Blogs and Stories
My Daddy, the Jailbird
AP Photo
In Wednesday's press conference, President Obama called the Cambridge Police Department "stupid" for arresting Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Daughter Elizabeth Gates interviews her dad about what happened to him in jail, how this affects whites too, and why she shouldn’t give up on America yet.
Earlier this week, my father was wrongly accused of breaking into his own home. We had just returned from China, and he had flown from New York to Boston to prepare for a few days rest on Martha’s Vineyard. As my father was settling in, a police officer named Sgt. James Crowley showed up at his home.
Sgt. Crowley said he was responding to a call from a woman who described two black men breaking into her neighbors’ home with backpacks on. He demanded to see proof of residency and my father showed him both his Harvard ID and his state ID without hesitation. Shortly afterward, a miscommunication ensued, and my father was handcuffed and taken to jail. Our family is both saddened and outraged at this, and as I watched his mug shot scroll across various news stations last night, I couldn’t help but wonder what he was experiencing.
He was there investigating? He should have gotten out of there and said, “I’m sorry, sir, good luck. Loved your PBS series—check with you later!”
Daddy, how did it feel to read in the police report that although you had been cooperative with Sgt. Crowley, while he was standing uninvited in your home, your behavior had been reduced to “loud and tumultuous” after asking to see to his badge? Were you surprised at the inaccuracy of the police report?
Well, the police report was an act of pure fiction. One designed to protect him, Sgt. Crowley, from unethical behavior. I was astonished at the audacity of the lies in the police report, and almost the whole thing from start to finish was just pure fabrication. So yes, I felt violated all over again.
When Touré quoted Malcolm X in his piece for The Daily Beast and wrote, “What do you call a black man with a PhD? A nigger,” did you agree with that statement? I mean, will education still be our eventual leveling point?
No, I think the actions of Sgt. Crowley aren’t the actions of everyone on the Cambridge police force or all white people in Cambridge or Boston or in the United States. I mean, there are bad white people and bad black people. There are good police officers and bad police offers. We depend on the police—I’m glad that this lady called 911. I hope right now if someone is breaking into my house she’s calling 911 and the police will come! I just don’t want to be arrested for being black at home! I think this was a bit of an extreme reaction.
Stars Celebrate the Super Bowl
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Tiger's Thing for White Girls
Elizabeth Gates is a style correspondent for The Daily Beast. She is a graduate of The New School University and a former intern at Vogue magazine.
White Guilt on Broadway
Elizabeth Gates is a style correspondent for The Daily Beast. She is a graduate of The New School University and a former intern at Vogue magazine.
Too Fat to Graduate
Elizabeth Gates is a style correspondent for The Daily Beast. She is a graduate of The New School University and a former intern at Vogue magazine.
ieuuwz
"loud and tumultuous" ... "an act of pure fiction"
Well, what's the deal with the still photo showing Mr. Gates with his mouth wide open as though he's screaming at the top of his lungs? (The photo with the three officers in it, one of whom appears to be black.)
KelBye
FWIW, I read the police report. Mr. Gates' alleged disorderly conduct was said to be in a public place. Last time I looked, your home is just the opposite. Disgusting.
lookinin
KelBye, I thought you read the police report?
It was AFTER the officer had left the house, and Gates, in front of witnesses, kept on with his behaviour. Including referencing the officer's "momma".
The black officer on the scene agreed with Crowleys actions 100%. I suppose in your view he is an "Uncle Tom".
dcbooknurse
Since the photo doesn't have sound, you don't know that Mr. Gates was screaming. Even if he was, if I had just been arrested for no reason other than a police officer didn't like that I asked for his name and badge number I might be screaming too. The fact that a black offier is there makes no difference, the original officer was there alone.
Boyaca
That police officer had no other reason to be there other than to assertain the facts. When the professor told him that he owned the home, the officer should have immediately defered to him. He was not on public turf. He was in that mans private residence. That officer needs to be personally sued. He also needs to be fired immediately. As far as the professor screaming at him goes. He has every right to do as he wishes inside his own home. What galls me most is that even when shown proof that the man was in his own home this idiot still stood there and allowed the situation to get out of hand. America is a police state. I guess the only wonder is, that since the professor was black, and in Martha's Vinyard no less, that the SWAT Team was not sent instead of just one white redneck.
BeyondKen
According to the police report Gates repeatedly called the officer a 'racist' and taunted him, 'You don't know who you're messing with", "Ya, I'll speak with your Mama outside", and "You have not heard the last of me."
