Sports Redux: Pats Fans: Feel The Schadenfreude
Kells Closing
Photo of the Day, February 8, 2010: Alewife Station
Scott Brown: 41st Vote or Campaign Prop?
Back Bay Smoke-Out: Condo Owner Sues Over Secondhand Smoke
Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested at his home Thursday by Cambridge Police after officers responded to a call from a woman who saw a man allegedly trying to "pry" open the front door of Gates's house. According to the police report, Gates initially refused to identify himself but eventually provided his Harvard identification card. The report alleges Gates was yelling during the incident and accused the officer of racism and said he "wasn't someone to mess with." Gates is the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard. A spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. told the Globe that Gates is scheduled to be arraigned on August 26.
All charges alleged until proven under law.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
i always thought they couldn't touch you once you got tenure.
but seriously, try to imagine this happening to a white prof. never in a million years. n-e-v-e-r. and in the police report, the officer specifically says "i was led to believe that gates was lawfully in the residence." so what was gates arrested for? being upset about encountering unreasonable harassment while trying to enter his OWN HOME?
i really hope that this officer gets arrested for trying to get into his own home when he's locked out sometime, that someone calls the police on gates' white neighbor when she's having trouble with her keys someday, and that the cambridge police department apologizes for disrespecting an important member of its community.
i doubt that this exemplary officer would deny an officer the courtesy of seeing his ID then start screaming epithets. our police have a dangerously responsible job as it is. the arrogance of this professor was startling. the often seen arrogance of the ivy league ellite illumiinati towards the uneducated, in their eyes, troglodytes who keep them and their property safe, wait on them in businesses, wash their broken bodies when sick etc. it looks as if this puffed up and multi-diplomaed little man thought that this policeman was a nameless peon.....but that was not the case.
i really hope that this officer gets arrested for trying to get into his own home when he's locked out sometime
Agreed. I can guaran-damn-tee you that the officer would have no problem cooperating with police and show his ID.
also, here is gates' lawyer's statement on his behalf: http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr
I'm gonna disagree here. Speaking as someone who has written rants against over-zealous police here on Bostonist, the reports I've read said the fault lies on both sides of the equation. A report was made that someone was breaking into a home and the police went to investigate. Had Professor Gates shown his ID instead of flipping out this whole thing would have been over in about 60 seconds.
Do I think he should have been arrested? No. I also don't think a Harvard professor should behave in the manner he was alleged.
there are a couple of amendments to our constitution that both allow us to refuse to identify ourselves and to be belligerent to police officers, regardless of our employer.
No argument there, but when approached by a police officer who tells you "Someone called in to say they thought this house was being broken into. Can I see some ID", would a reasonable person fly off the handle or be somewhat cooperative?
Personally, I'd thank the cop for responding in a timely fashion and not stopping at Dunkies on the way..
i don't know, i might be somewhat upset about being asked to show ID on my OWN property, particularly when in the always-frustrating situation of being locked out of my own house.
there's also the question of whether gates lives in harvard owned housing (i don't know if this is true, but gates getting a harvard handyman to fix his door suggest it might be?) in which case it seems this would be the university's issue to handle, not the police's.
ultimately, i'm more interested in the neighbor's motivations than the police officer's. does she really not know what her own neighbor looks like? was her call motivated by racism? i can't help but suspect that if she had seen two middle-aged white men trying to get into the house, she would NOT have called police. and it's not even like we're dealing with young hoodlums here--gates is an older man who uses a cane. what is his getaway plan, hobbling away from the crime scene? it doesn't really make sense. but it DOES highlight the importance of knowing your neighbors, so you can avoid being in the embarrassing situation of calling the police on them in instances like this.
I agree ... Also, the police knew nothing. Only that a report was made. A man came to the door ~ after several minutes, had to go to the kitchen for the ID. The officer knew nothing. As far as he knew, the man at the door could have murdered the residents and was showing their ID. Yes, Gates should have been taken to the station to prove his idenity. And, I believe, a black officer, that didn't know who Gates was, would have done the same thing. But I don't understand why Obama had to get into this !!!! My God ! He's the President of our wonderful country. Doesn't he have more important matters, rather than speaking up on what has become and thought to be a Racial Matter ????
Yes, but... Our legal system - the US Constitution and laws passed under its authority - also recognizes that police officers can, under certain circumstances, compel obedience to their commands, such as "Show my some ID."
Lemme tell ya a story...
Last week my brother locked himself out of his car. While he went to call a locksmith, I thought the old coat-hanger-over-the-windowglass trick might work since it's an older car. I was trying just that when a NY State Trooper tapped me on the shoulder.
"What the *BLEEP* are you doing?" he asked.
"Oh, no worries trooper. It's my brother's car. He'll be right back."
The moment I said the words I realized how lame I sounded - like an episode of COPS! but without the skinny meth addict under the bed.
Now, imagine you're that trooper. What do you do? Take my word for it? Walk away?
No, you do what he did. You ask for my ID. You check me for weapons. You visually check the car and surroundings while I sit in the back of your police car. You call my name in and run it for warrants, etc.
When my brother turned up (sans locksmith, alas) the whole thing got sorted out. The trooper even gave us a lift to a nearby gas station.
