretty high to begin with. Crowley clearly abused his power.
asked any other President about this situation. They would NOT have asked a President McCain about this incident. Chances are that he would probably would have not even KNOWN about the entire situation or even cared.
But who cares?
It's another divergence.
People are out of work.
Losing their homes.
Dying in Iraq.
Of all colors.
But the media goes for meaningless bullshit.
This is an important issue: Gates yelling at a cop who came to his house on a call about a break-in.
What is not an important issue to pompous idiots like Fineman is IRAQ. AFGHANISTAN. PAKISTAN.
These latter issues might cost us our lives.
But there is no panache.
Race.
That'll sell a few corn flakes.
As one who has not closely followed the incident between the Harvard professor and the Cambridge police officer I do not know the full details of the incident. That being said, it certainly appears that Obama was reacting from the standpoint of a black man with a chip on his shoulder when he said the cop acted stupidly. I was hoping he was above that kind of insecurity (Not that the insecurity is not understandable in many cases). He has taken the high road in so many other cases.
What did the prosecutor and Judge decide regarding the "arrest" of Mr. Gates?
It appears that both the prosecutor and Judge thought the charges against Gates would not be worth going after and had they done so, this case would still be pending.
As such Gates is no longer a court subject. He has been cleared by the State of Massachusetts Judicial system.
Perhaps, that cop had a chip on his shoulder. Ever hear of cops arresting people because they do not like what you say to them, and that Gates perhaps, was not incorrect in saying what he did to that officer. Policemen are not above the law and far from being "saints." Ever think that these over-zealous cops just might have a chip on their shoulders? I am so tired of everyone always thinking the police are out there doing all kinds of "Good Samaritan" work.
Sometimes cops act more like the criminals and they continue to get away with murder, and literally so.
Stop this glorification of police officers and the automatic hate of blacks whom have every right to distrust police officers across the country....
Read your American History and understand that African-Americans Have Every Right to Distrust Cops!!!
Name one case where a white person was arrested under such circumstances?
Lastly---Cops NEVER APOLOGIZE WHEN THEY ARE WRONG---NEVER, EVER!!!!!!
COPS ACT WITH IMPUNITY AND CONTINUE TO HAVE THEIR SYMPATHIZERS, EVEN WHEN THEY KILL INNOCENT BLACK MEN LIKE DIALLO IN NYC!!!!!
"Name one case where a white person was arrested under such circumstances? "
In another thread about Gates, someone posted that the same thing happened to them - and he was white. I've been arrested for asking a police officer why he was calling me a moron, and I'm white.
I'm sure when this happens to ordinary people, it doesn't make the news. If it happens to rich or powerful, then we hear about it. If it happens and racism is brought up in a public way, then we hear about it.
Don't kid yourself, this stuff happens to all sorts of people. It has to do with a lot of cops mentalities.
Like Rush Limbaugh.....
It ROUTINELY HAPPENS TO BLACK PEOPLE....
There is no quantative data that white people are targeted or profiled like Black people, whatsoever, in the least, or, at all.
For every one instance of mistreatment of whites by cops there are 200 examples of blacks facing equal or worse treatment....So, I don't want to hear that one or two instances where whites get taken down.....
Whites are more likely to get the benefit of the doubt as well.....
You have got to be kidding that you know or someone else knows of an equal case of which occurred in the Gates case.....
Learn your history!!!!!
Cops have a long history of bad attitudes in Massachusetts towards blacks and hispanics and yes, even, gay men.
What happened to the cops who pumped 50 plus bullets into Diallo in NYC?
Cops routinely plant drugs on young black men and get away with because police officers are "holier than thou" in American society and questioning their behavior is practically forbidden....and that Blue Wall of Silence also used by these cops as nothing but coercive and intimidation schemes to silent and berate their critics.....
So, tell me another B.S. Line!!!!
Another BS Line eh? You acted as if you didn't believe it was even possible that it could happen to white people. I showed you two examples just from a very small sampling on this blog.
Get a grip. You use assumptions as facts "Whites are more likely to get the benefit of the doubt too"...