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17512830/Gates-Police-Report
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
jetsfan123
Unless Gates was admitting to a crime or threatening the police officer, it doesnt matter what Gates was saying. Gates could be yelling at the top of his lungs acting like an idiot, the fact that once he proved his identity and that he was the owner of the residence should have automatically precipitated the officer to leave.
thecolonel
How exactly did race get implicated in all this? I understand that America has a long history of racism, and of bad cops doing bad things to innocent black people, but then again America also has a long history of bad cops doing bad things to white people. So how is Gates (and even more so, the flippant hack Toure) so certain that the cop here was motivated by some racial animus?
Gates insists that if he "had been white this incident never would have happened." How can he be so sure? Did the cop use some racial slur or otherwise indicate his (even latent) racism? Does Gates believe that white people (or hispanics or asians or homosexuals) aren not arrested unfairly every single day? And treated poorly by the cops as the arrest occurs?
Seems to me that Gates--and again, Toure, as he inappropriately flings the word "nigger" into the discussion--is crying wolf. Without some facts to show that the cop was racially motivated, its simply irresponsible to allege racial animus. To do so both (a) undermines the backlash against actual, confirmed racial animus, and (b) ultimately betrays Gates as the one who is jumping to racial stereotypes in his reading of the situation. The cop didn't say anything racist but you're sure you were mistreated because you're black? Sounds to me like you would have cried wolf no matter what the circumstances of your arrest.
A shame, really, because I've always held Dr. Gates in such high esteem, but then here he is, casting about his own unsupportable prejudices and helping to undermine the African American cause with his own bit of knee-jerk Sharptonian grandstanding. Lame to the point of being pathetic.
At bottom, more kudos to the Beast for yellow journalism. You've let your go-to black columnist drop the N-bomb willy nilly now in TWO articles and turned a sloppy arrest into a massive verbal race-war in your comments section. TMZ has more integrity.
Chazinpa
Guy get over it... if this "educated" man was unable to open a dialogue with the officer and calmly explain himself. Than he's not quite as intelligent as we are being told.
He wasn't in the wrong, so clearly the truth should have been enough, instead he alone (not the other black man with him mind you) was arrested for being a prick.
Good, assholes deserve worse in my opinion, and you can have whatever color skin around an asshole you like, but it is still an asshole... Treat accordingly.
villainess
The fact that he was black made it impossible for this officer to change his assumed storyline that a black man was breaking and entering a house in a "white" neighborhood. Even after shown proof of ID and residence he wasn't able to reorient his inflexible thinking and he got angry when asked for his name and number.
Sounds like race had everything to do with it.
lookinin
Boyaca
Your reading comprehension dissapoints me. Re-read the report. He was not in Martha's Vineyard. Your total disregard of the facts explains your outrage.
galeso
Arrested for breaking into his own house? I do not think so.
So much speculation on what the racist cop did or what the elitist professor did. Was the cop leaving? How would we know.
My daddy is innocent, using your own daughter to protect you, so like a criminal - or was it the media that put her up to it? Either way how lame can a story get? Is there an editor here?
Now I know I can do anything in my own house! Call a cop a racist pig, rape, murder, & plunder. Got to go have some fun now.
Allengator
I wasn't there, but I know for a fact, that he was screaming; "HELP! POLICE!".
PirateJenny
As the recent Obama photo flap demonstrated, a photo is but a moment in time and what you think you are seeing isn't necessarily the whole picture -- pun intended. So, yes his mouth was open but that doesn't mean anything, and I really think you know better than that but are displaying a willful ignorance and lack of empathy here.
GobSmacked
I want to know... did the police officer spell "tumultuous" correctly?Did he have to look it up in the dictionary?His very use of that word is proof that he was "reaching" for a reason (for the arrest) to put on the arrest report.
As a white chick (and a 36C blonde - a protected class in America - we DO have our values), I have NO doubt that racism was involved here... though I have seen enough power hungry cops to know that there doesn't have to be a person of color involved for a "badge" to take the opportunity to grind someone under the heel of their boot. Some do it just for sport ... to give them something to talk about in the locker room.
But it's obvious to anyone with half a brain that, if Mr. Gates were white, the the officer would have acted differently. He might have been irritated at being challenged and having his badge number requested, but he would have backed down. The fact that he didn't says a lot right there.I've known enough "racist-rednecks" in my life to know that the only thing that pisses them off more than a "N" ... is a "N" that is smarter, richer, more educated, more accomplished, and more successful than they are.
On behalf of "whitey" ... "Mr. Gates... I so, SO apologize. I LOVE your show... can I have a DVD?"
MERRILL1
As a white chick (and a 36C blonde - a protected class in America
slut
Chazinpa
Also why was the black man (limo driver I think) who was helping him not also arrested?
If this was infact a "black" thing he clearly would have been subject to the same.
Is it possible that the other man was respectful to the police opposed to rude and insulting?
