Who Is Racially Profiling: Barack Obama, Prof. Gates or the Cambridge Police?
Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, Obama, Henry Louis Gates
Barack Obama has a knack for making a relative non-story into a fiasco. He has done it on several occasions, and apparently has done it with the Cambridge, Massachusetts events of last week.
Some background: Sgt. James Crowley, who is a police academy expert on racial profiling, responded to Professor Henry Louis Gates’ home near Harvard University last week to investigate a report of a burglary and demanded Gates show him identification. Police say Gates at first refused and accused the officer of racism. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct. The charge was dropped Tuesday (largely because of pressure from Harvard University Administrators), and Gates has since demanded an apology from Crowley.
Crowley, to his credit, is refusing to back down.
“Mister Gates was given plenty of opportunities to stop what he was doing. He didn’t. He acted very irrational he controlled the outcome of that event.”
“There was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother, something you wouldn’t expect from anybody that should be grateful that you were there investigating a report of a crime in progress, let alone a Harvard University professor.”According to the police report, Crowley asked Gates to talk outside, to which he responded “Yeah, I’ll speak with your mama outside.”
Crowley is known as an excllent officer. Fellow officers, black and white, say he is well-liked and respected on the force. Crowley was a campus police officer at Brandeis University in July 1993 when he administered CPR trying to save the life of former Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis. Lewis, who was black, collapsed and died during an off-season workout.
So what does Crowley think about Gates’ claim that he’s a racist? “It almost doesn’t even warrant a comment it’s so ridiculous. My friends, my family, my colleagues, those people (whose) opinions mean the most to me, they know who I am. They know what I am and what I am not. It’s an unfortunate thing that the professor or other people have even mentioned that.”
Crowley, 42, said he won’t apologize. And his union has expressed “full and unqualified” support for him. “The apology wont come from me. I’ve done nothing wrong,” he told WBZ.
Just to add to the fire, Bill Cosby chastized Obama for speaking out without know the full story. “I’ve heard about five different reports [on the details of the arrest],” Cosby said on Boston’s WZLX. “If I’m the president of the United States, I don’t care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I’m keeping my mouth shut.”
Here is the problem I have with this whole mess: why in God’s name would the President of the United States make a rush to judgement, and get involved with a case that he doesn’t even know the full facts about? Obama’s statement:
“I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”
Stupidly? The person that acted stupidly here is the President. There are press reports, to be sure, many of which supported the cops. The police reports, along with other officers (black and white, I may add) say officer Crowley acted properly. The local, state, and national police unions as well as the Fraternal Order of Police have defended the officer’s actions. Jim Carnell, union representative of the Boston Patrolmen Association, said the president’s comments are unforgiveable. “With one sentence, our president set this country back 100 years. For the president of the United States to use a prime-time news conference to push through comments in favor of his friend that cast police officer in this country as stupid is unforgiveable,” Carnell said at the headquarters of the Boston police. The Union has asked the President and Governor Deval Patrick to apologize for unwarranted comments.
Charles P. Wilson, National Chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, told ABC News that the officers involved “could have taken a different path on handling that case” but also said that the president could have used different language.
The president said he understands the sergeant who arrested Gates is an “outstanding police officer.” But he added that with all that’s going on in the country with health care and the economy and the wars abroad, “it doesn’t make sense to arrest a guy in his own home if he’s not causing a serious disturbance.” What the heck do police officers care about health care and the economy, when they are dealing with crime on the street daily? Talk about not understanding the real world people live in.
On top of that, Obama called the actions ‘stupid’, without knowing what he was talking about. As usual, Obama thinks he knows more than anyone else…in this situation, that was patently false. The correct answer would have been, “I don’t know the specifics of this incident, but I am concerned about race relations with Police and the public. I hope that the case will be investigated properly.” Instead, he dived right in, proving to conservative voices that he did in fact learn a lot from spending 20 years in Jeremiah Wright’s church in Chicago.
In fact, what happened here was a very common police incident, that happens daily across the country, no matter the color of your skin. This is the real life of police officer. Are there bad apples among the police? Of course. But for the President, without knowing the specific of the case, to castigate the officer is a disgrace. I don’t know if the Cambridge police acted because of racial reasons; only an investigation can tell us that. But I can tell you, Mr. Obama responded because the officer was white…and since he didn’t know the fact, it was the President who was the one person who was certainly racially profiling in this case.