"Edit: Yes it's an assumption, but yeah, I would probably agree. But the problem is that it's not universally true, and there are cases to prove that. So it's a form of prejudice, just like anything else where you use race and say something applies to the entirety of the race"
Yeah, drugs were planted on me too... I didn't finish telling what happened on my arrest, but I have plenty of documentation if you ever want to drop by. I was stopped for walking 10 feet outside the crosswalk while I had the walk signal. A cruiser turned the corner and I was in the middle of the street. He called me over by yelling moron at me. While he was writing the ticket he called me moron 2 more times. I asked him why he was calling me a moron while I was signing the ticket. He asked if I wanted to go to jail. We repeated those lines a couple times and then I got handcuffed and taken to jail. While there they threw out half the stuff in my bookbag and placed my in a cell. A seargent finally came by and asked what happened and then let me go after he heard it. I walked to work from there and once at work opened my bag to find a brown paper baggy with a lighter, a jaw breaker and a crack pipe in it. My assumptions are that they were going to send me to county and county would see it and I would have got in real trouble.
So yeah, I have no trouble believing cops do that sort of stuff all the time. I've posted before about how I was handcuffed 4 times and pulled over 5 times from 19-22, and I only got 1 ticket out of the whole deal. I would consider that a bit of harrasment (I would have been arrested or something if I was doing something wrong right?).
Since all that happened to me, I also have no trouble believing it happens to a lot of other white people. Apparently you have some prejudice that keeps you from thinking that it happens.
I'm of the belief the way they acted towards me and a whole lot of other people is wrong and should be stopped. I'm also of the belief that using race as the end all be all of who gets mistreated is a mistake and not accurate. I think we would be more accurate if we classified it based on wealth, but even then not completely accurate.
I'm a bit surprised you would react so angrily just because I said it happens to all sorts of people. I think you are seeing things with a rather limited point of view.
you are trying to diminish the historical experience of what has happened to blacks in America regarding police officers and police brutality....
Just because you cited a "few examples" in no way diminmishes my original post you responded to.
You are making a cute attempt to diminish the black experience at the hands of racist cops in America.
I am surprised at your inability to understand the black experience as it relates to cops as you selfishly and typically inject phony comparative examples.
I have had experiences with police officers too. And you want to know something? If I was black the treatment would have been far worse.....
Are you unable to grasp this reality?
I will stand by my original post and say that African-Americans Have Every Right to Distrust Cops!!!
Moroever and again, I must repeat----there is no quantative data that white people are targeted or profiled like Black people, whatsoever, in the least, or, at all.
I hope your attempts at further arguments of the sophistry kind will end.
And by the way, in some cases the cops are correct. I have not been correct in every case with cops regardinjg traffic violations and therefore paid those tickets. As far as your case goes, it does not compare whatsover to real police brutality or racial profiling cases....So again, try that sophistry on someone else.
Take care.
"you are trying to diminish the historical experience of what has happened to blacks in America regarding police officers and police brutality...."
And that little blurb of yours is the problem. I say something about how the police abuse needs to stop totally, and because I tie it in to my experiences and say I think it happens to all sorts of people, all the sudden I'm trying to diminish the historical experience of blacks in America?
wow...
Since when does saying "Hey, that happened to me too!" ever diminish someone else's experience? It only does when that person is insecure - I assume I know what about, but I'm not certain - so it could be insecure about a range of things.
And my case doesn't compare to real police brutality or profiling? If I had been sent to county with the crack pipe, I would've lost my job and I can't think of many jobs that would have hired me after that. It would have completely changed my life. (I don't have a degree, I put up with 9 years as a security guard to get the job I wanted and if I lose that, I don't have much) Was it the worst case of police brutality? Absolutely not. I never claimed it was. I never claimed it was in the top 1000. That's completely beside the point though. I merely cited something that happened to me by the police which you cited as happening to black people all the time, and I'm inferring, apparently you didn't believe happened to white people ever.
And I wasn't being pulled over for speeding tickets buddy. It was because I was driving a hoopty van around my neighborhood, which happened to be rather drug riddled, in the middle of the night. I was profiled because of the vehicle, the neighborhood and the time. That's why I say I think it has to do a lot with wealth/classes. I absolutely agree that a lot of our history has been racist and prejudiced. I absolutely agree a lot of cops have used prejudice in what they do. All I'm saying is that in my lifetime, I've experienced it too, and so my point of view, from first hand experience, says there's maybe more to the equation.
I'm sorry you can't handle this.
Again, I'm absolutely astounded that you respond so angrily at me suggesting that a lot of cops hurt a lot of people and it needs to be stopped. Unbelievable.