Bunx05
It's not possible because he wasn't there. He had already left.
Gwazdos
I sugggest that Mr. Gates have his attorney sue the police Sgt. and the Cambridge Police and the City of Cambridge. This action is necessary hopefully to have the Sgt. Fired, and let the police department know that this behavior towards in their own home is not acceptable. Sue this Sgt. to insure that he never uses his position of ignorance to take this no brainer action again. Fire the Sgt. and Sue him!
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116frankregan
Dr.Gates to you.
You move on.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116arnietracey
Takes one to know one.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116mattheww
If the content of the many articles on Gates' arrest isn't enough proof that racism is alive and well, there is also the user comments that append them.
It's certainly bracing to witness how quickly and both in and at such volume presumably-white readers are to assert he had it coming, believe the police's word over his, tell him to get over it, or deny racism is even at play (if you don't count their comment, of course.)
I don't expect these people to be geniuses, but is even a glimmer of self-awareness too much to ask?
Uncommonsense
You got that right. You can read the ignorant comments that follow many of these articles and it isn't hard to imagine why Dr. Gates reacted the way he did. This comment is from a white woman deep in the heart of Texas, btw.
thecolonel
Couldn't agree more. It's more than a little distubing to see so many people automatically assume the police officer was motivated by race. There's nothing in the police report or in Gates' telling of the story that would show the officer was a racist, yet black people all across the country are appearing on news shows to cry racism. So very sad that they continue to harbor such racist views of white people and automatically assume the worst.
Bicker if you will with the policeman's methods, call his report lies, assume the best about Dr. Gates based on his word against the official report, but PLEASE American, don't fall into the tired racist trap of assuming an officer is motivated by racial animus just because he's white.
I'm ashamed that Dr. Gates and his daugher have taken this tack, and I'm ashamed that so many other black americans are following suit.
FreshNYC
look at the picture he was arrested on his steps, from what the cops are saying he followed them onto the lawn. dont look like he did.
arnietracey
America may still be racist, Obama notwithstanding. That said, Gates may have been more than a tad hyper-sensitive, accosted as he was in his own house. But he failed miserably to use his Harvard professor's mind to think the situation through. He failed to control the situation. Instead, the situation controlled him. Much as 9/11 and Katrina controlled George W. Bush.
Two hotheaded Ivy Leaguers.
Yale and Harvard. Dolt factories.
Hey. If mumsy spends $300,000 plus for a teaching-assistant-grad-student-taught BA and one still cannot think in real time, in the real world -- What's the point of it all (the money, the time, the effort) then? What good is your education if it fails you in real life?
What's it all about, when you've thought it out, Skippy?
Allengator
Even a two bit uncertified psychologist can tell you that more than the majority of Any type of "Law Enforcement Officers" get into that "profession" for the POWER they have over others. Think about it boys and girls......
joymars
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/photo-taken-neighbor-Thursday-July-16-2009-He nry-Louis-Gates/photo//090721/480/0fb799e524bc46ddab7ba290713aec51/
Best pic I could find of the arest. It wasn't one cop. There were three there and one was black. This prof. does have an attitude. I'm not surprised he lost it. The whole episode could have been averted if he had just kept his cool.
This will be clear once the dust has settled.
Gwenola
All of the other police showed up AFTER the good SGT of the law arrived. I would like to ask Crowley, since he taught a racial profile class to his subordinates, what part of it did he not get? When an officer comes to my home, basic stuff, do you live here? show me proof. Case closed. Need to catch a real crook
Bunx05
The "one of the officers there was black defense" is the equivalent of saying "some of my best friends are negroes." Just because he was there, doesn't mean he condoned it or even knew what was going on. That was Crowley's backup. It got there after the fact.
moldhunter
The govt. goes to far most of the time sorry miss gates your father went through that.The govt. in ark. just passed a law that was real stupid.
Embers
Having read Gates's own account of the incident on theRoot.com, I still sympathize with him but now understand completely why he was arrested: he mouthed off repeatedly to a cop. They don't like that.
Is it right? No. But that's the way it is. I have been physically grabbed by a policeman for "mouthing off," (a lot less than Prof. Gates did) and I'm a tiny white person.
silveriofr
It is cowardly of you to make that comment. None of us should feel intimidated towards policy officers. We should have the right to defend ourselves through non-violent means without fear of being arrested. I don't know what country you live in, but I live in a non police-state country. Your thinking is that of a citizen who is scared to stand up for your rights for fear of being arrested. It's simple... once the professor showed his i.d. Sgt Crowley should have left.
Embers
How dare you, silveriofr? What do you know about it? It's a simple fact. If you are belligerent to a cop, chances are they'll run you in.
