Results tagged “henrylouisgates”

Even if the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. about two weeks ago was just a simple combination of misunderstanding and overreaction, it's created disturbances much larger than anything Gates could have yelled. First Obama called the actions of the police "stupid." Then there was the racist email sent by a Boston police officer. Finally, we got around to the important question: what beer will everyone drink? But perhaps most disturbing is Gates' revelation today at the Martha's Vineyard Book Festival that he received death threats over the incident. Imagine: you're arrested. In your own home. You're upset about it. So people threaten to kill you. Gates may have overreacted to Crowley's demands, but that doesn't excuse escalating the situation from being disorderly to threatening death. And though that infamous beer summit hasn't given rise to much concrete action yet, Gates says he wants to create a documentary about racial profiling. The documentary would pair the experiences of police officers and profiled individuals to help everyone understand that there can be multiple perspectives on the same incident.

The Beer Summit involving President Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley happened today at the White House. Someone invited Joe Biden, which means he probably made a dumb joke that will prolong GatesGate. They sat, snacked, drank and talked. Great. And then, Sergeant Crowley held a press conference. He said he was focused on moving forward from the past month. Crowley declined to detail specifics from the meeting except to say he and Henry Louis Gates will meet in the future to continue their dialogue.

Do not expend any energy wondering when Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and soon-to-be ex-cop Justin Barrett will be meeting for their own beer summit. Trust Bostonist on this because they aren't meeting to reconcile any time soon after Barrett described Henry Louis Gates and Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham as a "jungle monkey" in an e-mail he actually sent to Abraham after her column about Gates and his recent arrest. Commissioner Davis quickly acted by suspending Barrett and initiating the termination process. Davis asserted Barrett's due process rights in a public statement on Thursday.

The Boston Herald reports that Boston cop Justin Barrett got himself a dose of administrative leave after admitting to writing an email in which he called Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. a "jungle monkey." Barrett, who had been assigned to District B-3 (Dorchester and Mattapan), presumably knows that black people are human beings, but he may have been concerned that Boston's nationwide reputation as America's most racist city had been jeopardized by the Cambridge police when they arrested Gates.