Professor Skip Gates arrested in front of his own home; claims racism from Cambridge police

Great Debates
261

Of course he had further questions: he claims Crowley refused to give his name and badge number. Crowley says he did, but he tells other untruths in his police report, so who knows? And do you dispute that telling someone you’ll talk to them outside is not the same as leaving, or ending the conversation that was going very badly?

My point is, whether Crowley planned to leave or not, he certainly had the opportunity to do so. He chose, instead, to continue an already negative interaction in public, where Gates could be and was arrested for it. I think he showed bad judgment by not taking steps to defuse the situation, and not encouraging Gates to remain in his house as he, Crowley, stepped outside. I don’t think there are any misstatements or propagations of misinformation in this post, though I’m sure someone will be along presently to disagree.

262

The interaction between a child and their teacher in a classroom is nothing like the interaction between an adult citizen and a police officer in the citizen’s home and on the citizen’s property. Try again.

263

Why, they’re almost identical! Two people involved, right? One of them an authority figure, right? Who has a gun, right? Hmmm. OK, scratch that one…

264

Exactly–we can’t know what his **plan **was, so we have to go by his actions. And his actions are that, for unknown reasons, he **did not choose to disengage **after his job was done.

265

Gates has spent his career researching and documenting and writing about all the -completely real- injustices suffered by blacks in America. He’s doing this as a man who’s welcome in almost any circles, who has a six-figure income as a professor and public intellectual, a man who teaches at the Holy Grail of the elitist power structure. The dichotomy has to eat at him: he’s made an extremely comfortable living from racial injustices that he seldom encounters anymore. He probably has something akin to survivor’s guilt, and the racial injustices more and more become words and primary documents rather than action. He’s very likely a coiled spring.

One day a cop shows up at his house and, essentially, questions his right to be there. And the word became flesh. I think Crowley caught barrels loaded for polar bear and was probably quite shocked.

I’ve never maintained Crowley was innocent of any wrongdoing; I’ve maintained all along taking Gates to jail was outrageous. (Note that there’s a difference between illegal and outrageous; it’s quite possible he acted within his legal rights- I’ll leave that to lawyers.) But I can’t believe the degree to which Gates’ supporters seem to feel he did no wrong and that it’s no big thing to go off on a cop who’s not only doing his job but is actually protecting your property, or the notion that the facts of

-Crowley has no history of racial profiling
-Was selected by his black supervisor to teach a course in racial profiling
-Has the respect of black and Hispanic colleagues

are completely irrelevant: he’s a cop, he arrested a black man, therefore Crowley’s a racist who arrested a black man for acting uppity. Oh, and the black cops who have vouched for him: cop trumps black, they do that, because they’re all corrupt you know (this from people who not only do not know these cops but would NEVER make that sweeping a generalization about an ethnic group).

And while it’s not illegal [unfortunately] to be an asshole, neither is it admirable. Gates had no reason whatever to be obnoxious, and even Obama and Colin Powell have pegged him as such and Gates himself admits he was furious. Leon Lashley (aka Uncle Tom as he’s being labeled in editorials all over the country) stated that Gates was belligerant, and he was there. (Asked if he personally would have arrested Gates he said that if he had been the responder Gates probably would have been more calm.)

Crowley is accused of racism. Henry Gates is a racist. He owes an apology to the cop (who he said “when he’s not arresting you is a great guy”) at least as much as Crowley owes one to him.

And this whole issue is the most ridiculous non-story of the year.

266

There are plenty of people in this thread who are saying that Gates was probably being an asshole, but that it still didn’t justify the arrest. I see very, very few people here who are arguing that Gates was a Holy Angel of Good and Sweetness.

267

Bingo. Sampiro, you probably missed it because I participated mostly in the original GD thread that got moved to the Pit, and have just now started on this one since it arrived in this forum, but I stated early on, and continue to believe, that both parties let their egos and tempers overrule their common sense, and both were at fault for bad behavior. In fact, the only person who comes out of this whole mess looking good is Lucia Whalen.