Mansfield Frazier wrote an excellent article on this subject, I suggest you read that. I also challenge you to a fight. Coward, indeed! I'm not afraid to stand up for my rights. But the time to do it is not when surrounded by cops, it's in a courtroom after the fact. You're an idiot who probably doesn't even live in this country. Idiot.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116Allengator
According to the Constitution Of These United States, if you have not violated the LAW, you have the Right to tell Jesus Christ to get out of Your House (Home) if you didn't invite him in.
Diana69
Professor Gates needs an attitude adjustment. He thinks he is better than anyone else around him. Harvard should give him a good talking to. My husband was part of the Harvard system. It's not good publicity for the university that seems to be lacking in funds, I wouldn't donate another dime to an institution that puts up with such bullies. Get over yourself, Henry, this country has been very good to you. Maybe it's time for you to move on.
FreshNYC
look at the picture he was arrested on his steps, from what the cops are saying he followed them onto the lawn. dont look like he did.
Bunx05
I noticed that too. Also, Crowley's report said he didn't enter the house. In all the interviews, he says Gates followed him outside. Hmmm...
Sarekk
Anytime an interview starts with "Daddy" you know it's going to be a puff piece.
Maybe she should have asked "Daddy, why do you think black police officers at the scene are supporting Sgt Crowley?"
http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/blackwhite-officers-suppo rt-crowley/
Bunx05
"Because if they don't, they'll be ostracized at work, Sweety." pats little girl on her naive little head.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
OHNOTAGAIN
The police lied, he will never tell you what he said inside Prof. Gates house, yet everyone know what he wrote. The facts speak for themselves. Why did he lie on the 911 caller, and what are the consequences for his actions? The truth will set us all free!! Thank you Ms. Whalen not only for making the 911 call, but for revealing that Sgt. Crowley lied on his police report.
ItsClayton
This story goes beyond race and racial profiling. Its as much about police improperly using their power than anything else.
I'm white and I've been bossed around by police officers on more than one occasion in my own house. Every time, I stayed quiet because, I knew that they'd arrest me if I didn't. I have white friends that have been beligerent to officers, and they've been arrested.
This does sound racially motivated but, its not limited to that. If you feel mistreated by the police, you should ask for their information and they should allow you to do so. That sounds like what Mr. Gates did. But, when you argue with an officer of the law, they are likely to arrest you, which isn't fair.
Make no mistake. It appears that Mr. Gates has done nothing wrong. But, let's have the right perspective on this.
thankulord13
Sorry this story is all about race. How old are you and your friends. This man is in his sixties. I can just imagine them doing this to your father or grandfather. It wouldn't and you know it. Let's have the real perspective on this, like he said the only people who live in post racial America is the Obama's and only because he is the most powerful man on the planet. This was a classic case of racial profiling. People need to realize that and just deal.
southernsense
Well I live in the south and I'm almost 60 and I can assure you that I was bossed and ordered around by a traffic cop on two occasions in the last six months. Both times were for standard check-points. You need to understand that having a black president who belongs to the radical Trinity Church in Chicago does not 'manufacture' racial slights all the live-long day. This man had no business yelling if he's the gentleman scholar that he's being profiled as all over the press. For heaven's sake, how does he keep order in a classroom? Likely he hasn't seen a classroom in decades and that inflated sense of self called entitlement might have had a hand in his behavior and responses to simple requests by the police. Ultimately it's like getting angry at the casher that asks to see your driver's license when using your credit card!! How foolish of him !!
ItsClayton
I do understand that this happens more to African Americans. But, this could happen to an old white guy, also. This does have to do with race. But, it also has to do with civil liberties.
itsallnoosetome
Um, you, up there, at 9:06, with your head in the sand? Yeah, you. OF COURSE it happens to older people. I absolutely can second ItsClaytons perspective. I've seen it myself.
That said, OF COURSE it was also racially motivated. The two here are not mutually exclusive, folks. It's a bad cop, on a serious power trip, with a predisposition for not thinking too highly of African Americans.
This time, it happened to an incredibly thinker, a thought leader, really, who happens to be African American. Next time, it could just as easily be a woman, or your grandfather, or my brother. All that's required is for a bad cop to give into that power trip just a wee bit, and then it's all downhill and handcuffs and lawsuits from there.
I for one hope to hell Dr. Gates sues the crap out of them.
simon767
I have to agreed with Clayton. This feels like a police and power story not a police and race story.