UPDATE : President Obama came out Friday afternoon gave a classic ‘nonapology’ apology to the Cambridge officer, and in fact called him personally. I hope Mr. Obama has learned that saying something as a Senator, and voicing an opinion as President of the United States are two vastly different things. The 911 caller now claims she never used any racial description when she made the emergency call…which means the media added that little tidbit. And, let us remember, there are real acts of racism out there…deal with race identity politics is a waste of time (yes, that means you, Rick Sanchez…). Frankly, I think this should end a large part of this unnecessary conversation on race. Hey, maybe lets just sit around and have a beer! (Apparently, a belgium beer at that…elitists!!!) But as for Obama, the damage is done.
Us, racists? D'oh!
I am not sure Obama is who he portrays himself as…time will tell.
Gates was a suspect because he acted like a suspect, not because he is black.
My understanding was 2 of the four officers on site were African Americans…I need more confirmation of that as well.
Carlos, that is ridiculous. The police officer arrives on the scene and has no idea that the house belongs to Gates or what the situation is. For all the officer knows, Gates may “own” the home, but he is under restraining order from his ex-wife to stay away from the place, and he is coming into the house to murder her/beat the crap out of her.
I know this is a horrible analogy, but lets say the police responded to a call of OJ breaking into his house, before his ex-wife and her boyfriend were murdered. Once the police found out the house belonged to OJ, should they have just let him go? If they investigated the situation a little more, found out that other people were in the house, and that OJ did not belong in that house, maybe things could have turned out differently. I’m sure it would have gone over really well on the national news if they just let him go once they found out he owned the house. “Police question man before letting him go to murder ex-wife”, News at 11!.
What the Sargent did is probably normal as far as police procedures go. What Gates did is probably a normal reaction to anyone intruding into one’s own kitchen and demanding an ID. The arrest came AFTER the identity was established. And that’s the stupid part, arresting a 58 year old man who walks with a cane and probably disoriented after a 20-hour flight from China. As Obama mentioned, this has to be considered in the context of the history of police’s racial profiling and it is not normal for police to trample on constitutionally protected rights. Anything short is missing the bigger picture.
Police every where are supporting the decision of this police officer and they were not there…they are doing the exact same thing Obama is doing judging the situation from their own point of view. Regardless if this police officer has african american and hispanic officers coming to his defense..the police community only sees the color BLUE when their own is in question.
The report was from someone passing by, not a neighbor. They witnessed someone trying to force a door open. That is what the dispatched tells the responcing officer. That is all the information the officer has. Upon arriving at the scene, at some point the officer asked for identification. It appears that Mr Gates escalated the issue by responding with “Why because I am a Black Man in America”. The officer asked for id, the id was inside as they had to come in through the back door. Upon seeing the id the officer probably should have said something like sorry to have inconvenienced you, but we did have a report of a break in. Apparently Mr Gates continued to escalate the confrontation and the officer felt he had no choice.
All the above said, I can’t relate to being stopped or questioned based on my skin color, but I do know people of color. It is a very unsettling situation to be placed in that situation. I think if Mr Gates had just remained calm and not raised the issue of “being Black in America” things would have been resolved much more peacefully. It was likely a combination of a long trip for Mr Gates and the frustration of not being able to enter his front door. Then the police arrive and it simply set him off. The police were just doing their job. It would have been better, if once the id was presented, that they just let it go. I read in the Boston Globe today that there are radio transmissions which recorded the escalating confrontation, but they have not been released, although they have been requested via the Freedom of Information act. The President really should not have commented.
I am a New Yorker. Over here at the land of the center of the universe, yelling insults/profanity to a police officer is illegal. The police officer has the right to make an arrest for breaking this law alone. The police officer also has the right to make an arrest for disorderly conduct (disobeying order to simply walk outside and be cooperative, not like the police officer is conducting body search…etc). I am no fan of police officers (had unpleasant encounters with police officers for speeding), but base on the facts floating around the intarweb, Mr. Crowley followed protocols and the arrest was warranted per the above (assuming Cambridge local laws are like what we have in NY). Freedom of speech is one thing, but directing profanity/insult to an officer during an investigation is stretching the limits of freedom of speech. BTW, all you tourists take notes: It is also illegal in a lot of places to take pictures of police officer(s) without their prior consent or acknoledgement. Your camera can be confiscated and you can arrested. -JM
The facts are as follows:
1. The officer followed protocol as any good officer would and should.
2. Mr. Gates got out of hand when he could have stayed calm and done as the officer required. This is like people getting mad when a retail store cashier asks for ID. The officer only wants to ensure Mr. Gate’s safety, nothing more. For all he knew, Gates was under duress or being held hostage. If Mr. Gates hadn’t automatically jumped to the race issue, he could have easily talked to the officer and nothing would have come of this.