I must say, Sampiro, what I’m getting from your posts regarding Gates is more than a hint of class resentment.

268

When being an asshole is illegal, only outlaws will have assholes!

269

Hmm. I was going for lavender with a basil aftertaste.

Actually I will admit that having worked for many years in academia I probably have a resentment of arrogant professors. As I’ve stated several times the academic world is very akin to theatre in terms of egos and inflated self worth. My prejudice announced though, I actually do think there’s a major classist element in this.

A few years ago some students where I worked (all white male college kids, late teens and early 20s) were sitting in an apartment house parking lot (literally a big old house that was made into apartments). It was a group of college boys chatting, some outside of the car and some inside the car.

A cop came by and told them to leave or take it indoors one or the other. There had been no complaints, but there was some ordinance about gathering after hours outside in a residential neighborhood or some such. In any case one of the kids who was in one of the cars mouthed off to him. Said kid was also drunk, but he wasn’t driving and he was in the passenger seat. When asked for ID he complied, and the cop was probably very disappointed to learn that the kid was 21. It’s perfectly legal to be drunk at 21; it’s perfectly legal to have an open container of alcohol in a car for that matter if the car is not in motion. There was no evidence he was driving or that he had driven. The cop had nothing to arrest him on.

He asked the drunk kid to step out of the car. Drunk kid did. Cop immediately arrested the drunk kid for “public drunkenness”. It was an asshole thing to do on the cop’s part, his revenge against the kid being an asshole. It made big news in the student newspaper with professors and students editorializing and commenting on both sides.

I think Crowley did almost the exact same thing= he found a loophole whereby he could get revenge on Gates for being obnoxious. The second he stepped on the porch he became a “public nuisance”. It makes me think this must be a loophole that is common practice in cop circles.

However, my only main objection to this story is the calling of [del]WITCH![/del]RACISM! I maintain that Gates crossed a line by alleging it and while it’s obviously impossible to prove Crowley’s NOT a racist (just as it’s impossible to prove he’s not a devil worshiper or he’s not a latent homo) there’s a more than reasonable doubt as to whether his actions were racially motivated. I think they were entirely personal- he was pissed off at a jerk who was mouthing off at him and disrespecting him and did a smooth-move that allowed him to say “Fuck you, who’s in charge now?”. That said, while there’s assholery to spare, if there’s a racist in the affair it’s Henry Gates, and frankly I don’t give a damn what experiences he’s had in his life that make him suspect Crowley’s a racist- there’s no evidence they’re justified.

And that I’ve seen 3-day dead hogs in swamps less bloated than this whole affair has become. And ironically one reason it won’t go away is in fact racism. If anybody has watched or listened to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh lately- they’re freaking imploding. They barely even try to hide their Death Marks anymore. They’re becoming openly racist in their diatribes and referring to Obama’s seething hatred of white people (!?the fuck?!) and basically are appealing to the basest of their base now. What I hate about unjustified cries of racism- and trust me, I know that not all cries of racism are unjustified and most racism isn’t cried out at all- is that it feeds Limbaugh and Beck and the others who want their to be evidence of their paranoia; for all paranoiacs and all polemicist agitators and hate mongers, a little evidence goes a loooooong way in maintaining the illusion- it’s the antidote to logical opposition.
By not saying what I think most of us can agree on- “we were two jerks had a pissing contest and a cop took it personally and overstepped his ethical [if not legal] bounds BUT it had little if anything to do with race or the ‘400 Years of Oppression’ and the like so much as personal altercation”- I think Gates is, to be quite frank, playing the fool for the real evil and dangerous racists out there.

I recognize your mileage may vary, and as of yet there is no objective right or wrong in its truth value.

270

Okay, Sampiro, I see we’re closer on our overall take than I’d thought from reading your last few posts – no way, after slogging through the previous GD thread on this, was I going to go back and read all of this one when it appeared in GD!