If you are "loud and tumultuous" with a cop you can probably expect to be arrested regardless of demographic (age, race, class, whatever). That is the problem. The fact it happened in his own home makes it really disappointing.
diamonded
I think the heart of the matter goes back to the 60's and the suspension of the "search and seizure" law. Here I had been parading up and down Haight Street enjoying the god-given, (inalienable right to go about un-accosted), in the light of day, celebrating wonderful visions of world peace, balance, harmony, kind of like the feeling of security one could expect in the comfort of their own home...and BLAMM, up runs Willy Bustem and Kenny Ketchum, hands all over me, turning out my pockets, "you got any drugs on you?", "got any weapons?", "where ya' goin'?", "whatcha think your doin', marchin' up and down this street with your face hangin' out?"
"well, frankly officer, I didn't know that the "can't stand to see a fella' have a wonderful time" nazi's had the legal right to question me on that particular matter".
Right then and there I knew the anonymous vindictive, hemorrhaging animus, and blind anger of an "establishment" that was metamorphosing into fascism. I was experiencing the reality of a person of color in America and the Ronny Raygun' like solution to the "anti-establishment question". This event trumpeted the reality that the "to protect and to serve" policy was no longer operational, and it had been replaced with "put ur' hands on your head, turn around and back up to me", or "get down on the ground, face down, on the ground" stuff and in the ensuing years that "junk-yard" sense of citizen-law-enforcement dialogue has been reduced to the Gestapo-like experience visited on Mister Gates. I just think it goes a little farther then black-white and us "whitey's are no longer a stranger to it.
In reality it was a suspension of habieus corpus and in effect, a declaration of war between "them" and "us". This happening to "mister Gates" can be a turning point and an opportunity to advance the dialogue. Pat Buchanan is kind of like the canary in the proverbial coal mine, and seeing him on Rachel Maddow's show nearly hysterical, with his hair on fire, spouting the time-worn platitudes of the closet racist is symptomatic of the angst the JoeThe Plumber Army is feeling, and hopefully a window of opportunity.
We recently witnessed the white mans frustration with "what's happening now" in the senseless, meandering, absent of focus, melt-down of the "tea party" movement but I wouldn't doubt for a moment, the inherent ability of peoples of color to actualize and articulate their refusal to "take it anymore".
wiselike
You do have a point in that local police in most places will often let power go to their heads. It's a self selecting group of folks who apply to be police - a larger percentage just really crave that extra power for its own sake than you will find in the general public. Those kind of cops don't like being yelled at or challenged, know they can make up police report they want and they will have the benefit of the doubt because of their badge.
I find it entirely implausible that Skip Gates started out assuming this was a race related issue. He was my all-time favorite professor; I had his Autobiography class during the short period of time he taught at Cornell. It was mostly a white class, for whatever reason, and while many of the books he taught from contained African-American perspectives, I never once felt a shred of racism in either his teaching or his approach to us as individuals. He was only warm and encouraging. This was especially notable because Cornell itself was really quite segregated, by choice and tradition, at that time.
I'd also like to point out that Skip, who is large in perspective and learning, but not physically imposing, couldn't possibly be a threat to anything but the cop's ego. A cop who would arrest this professor might well have wanted to arrest any small, tired, 58 year old professor who challenged his power, but probably wouldn't have tried it if the man were a white haired gentleman with a Boston Brahmin accent. He would probably know his place in that scenario.
Even if this incident actually stemmed more from Sgt. Crowley's probable inferiority complex and power issues than racism alone, I cannot imagine for an instant that any neighbor would have called the police if the equivalent professor in Caucasian form were the one asking his driver for help with the door.
Additionally, as much as this incident says something about black men in America (they are now in positions of power and prestige), it says much more about white men (they increasingly have to be submissive to non-whites and women).
They are also often complicit in upholding the traditional power structure. If it were a 58 year old male Caucasian thief with a quick story trying to jar open the door, I'm sure he'd have had ample access to Professor Gates' hard-earned belongings in Cambridge. Likewise, if the cop making the call were a woman, I doubt anything like this would have happened and Skip would be sipping tea and wondering which of his neighbors is the racist moron.
The cop, however, was a white man, and in my experience white men aren't used to being challenged. Their world is one in which they are powerful just by standing there, taken seriously because they come in the form of white males. White, male Americans are born at the top of the food chain, so they have to work at understanding what it's like to be dismissed and doubted. Some of them have no motivation, no ability, no direction or no pressure to do so.
Unfortunately Professor Gates ran into one of those guys that day, and more unfortunately, that was the guy with the hand cuffs.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116Bunx05
Don't presume to speak for us. I think this is more about abuse of power than race. Oh ... and I don't want your sympathy or anything else. Have a good day.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
aagjr733
Has Al or Jesse shown up yet???
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Uncommonsense
Good Christian I see.
conservative4life
Not enough cameras yet. Give 'em time.
RomeoSierra
Who would you suggest be there? Joe the Plumber!
