Comments on: Henry Louis Gates’ Contempt Of Cop

By: Bison

Bison — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:52:27 +0000

Such a terrible movie and utterly unworthy of the Best Picture award. And its racial themes might have been fresh and noteworthy in 1985, but not so much in 2006. Annie Proulx’s rant was right on:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2…..scars.html

By: MsAnnaNOLA

MsAnnaNOLA — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:25:10 +0000

Thank you this is what I was saying in general. Lets be up in arms about the police state in general. We should be outraged that the cop didn’t leave once he found out Mr. Gates lived there. Period.

The rest is just a bunch of he said he said. It sucks to be profiled but it sucks that we have our rights being taken away bit by bit. We have a new culture in this country with absolute deference to authority. It is not necessary and it is what gave us Abu Grahib, Guantanamo and the Mr. Gates being arrested in his home. The cop thought Mr. Gates should show him abosolute deference. This is not required and not necessary and he knows it.

The new culture is that when you don’t agree with the President who is breaking the law you are a traitor. Seriously, the fact that most people’s response to this is that Gates should not have mouthed off is very telling to where we have come to in this country. Many people are not outraged that he was in his own home. Period.

By: thatvisionthing

thatvisionthing — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:39:09 +0000

Thanks, it’s all I can think of. Like Obama, I wasn’t there… but I feel like I was because of that movie. I don’t regret the incident, I think it’s a kind of fabulous teaching moment opportunity if someone knew how to turn it. You can feel for each of them. It’s not that I don’t think there was something defensive and small in how Gates and Crowley dealt with each other, it’s that I think there was something comically heroic in each of them too. I’d focus on the possible grand. It’s kind of Gift of the Magi comical, you kind of want to hug both of them and laugh at the same time. Of course I could be making it all up. Like Obama, I wasn’t there…

By: bmaz

bmaz — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:28:56 +0000

Exactly why I also referred to the offense here as disturbing the peace. If you look at the statute, the only operative words, out of many, that could apply to Gates is the “disturbers of the peace” clause. I have never practiced in Massachusetts, but in every jurisdiction where I have had encountered a disturbing the peace charge it had as an essential element that an identifiable member, or members, or the public be demonstrated by the prosecution to have been a victim of the offending conduct. There has to be actual evidence of who they are and how they were effected. There simply is none of that here. However, as pointed out by the court in the Duran v. City of Douglas case, and many others, police officers are not appropriate “victims” for such a charge; they are not “the public” and they are deemed to have an elevated barrier to being “disturbed”. All why this was a false arrest and, correspondingly, why the charge was immediately dismissed.

By: bmaz

bmaz — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:06:23 +0000

Hey,you know, nobody had mentioned Crash as far as i know and you are right, it was a pretty powerful vignette on the black white interaction in today’s America. It is complex. Excellent comment.

By: thatvisionthing

thatvisionthing — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:03:40 +0000

Hmmm… why DID the officer ask Gates to step out onto the porch to begin with? I hadn’t caught that — that was before the anger and misunderstanding. Is that another way police get suspects in the most vulnerable place possible?

The way I look at the whole incident is that the police officer needed to be in control, and probably prided himself as well on his NON racial profiling skills (he had taught that at the Cambridge police academy for the past 5 years, without pay) and so got really piqued when Gates refused to let him control him and threw his weight around and called him a racist to boot. Plus there were a lot of officers outside — were they always there, did he need to keep face in front of them too? Like I said in an earlier comment, I think the police officer personally sees himself as a righteous order keeper and saw Gates as needing to be put in order. But I also find myself enchanted by the (potentially heartwarming) ludicrousness of it all. I left a comment about that over on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/commen.....6/273#c273

By: zgveritas

zgveritas — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:26:39 +0000

When the cop finally arrests Gates once the Professor walks outside, he says, “thanks for accomodating my (earlier) request.”

What this tells me is that the cop was simply being petty and still angry that the homeowner refused to “step outside” on initial contact. Despite all that happened in the interim (positive ID) the cop harbored a stupid grudge (which Gates aggravated more by being obstinent, making racial charges, and warning the cop he didn’t know who he was messing with). So the cop decided to show Gates who was boss (in the short term at least) by inconveniencing him with a pointless trip to the station.

Incredible…

By: thatvisionthing

thatvisionthing — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:28:33 +0000

Follow the link to read the whole Gates statement… I left out all the middle stuff so as to get just what he said about being outside on the porch. The middle stuff includes him being ID’d in his own home. Also at the link is Sgt. Crowley’s statement, which probably answers my question about why he could be arrested OUTSIDE his home but not inside — because outside was public and Crowley could document distress on the part of passersby, though as bmaz said it’s apparent the real distress was his own — a kind of self-realizing crime.

On Thursday July 16, 2009, Henry Gates, Jr. ___ of ___ Ware Street, Cambridge, MA) was placed under arrest at __ Ware Street, after being observed exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior, in a public place, directed at a uniformed police officer who was present investigating a report of a crime in progress. These actions on behalf of Gates served no legitimate purpose and caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed.
Signed: Sgt. James Crowley

By: Hmmm

Hmmm — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:03:06 +0000

So… at the time that Gates stepped outside, had the police already ID’d him, or not? What you quoted doesn’t say whether they had or not.

By: thatvisionthing

thatvisionthing — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:07:50 +0000

He wanted Gates outside so he could arrest him. From Gates’ statement:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....-Own-Words

All of a sudden, there was a policeman on my porch. And I thought, ‘This is strange.’ So I went over to the front porch still holding the phone, and I said ‘Officer, can I help you?’ And he said, ‘Would you step outside onto the porch.’ And the way he said it, I knew he wasn’t canvassing for the police benevolent association. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I realized that I was in danger. And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, ‘No, I will not.’

My lawyers later told me that that was a good move and had I walked out onto the porch he could have arrested me for breaking and entering.

…

He turned his back to me and turned back to the porch. And I followed him. I kept saying, “I want your name, and I want your badge number.”

It looked like an ocean of police had gathered on my front porch. There were probably half a dozen police officers at this point. The mistake I made was I stepped onto the front porch and asked one of his colleagues for his name and badge number. And when I did, the same officer said, ‘Thank you for accommodating our request. You are under arrest.’ And he handcuffed me right there.

I don’t know what the difference was between being inside the house and outside for the police to arrest him.

Also in Gates’ statement is his explanation that the front door was jammed when he got home, he let himself in the back with his key, tried to open the front door from the inside and it was stiff and so he asked his driver to help push on it, and he was on the phone to Harvard maintenance to come fix it when the police came.