3. Obama, being the president, and being someone who is watched on everything he says, really should not have used such a comment. In fact, for a situation like this, a presidential comment was not at all necessary. Even though he was asked about it, Obama could have easily just said “We don’t have all the facts so I have no comment at this time.” He slipped up. We can forgive that. Perhaps he is racially biased just like his buddy, but so far I haven’t seen a way that has hurt our country. It doesn’t seem to be in his decision-making at all. If we could all be adults about this, Obama could be forgiven and we could get to more important issues. Unfortunately, politics never work like that.
4. Mr. Gates seems to be the stereotypical angry black man who thinks anything against him is racism. This highly surprises me, as he is a Harvard professor, but at the same time I’m not too surprised. If Gates wanted to truly represent his race and strive for equality, he would just drop this, since the charges have already dropped, but it appears he wants to bring the officer down not just for his arrest, but on anything he can.
If only people were better people, Gates could drop this, Obama’s comment would be forgotten, and we could get back to more important things. Too bad angry black’s think they have to prove something out of nothing because obviously the entire white race is against them.
Gates did profile himself above the law by saying professors should be excluded from suspect list due to his “sensitive” race and Harward association. Instead, he should show document which clearly shows his residency, which would remove all these issues all together. We know cases when very prominent people were committing crimes. Any person of any race will be threaded similar in that particular situation and claiming race was a key issue there is completely wrong and very shameful for Harward’ Professor assuming his expertise.
No matter the situation, my house, your house, the street, the coffee shop, the parking lot, the schoolhouse, one must believe in the power of kind words and a smile versus the language and actions of anger and hatred. One way will carry you through, the other will carry you down.
I am still shocked that the President feels like he needs to stick his nose into things, in the name of a friend? I am so sick and tired of hearing the race card being played by people. And it’s not just criminals, it’s Harvard professors, the President.
Mr President are you going to play the race card if someone does something “white” to someone you know? After all, even though you don’t talk about it you are bi-racial, half white!
It’s no wonder this world is in the shape it is in, sad when you have the President of the greatest nation in the world stand on tv and say the cops acted “stupidly” by arresting his friend.
I am still in disbelief. First of all Mr President, have you been to the Police academy? Do you know their protocols for dealing with calls? Do you know how they work when dispatched to a burglary in progress? Sounds to me the man is lucky he wasn’t met at the door at gun point. How would the officer know that he lived there? Oh because he told him so, wow that carries a lot of weight when you were dispatched to a burglary in progress? Because we know criminals don’t lie do they?
Now as far as race, what does it matter, the man acted like an idiot and I have seen white, black, brown people alike all act like idiots. And when you are disrespectful to the Police when they are trying to ascertain information pertinant to the call then guess what, you get told to shut up. Then when you continue to yell after being told to calm down guess what, you go to jail for disorderly conduct. And it just doesn’t matter what color your skin is if you act like a fool than you go to jail.
Why is that so dog gone hard for people to understand?
Dave F – 1. “normal reaction”? No. When you know you were breaking into your own home the presence of a police officer should not be a suprise and any rational person would have known that the officer was there for protection, not harrasment. The harrasment actually came from Gates in this case.
2. “arrest came AFTER the identity was established”. Are you saying that because he is a black harvard professor that he should be excused from any suspisions? Does that ID prove that he is not a psycotic ex-husband breaking into his prior residence? Do you know how many crimes are committed by people who look innocent?
3. “arresting a 58 year old man who walks with a cane” because anyone who carries a cane should be excluded from following or even respecting the law, right? hmmm… I guess the next time I want to commit a crime I’ll just carry a cane with me.
4. “and probably disoriented after a 20-hour flight from China”. Oh, well that makes it all ok. To not only insult the officer, but also interfere with the ivestigation, right?.
5. “it is not normal for police to trample on constitutionally protected rights.” And where are any of these points in the Constitution?
Get real!
dbee – The police were supporting a decision only after an investigation was done. Obama commented after amitting he didn’t know much about the situation. There is a difference.