I continue to think you’re being a bit too harsh on Gates. While I agree that yelling “Racist!” in a crowded theater is a stinkass thing to do, I suspect you may not be cutting Gates enough slack because you’re focussing primarily on his current status as one (mostly) insulated against the worst of what nonwhite America can and will do. I’m inclined to be more understanding of why he popped off based on his physical and emotional state at the time of the incident – jet-lagged, hip aching even more than usual, dog-tired, confronted with the “Oh shit I didn’t need that now” hassle of the stuck door, then he’s finally in and before he can even begin to unwind there’s a cop at the door challenging his right to be in his own home, likely to be wearing a cop face that’s perfectly understandable given what police have to deal with but that is offputting, at least to those unaccustomed to dealing with it, even when the recipient of said cop face is in buoyant good health and high spirits. So Gates lost it, and what came blasting out under the pressure of his explosion was one of those subconscious muck-drenched things that even the best of us harbor despite our conscious rejection; the cop lost it enough to decide Gates needed a lesson; and this whole brouhaha went galloping out of the barn through the gigantic hole those two kicked in its door.

To sum up that bit of rambling (I’ve been studying you, you know), I think Gates is not a racist but has bits and pieces of inescapable racism lurking in his psyche – which is how I’d describe myself, come to think of it. If I look inside, in at the deepest, nastiest parts of my mind, I find some rather ugly stereotypes glaring back at me, mewling and wallowing and gnawing at their chains. Can you say any different?

I agree that the real racists, the Coulterbeasts and Limbaughnauts and Beckless idiots, are the real problem. It’s my suspicion that their increasingly vicious rantings have helped to create an atmosphere where this story could blossom.

Well, that, and the fact that it’s such a great hook for so many news-cycle-bolstering buzzwords.

271

That’s a load of nonsense. This is still America, and there is still pervasive situational and institutional racism imbued in every power structure in this country. And Henry Louis Gates, Jr. no matter what status he’s attained, what money he has in his bank account, where he travels or who he knows still lives and moves in a racist society as a man with black skin.

How dare you even begin to presume what injustices he does or does not encounter? You have no idea.

272

Except for the unexplained bit about where the “two Black men with backpacks” thing came from. I have yet to see anyone come up with an explanation there.

273

Nor do I particularly care. It was not the fault of Crowley.

Yours,

Sampiro (formerly impoverished gay guy in a class conscious homophobic state, atheist, narcoleptic, and member in good standing of various other minorities* who doesn’t feel it gives him license to be an asshole)

*[I’ll add for shits and giggles that I’m also the descendants of African slaves and can document, though being blonde and blue eyed and a lover of ABBA I don’t identify as black]

274

  1. There’s nothing in and of itself racist in that statement.

  2. It could be a legitimate error.

  3. Perhaps he did speak to Whalen or to the original witness (who was not Whalen). It’s not absolutely inconceivable that it’s Whalen who is lying and or wrong about speaking to him when he got there.

Was Gates’ driver still there when Crowley arrived?

275

Except we have the 911 tape, where she says nothing even remotely resembling this.

276

Well, I’m certainly open-minded enough to overlook the rest of your deficiencies, but this? * Ewwww*!

277

You’re the one who made the presumptive statement as an explanation of Gates’s state of mind. You can back away from it now, but if you wish to be intellectually honest, you have to admit that no matter what privileges you may or may not have, you have the privilege of not being black in America, and therefore not having the requisite experience to speak to what racial injustices black Americans, including Dr. Gates, experience every day.

278

Yeah, but maybe Sgt. Crowley had a Twinkie. So, that would even that out.

279

I think it’s a good analogy to the situation. Gates acted like a child and got sent to the Principle’s office. He learned what happened when he disturbed the peace. It was a teaching moment.

280

Discipline is good for citizens, it keeps them peaceable and orderly. That is why we empower police officers, at their discretion, to apply such punishments as they deem fit, in circumstances they deem appropriate. And if the charges are dropped, we conclude that the police are being merciful, and not that the case is a crock o’ shit from the git-go.

Got that about right, have I?