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116Gwenola
Listen to Rev. Al Sharpton on his radio show and you would know what he is going to do.
GateKeeper
why would they?
Gwenola
Nothing. Mr. Gates' attorney, Harvard professor Charles Ogletree will do it all
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116Bunx05
charles116
You're the reason everyone has been saying this is racially motivated.
Ignorant prick (I mean that with the utmost sincerity).
rickjr82
I can't believe he got released, we need to keep these people off the streets.
And by these people, I mean college professors- always pushing their books and knowledge on to people. If I want an education I will watch Glenn Beck more.
Mercy1981
lol
BasPos
Thanks for documenting your degree in racism and stupidity.
misha1000
" If I want an education I will watch Glenn Beck more."
Don't forget Ann Coulter. Read her books instead of going to college. Much cheaper, and you won't be poisoned by what Buckley called a 'socialist and un-Christian' education. Everything you need to know is in Coulter's books. Jerry Falwell lives! Remember Falwell called the First Amendment "a mistake," and called for an amendment to nullify the 1st Amendment, "with the Jewish people declared a protected minority."
Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter and Palin are the smartest people on earth, you betcha. And Orly Taitz should be appointed Chief Justice. She'll get rid of all the communists in government. See what happens when this country is run by Jews and blacks?
Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Sarah Palin! (irony alert)
hinesr15
You're a bigot......aren't you?
dana64
the amount of HATRED that some people have UNLEASHED in this country is UNBELIEVABLE.
HAVE they no SHAME..?? how can they claim to be Christians .??
WAS it the RADIO TALK SHOW that started all this ? this has been going on for over 30 years.............
It is obviously politically motivated..................Washington the first President did not like poltical parties...............the party out of power alays rooting for the failure of the one in power...............
www.allianceforamerica.blogspot.com
GateKeeper
don't forget NEWT.. he can SAVE AMERICA he really can.. from criminal blacks, gang latinos, terrorist arabs, islamic believers..and any other ungodly humans.. NEWT SAVE US, SAVE.US...WE CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE..we are losing our puritian nation of white male serial killers, down low white male polticians, white male christian married adulters..white males killing their entire family for the other woman mistress.. white males and female child molesters killing children..please please please NEWT, BECK , hannity, O'reilly , coulter, Palin, Lambaugh... SAVE OUR PURITAN NATION FROM THE BLACKS, LATINO, ARABS and any other PPL of COLOR that are NON WHITE.. SAVE US, SAVE US, SAVE US,..(LOL)
Cymatic
I can't tell when people are being ironic any more. Left wingers do such a good job with their caricatures and the Fox news crowd are such caricatures themselves, it's almost impossible to tell the difference. Ironic vs. moronic.
waltercito
LOL! I couldn't agree more...
whipmawhopma
Cymatic - I could tell that rickjr82 was putting us on. But it's kind of weird how it seems to have slipped by a couple of us. Maybe it's more of the almost Pavlovian response to words like Beck, Palin, Rush or Sharpton, Pelosi, Obama that spatters the pages of TDB like a bad paint job. Bark, bark, bark, squirrel, bark, bark, bark.
hinesr15
You funny guy!!!!
dana64
you seem to be the PROOF of hatred for blacks .............
most police officers have a gadget that records the conversation.
that can prove what happened in this case.
BUT HONESTLY rickjr82 i have noticed too many police stories attacking blacks with a vengeance.............this is an historical fact. no one can deny.
I know police officers have a tough job.......but they always seem to OVERREACT when blacks are concerned.
ALSO................Obama meant that that ACT was STUPID ........
that does NOT MEAN the policeman was stupid
Bunx05
Ha Ha!
OHNOTAGAIN
LOL........ROTFLMAO!!
hmichaelharvey
Ms. Gates, I admire your daddy.
I have admired his scholarship for many years. I was shocked and upset to learn he had been treated in this fashion. It gives new meaning to John Hendrix Clarke's comment:
"There is not one black man in the world who a more powerful European can not take down with one telephone call."
In this case, Sgt. Crowley called the posse for backup. I hope your daddy strikes a blow for humankind and stand up to this thug dressed with the authority of the law.
With respect to Miranda Rights, the accused is entitled to them before the police interrogates the accused. To place one in custody without extracting a confession does not violate rights under Miranda.
I am a former lawyer who had a similar incident in a middle Georgia courthouse about eight years ago. Your daddy's experience has prompted me to write a piece about that experience and the abuse of power on my blog The Harvey Journal at http://theharveyjournal.blogspot.com.