I first wrote about this on Tues and basically said that Gates was a jack arse.
Now Obama opens his uninformed mouth and inserts his foot in it.
Gates said that Crowley didn’t know who he was messing with.
Perhaps Gates is the one who didn’t know who he was messing with.
Check out my take on it and the link to my Tue post. Also, please stick around for more good content.
http://libertarianhumor.com/2009/07/24/gates-2/
Daryl, my friend you need a lot of education in constitutional rights. The constitution protects against people from the harsh powers of the police and the state. The constitution does not protect an employee of the public from being shouted at. I suspect if the colors were reversed, cop-black and suspect-white, you’d be talking about 2nd amendment rights to bear arms.
All the other points you raise are moot and irrelevant. Or else Gates would have been arrested on those charges. You are underestimating the police’s professionalism here. They can do their jobs well enough without violating any constitutional rights.
As I stated in my update, Obama apologized, time to move on. Hopefully, Obama learns from this.
I don’t recall much of a response from our President when the Army recruiters were shot at (one killed) in Little Rock, Arkansas. That suspect was black and yet someone died and the President was largely silent by comparison.
What MaoBama says and when is truly starting to define who he really is. It should be blaringly obvious by now just what was put into the office of the President.
What MaoBama supports and people he admires or likes (Chavez?!?) is also telling. Perhaps he is more like Reverend Wright than we were all let on to believe…
Our Media has done this Country a grave disservice by taking sides politically. More to the point, is in how the news is either portrayed or just not reported on for one party. This is a service for no one. The people of this nation deserve to have access to information to make informed decisions. We NEED to know when all of our public officials are behaving poorly regardless of party.
We don’t need divisive racial statements made in haste from the President of all people. Though my opinion of our new President would never be called high this is pathetic even for him. Color be damned! What this country needed was a real leader who believes in this great land. At the present time it appears we don’t have it… what a pity. What a lost opportunity. Now it seems a new throwback to racism redefined. What we got instead: just a man who happens to be half black that was elected president but whom should never have been elected.
I truly feel ill nearly every time I hear this charlatan speak.
[...] Who Is Racially Profiling: Barack Obama, Prof. Gates or the Cambridge Police? « NEOAVATARA [...]
Dave, I agree that the other points are moot and irrelevent, but YOU raised them to try to prove YOUR argument. I just pointed out that they are indeed irrelevent. So we agree on that.
Now it seems that you, as well as many others, are under the impression that the officer arrested Gates because he was being yelled at. If that was the case I would agree with you that the arrest should not have happend. But at the end of the day, the professor still did not prove that he belonged there because he refused to cooperate. All he had to do was step outside and answer the questions. The officer did not know if there was someone else inside, whether and ex-wife or maybe even the real intruder. Remember, the caller said that there were 2 black men breaking into the house. What if the real intruder was in the house and Gates didn’t even know it. These are the things that goes through a police officer’s mind. I’m sorry, but simply flashing an ID is not always good enough. I know my constitutional rights, but that’s not what this is about. This is about things the officer needs to think about to protect the victim, the suspect, the public, and himself. The irrational behavior of the professor made the situation unstable and still in question. The only way to protect was to take control of the situation and the officer had every right to do so.
I don’t advocate for racial profiling nor do I deny that cops make mistakes or even abuse their power sometimes. This is not one of those situations. Dave, you sound like a smart guy, but please look at this from a police officer’s point of view an imagine all of the caution that must go through his head in this kind of situation, especially when the person in question is acting irrational. I wish people would stop saying that the officer arrested Gates because he was insulted. There is a lot more to it that that and I beleive if people understand that they would think of this differently. Please tell me you can understand that.
Daryl, all I got to say is that I’m glad the kinds of second guessing you are making was not there in our founders when they framed the constitution. Otherwise we’d still be singing hail to the queen. Our police are very well trained and professional and can deal with any situation you describe without trampling the constitution. Give them credit instead of pleading for “circumstances” or “extra judicial” reasons for doing their jobs.
[...] Who Is Racially Profiling: Barack Obama, Prof. Gates or the Cambridge Police? « NEOAVATARA [...]
Obama got caught with his pants down! Just who was racially profiling who? I think all minorities need to learn a lesson from this event!
The only one that was racially profiled . was the Cop that Gates thought was a racist because he was a white police officer. That is the bottom line truth. And if Blacks want to fool they self into thinking Poor me I cant get ahead because of the white man . YOU Will never pull your Race out of the sorry crime filled can’t even fell safe in any Black area way of living. Just look at the crime stats you should be ashamed.