You know I really love that line of yours... How my case doesn't compare to real police brutality or profiling. The more I think about it the more arrogant you sound. The police nearly ruined my working life for walking 10 feet outside the crosswalk, and to you that's nothing... You are absolutely arrogant and wow, I have to stop thinking about how ridiculous that statement was.
Such a hypocrite - You try to tell me how I'm diminishing the historical experience of black people in America and then in the very same post you tell me how my experience is sh!t. Soak that one in wizard.
He's not saying that blacks aren't targetted, he's saying that cops expect an obiesant, deferential attitude and when they don't get it, they arrest you.
And as far as him "trying to diminish" something, who made you a mind-reader?
to tell you that it is cop mentality and is directed against all races by cops, and it is.
I think the mistake people make in this discussion is that they begin to speak in broad terms about racism and historical police behavior. It's important to try to stick to the specifics of this particular incident in order to avoid arguing over irrelevant anecdotal evidence. I would agree that police in the Boston area have had a long history of questionable behavior toward African-Americans. However, in this particular case, the white police officer happens to be an example of the gains that department has made in dealing with its unfortunate history. In other words, Sgt. Crowley was the wrong person to accuse of racial profiling. The man has a history in the community and personal relationships within the department which indicate that he is anything but a racist "rogue cop". On the other hand, it is quite clear that Professor Gates has built his academic career on the study of racism and the oppression of the black man in American society. Could it be that his heightened sense of awareness about this problem led him to apply a similar kind of racial profiling to a white cop? Sure looks like it.
he knew that the professor had identified himself as the legal occupant of the house, and had not done anything physical to the officer, and had produced the legal ID. That was entirely sufficient to show that the cop had arrested Gates without case, erego, 'stupidly'.
"As far as Gates is concerned, there was no clear cut right or wrong on his arrest..."
Sure there is, and the D.A. has decided it: all charges against Gates have been dropped.
The police screwed up. The End.
The officer responded to a neighbors call of two (2) men breaking into a home. When the officer asked Gates if there was anyone else in the house, he told him it was "none of his business"..
Until the officer had an explanation of what happened to the second man, he was required to pursue the issue. What if that man had Gates hostage, and was ransacking the home as the officer spoke? Would Gates complain that he wasn't afforded adequate police protection?
Did the officer ask that question after being shown Gates' ID?
If not, yes, he had reason to be wanting to look.
If so, no, he had no reason and Gates did have the right to question why he wanted to know.
Timing is everything.
solo25, I hope you were being facetious, because that's the worst justification I've ever heard. Listen, folks, read the police report, then read this: Nightmare on Ware Street.
The police were clearly in the wrong. Obama was right when he first opened his mouth on the subject. He should have stuck to his guns, not backtrack to mollify the ignorant white supremacist bloc. The Democrats are very good at finding ways to apologize for being right. If that's the only opposition to the GOP, no wonder this country is going to the septic tank.
I am very distressed by this whole incident and the President's initial response to it. This country has come a long way, in terms of becoming a colorless society. But Professor Gates and President Obama have damaged that progress. Today, a white police officer has been summoned to the White House to face a man who has attacked him publicly, calling him a racist, "rogue cop", and another man who has said that he "acted stupidly". How is having a beer with these men supposed to undo those feelings? Crowley was dispatched to the scene of a possible crime in progress and he ends up being accused of racism because he dared to ask a black man to identify himself. Then he arrests the man for being uncooperative and disorderly in front of a group of people, and he may as well have burned a cross on the man's front lawn.
I've been watching CNN report on this incident, between its multiple airings of "Black in America", and I'm beginning to wonder if a new kind of racism isn't emerging in this country. White parents in Los Angeles can't even get their kids into charter schools because African-American kids are being awarded extra "points" just for being black. Civil Service exams are being modified to make it easier for blacks and Hispanics to qualify for jobs, rather than maintaining equally high standards for all applicants regardless of color. The bar is being lowered across the country, and the victims of this lowering are a new class of people who are being routinely marginalized just for being white.
No, I don't think having a beer at the White House is going to resolve this issue. Obama appears to be trivializing the nature the incident by thinking that he can mediate a friendship between these two men with the help of a little alcohol. It's almost child-like in its logic.
http://johnrj08.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/dear...
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