BillCooper
Get over it Elizabeth! If he hadn't acted like a total A**hole to the officer, this would have been just an inquiry based on a neighbor's call that something odd was happening at Gate's house. Police can't win. If they didn't respond to the neighbor's call, you would be bitching that the police won't come to a black man's house. Grow up.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Johnnyappleseed
It doesn't help either, a lot of people have very big egos and think they are above reproach, it's the "Do you know who I am?" approach.
So he was not recognized as a professor of some renound,not uncommon.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
motrbotr
You are correct, its not illegal to act like an a** hole or belligerent in your own home but when you do it to a cop, they have every right to take you in. Now, as it turnes out, the charges were dropped so everything should be fine. When, in your life, have you ever seen someone be belligerent to an officer and the officer just walks away. It doesnt happen. And they dont have to put up with it. They take you in and if everything clears, you are free to go. Dont be an a**hole with talking with police. They put there lives on the line everday keeping us folks safe.
This comes down to he said, he said. I dont see how anyone can take sides in this matter if you were not there. one side says the cop is racist, the other, that Gates had it coming. Seeing as we were not there, i dont know how anyone knows. If the office is lying, he should be sued. If Gates is lying, the cop should sue him for slander.
Bunx05
not true, motrbotr: The law specifically says that the police do NOT have the right to arrest you for belligerence in your own home. If you are out on the street, they have every right to take you in, but NOT in your home. That's ultimately why the charges were dropped, and why the President said what he said.
rickjr82
Excellent point, if black people wouldn't complain about being racially profiled, nobody would know about it- problem solved.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Gwenola
Don't know how old you are, but police have been harassing and killing black people for over 400 years. I want it to get better.More positive thinking would help all of us
Bunx05
I love how no one gets your sarcasm. Very funny.
chatnoir80
Since when is asking an officer for his name and badge number acting like and a-hole? Also, If you read the article you would see that Mr. Gates acknowledged the fact that there are good police officers as well as bad ones and that he was glad his neighbor called 911.
thankulord13
No, you grow up Bill... once again the you people and your slave master mentality. This officer doesn't need to win, he needs to be terminated.
Gwenola
He won't be fired. He will retired from the force and get another promotion before he leaves
thecolonel
Boyaca: why is the policeman a "redneck"? What reference in the article can you cite to link him to the KKK? What--other that Gates' unsubstantiated assertion that the arrest was racially motivated--suggests to you that the arrest was in ANY WAY racially motivated?
Gates told the officer he'd talk to "his mama" outside. I don't know about you, but if I was a cop, and someone of any color started talking shit about my mama, they'd be getting themselves arrested. Probably their ass whooped by a length of rubber hose, too, but then that's another story.
Seems like maybe Gates' real issues is that for all his higher education, he missed the class in manners.
hinesr15
You know "thecolonel", you almost sounded like an intelligent person in some of your comments. But I'm willing to bet that you're not black.....are you? Only God, Mr. Gates and the police officer involved knows what was really said at that moment in time.
Sure we can speculate and make assertions about what was said and who did what all day long.....but do any of us really have the facts!!!!!
wiselike
What?!! You are so insecure you'd arrest a older guy with a cane over a "your mama" comment? Cops ought to be thick skinned or get a different line of work. Glad you aren't one. Most cops with real work to do wouldn't waste their time on one of these kinds of things.
BillyBackatcha
OK, closet Redneck with enough sense outwit the suspect, lure him outside, and shove him into the car without his cane. Oh yeah, add this ---and to lie about what really happened. BTW, where's the police report that was all over the internet Tuesday? Why did the mayor apologize, and expose his police to ridicule? Why does Crowley insist he will not apologize? How did he make it to Sergeant and be so dumb, vindictive, and hateful?
ettiket
thecolonel: we are in year 2009. come on now. do you really believe crowley wears a shirt that states 'I'M RACIST"? it very well could've been a racially motivated arrest. he did not have to state "I'M ARRESTING YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE BLACK" for it to have been racially motivated. you have to know that. my point of stating that we are in year 2009 is because not many are as audacious to admit the aforementioned.
as far as what gate's said during the incident, did you not read the elizabeths article? she exclaimed that the reports are false.
i'm not defending by any means what boyaca stated, i'm just informing you that a racial slur or act doesn't have to occur for something to be racially motivated. again, you must know that.
thecolonel
My color is irrelevant, unless of course you're a racist who believes I think one thing or another because of the color of my skin.
We have the facts as they were presented to us by both the police report and Dr. Gates' account. And in neither version of events does anyone --Dr. Gates included-- allege that the arresting officer said or did anything that would belie a racist intent. Let me say that again: even Dr. Gates admits the cop didn't say anything racist or ever reference his status as a black man.