Don’t know if anyone mentioned it, but I understand the ID he provided was nothing more than a Harvard University badge, containing no address. Lets face it, Gates and Obama should apologize to Sgt. Crowley. Can this President show some class, some backbone, just once????
All of you people are crazy with your PC crap. Profiling isn’t just against minorities. Everyone is profiled. I was born and raised in an upper middle class, prodomiately white area of NYC. I was a young, white male with a nice car. I ran my own business at the age of 20 in which I traveled all over the NYC metro area. If there was traffic, I would get off the highway & travel the local streets. I would go thru prodomiately black & spanish neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan & Queens. Areas that were high crime & drug trade areas. I would get pulled over on a regular basis. Most of the time the police would ask me what I was doing there? Where I was going & where I came from. When I would explain that it was to avoid traffic they would just let me go. 5 Minute waste of my time.
A few times they wouldn’t believe me and grill me for a half an hour. Are you buying drugs? Can I search your car? If you don’t let me search your car I am going to right you a billion tickets. I never let them search me or my car & I would get irritated with them but never verbally abused them. They would let me go but usually after 30 minutes.
Twice I was pulled over. Detained for more than an hour and then given a bogus ticket. Both times they were minority police officers that gave me the tickets. One of them actually took my keys & went on another call & came back 2 hours later. I was on crutches from a sprained ankle, had my girlfriend with me and left outside in 100 degree heat for over 2 hours. The funny thing was that they left me in a bus stop & 2 parking violation officers tried to get me to move & wanted to write me a ticket even after I explained the situation.
The cops come back & have the nerve to give me a ticket for the tint on my windows being too dark. And to top it off, I receive a ticket in the mail for parking in a bus stop. By the way, the 2 cops were black females.
Was this racism? Maybe. Did I file a complaint? No. Did the cops do something wrong? Yes, unlawful detainment.
Point is, this happens no matter what race you are. If you want an excuse for everything that happens to you then it is profiling or racism. The Police are just trying to keep crime down by profile white people in crime ridden, drug infested neighborhoods. And minorities in white neighborhoods. Does it work? NYC is one of the safest large cities in the world so it does.
Gates is the real racist. If his home was really being robbed and the police weren’t called how would he feel then? He knew he forced the door in, a neighbor called police. All he had to do was show his id, shut his mouth & be happy that the neighbors & police are keeping him safe.
This is ridiculous. Now Obama has gotten himself mixed up in the wrong situation, and this almost seems like a tabloid-like story about the president of the united states! not good for him or the reputation of his party. This is what some different media outlets think about it. http://www.newsy.com/videos/obama_joins_gates_gate
Racists come in many colors, not just white! Why is it that the whites or caucasian people are frequently called racists? Tell me, when was the last time you heard a black person called a racist?
Let’s think about that for a moment….Most often, a white person is called a racist only when it’s a black or hispanic or other nationality calling them a racist. However, the recent Prof Gates incident has proven that not just a white person can be a racist. Black people can and some are known for their racist comments or racial slurs against persons of other nationalities. Prof Gates was the first one among the many at his residence that day that uttered the racial slur against another person. Sgt Crowley did not, nor did any other officers there, nor did the woman that made the 911 call. Only Prof Gates. If you google Prof Gates and read some of his writings and appearance tapes, you will see that he has made it clear that he believes only white people are racists. But, he lost his temper, followed a police officer that was only responding to a call concerning his residence, trying to protect and serve towards the street calling out racial slurs about the police officer loudly enough for neighbors to hear. Oops, now Prof Gates can be viewed as a racist and President Obama comes to his rescue? Seems they run in tight circles. Sgt Crowley meanwhile, tries to keep doing his normal job, and the woman 911 caller is at work today as she normally would be. All others have gone about their regular tasks for the day, except President Obama and Prof Gates who called the so-called “beer meeting” today. What is their agenda today, you might ask?
I leave you now to ponder who are the racists? Now, you don’t know what color of skin I have, do you? You cannot tell because I have only written the facts in this article. Does it matter? Really?
Signed: Person of unknown nationality and it doesn’t really matter does it?
Cambridge lost a great opportunity to kick ass
View my blog
http://mikeuragenius.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/mike-speech-gates-obama-crowley-cambridge-police/