But... he demanded my ID. He confined me to the back of a patrol car. He treated me like a criminal suspect. Why? Because I was BREAKING INTO A CAR and until he could get the situation sorted out, he did what cops do; what we need them to do and legally authorize them to do.
Whatever dude, he was a racist cop, LOL. If you were black he would have gone Rodney King on you!
BTW I love when people bring up the constitution to explain situations like this. Your Constitutional rights end once you become a threat, or possible threat, to another person. That being said, in this situation you are well within your rights to refuse to show identification. However the cop is well within his rights to arrest you on suspicion of B&E. If you have nothing to hide, then this seems like a no-brainer. I like to call this common sense, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of that going around now-a-days. Everybody is a victim now. Poor Prof Gates. :'(
Perhaps Gates shouldn't have made such a fuss over being asked for his ID, but I've never heard of someone getting arrested for just shouting and freaking out. If people were arrested for just shouting and freaking out in Cambridge, half the city would be in the pokey.
What irks me most is why the police felt Gates was a threat. Race matters aside, he is an old man who has a disability and uses a cane to get around.
did the pdf of the police report just disappear from boston.com?
ah: http://blogs.townonline.com/cambridge/2009/07/20/cambridge-police-not-releasing-harvard-prof-henry-louis-gates-police-report/
but: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/CANON8AA683_LNOTESMAIL_07202009-153909.PDF
It's not racism. It's just a crackdown on that horrible Tumultuous Behavior crime wave.
That's how you can tell Cambridge is a smart city, the police use words like tumultuous. Back home they would have just said he was being an (alleged) asshole.
:)
Charges Dropped -
http://wbztv.com/local/Henry.Louis.Gates.2.1094574.html
Everyone has a right to their opinion. I say Not Until you "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" can or should any of you be making these statements, as if they are fact. You weren't there, you aren't Black, you don't live in the US as a "Minority" as oppose to a "Person of Color".
I am a Black woman. I fear being in the presence of Police...my Life Expectancy decreases by 50% whenever I am in the presence of the police. (Young woman asleep in car, shot 40 times by cops) I called to report a break in to my home, property I own and I was questioned as to "What would I have in my home, that someone would want to steal"?...OH!, I forgot, I was dealing with the Police.(Blacks have no value, sell drugs) I thanked him for taking the report and went into my home. I felt threatened...another incident the Police being called because neighbors were using my property. I told him I would plant trees along the border to clear up the issue....he said "Why!, You'll be dead before they grow". That's living Black, educated-MSSW, land/home owner, no criminal background, in this United States of America. WALK A MILE IN MY SHOE'S. BLACK MEN ARE LIED ON CONSTANTLY AND NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT IT....EVERY ONE BELIEVES THESE WHITE WOMEN SAYING A BLACK MAN DID IT AND THEY GET AWAY WITH IT....HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT BLACK MEN SUFFER AND NOTHING IS SAID OF DONE ABOUT IT...AND WE ARE SUPPOSE TO BE HAPPY AND CIVIL TO BE TREATED LIKE DIRT...AT OUR FRONT DOOR, IN OUR OWN HOME. GOD BLESS YOU ALL. LOVE, PEACE AND JOY
do caps within the context of lowercase print indicate SCREAMING? we must own our anger. GOD BLESS is not what i see or feel in this comment. i also doubt that there is much PEACE, JOY OR LOVE
You know everytime I get treated badly by a white person,(happens daily) or pulled over by a white cop with an attitude (monthly)or followed around in a store (often) I always say it is because I'm a black man and no one believes me. Wanna know why? Cause I'm a white woman. But how can that be???? Only black people get harrassed by white people, right?
no, that's not at all the argument ("only black people get harassed by white people"). the argument is that black people (and minorities in general) get harassed MORE OFTEN than white people, and statistics do demonstrate that minorities make up a greater percentage of inmates proportionally than the overall racial makeup of the population would lead you to expect. the causes for this--racism, socioeconomic status, minorities just plain commit more crimes--are difficult to determine, but the facts are there. check the bjs for numbers.
the globe today has an article on the balancing act that officers must conduct. a lot of police responses (necessarily) have a lot more to do with immediate, gut instinct rather than with careful consideration of the situation and the law. this, unfortunately, means that human fallibility plays a much bigger role in police activity than it should.
I think you are missing the point. If it does happen to a black person, they make it a race issue expecting a get out of jail free card, regardless of the outcome. What the poster is saying is that everyone get's harassed, except you only hear about the MORE OFTEN cases because they MUST BE a race issue. And THAT is newsworthy!
I am by no means a cop lover, I get harassed every time I get pulled over (maybe he is racist, yea that's it), however put yourself in the same, possibly dangerous, life-threatening, situations that cops do every day and I think you might act differently too. In this instance, I don't see any human fallibility whatsoever. I do see a pretentious asshole making a big deal out of nothing. And he got arrested for it. Oh, BUT WAIT! The cop was a racist pig, so he got out of it...Hmmm.
BTW, I don't see how correctional statistics have anything to do with the argument of black people, sorry minorities in general, getting harassed MORE OFTEN, unless you are trying to say that's WHY they are there. That's absolutely absurd.