So, again, why is Dr. Gates (and his daughter, and so many of the commenters on here, and so many pundits in the press) so certain that his arrest was motivated by race? Is it not possible that Gates' inappropriate behavior alone was the cause of his arrest?
Look: if Gates wants to point me to some fact that shows the arresting officer was motivated by race, I'll join in the chant that the arresting officer was racist and should be sacked; etc. But absent such facts, I can only stand back and feel ashamed that black America is itself so racist to automatically assume the worst about a white police officer.
In the same breath that people condemning the officer's purported racism, they themselves are committing the act of pre-judging him, his actions and intent, based only on the COLOR OF HIS SKIN. Because he's white, he must have been motivated by racism--isn't that the argument we're hearing again and again?
Like I said elsewhere on here, all this has made me lose respect for Dr. Gates. I wrote my Masters thesis on the African-American vernacular and leaned heavily on the work of Gates (and Cornell West, among others). I have always had nothing but the utmost respect for his work as an academic. But now, when push comes to shove (perhaps literally), here's Gates dissing the police officer's "mama" and calling him a racist when he arrests Gates for disrespecting him. Gates is pulling a Sharpton and it's just pathetic to watch him go out like that.
At bottom, based on the facts we've been presented thus far, Gates is the racist he condemns the officer for being. That Obama has jumped in and called the officer's actions "stupid" only saddens me further. It's racist to pre-judge someone's actions on the color of their skin (particularly when the cop has explained that the true motivation behind the arrest had nothing to do with Gates' skin color), but that's just what Gates and Obama are doing. Ugh x 10,000.
PS Thanks for saying I "almost sounded like an intelligent person." Are you saying I'm not intelligent because you don't agree with me, or because you think I'm not black? Either way, great work champ.
SilverAMogart
I gotta reply to ya, kernel. Gates has a hard time getting into HIS home. He gets in through the back door. He begins settling from his trip when an officer shows up at his door. He shows his id, at which point the officer should have stated, " I am sorry sir, thank you for your time."
You can infer what you want from the whole situation, but it not likely that Gates would come to answer his door foul tempered to greet a police officer.
Get off thread.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116GateKeeper
you are a ignorant racist jackass, GOdless and EVIL...Prof Gates is a vegetarian..
ettiket
i love those who hide behind keyboards.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--charles116Bunx05
Again, I dub you an arrogant prick. I will now upgrade that to arrogant prick asshole. You are on talking restriction.
itsallnoosetome
Ooh, ooh! This!! This right here is why we need civics lessons in high school again, people!
NO ONE knows what's legal and not anymore! Mr. BillCooper up there thinks it's perfectly proper to arrest someone who's rude to a police officer! No, no, no, dear BillCooper.
Oh, please, let's put some basic civil rights education back in our PS curriculum!
Uncommonsense
You don't know he acted improperly! You're assuming it. Why? Hmmmm.
Why did the DA drop the charges? A grown up could figure that out, so you need to grow up.
Gwenola
I figured it out
Bunx05
So did I.
connie47
Excellent article, which makes a number of points that all American citizens should spend some time thinking about.
bronxboy
Elizabeth, you forgot to ask your father what it was he initially said to really anger the cop. Hey dad, you really gave this guy that I'm a black victim, you're the POH-Leese, attitude, didn't you?
Yes, dear, you know me, my Al Sharpton came out.
1,000,000 poor black men in prison? Shouldn't they be referred to as criminals?
Mr. Gates should ride with the police for a few nights in the South Bronx or some other hell hole where you can see the behavior of all the fine black men (brothers) toward society and the police.
Gates is the best Harvard can offer its students?
Bunx05
Actually, studies show there are a disproportionate number of black men on death row for crimes they didn't commit. We know they didn't commit them because of DNA evidence that came out after the fact. So no, not all the balck men in prison are criminals; just as not all poor white people are trailer trash or rednecks.
Gilda08
Yes, law enforcement do edit their police reports to their advantage! Yes, they do use excessive force!
I'm facing 2 felony charges, battery on a DOC. Never been arrested in my life. Worked, paid my taxes, raised a family, not even a parking ticket. Now, DUI charges though vehicle was stopped, keys were not in ignition, and I was not driving. I was pepper-sprayed for not removing a recent nose piercing while being booked. I asked them to remove it, if rules dictated it, because I was afraid to tear up my nose. At that point I was stripped naked, slammed head first in shower wall, handcuffed, pepper-sprayed, the nose piercing was then ripped out. After being held under shower head for 5 minutes because of the pepper-spray and with snot running from my sinuses, I spit into shower drain in floor. They called it Fleony battery. One officer said to other, "she spit on my pant leg", the other said, "yeap that is felony battery"! I protested, "no, I didn't, I was spitting into shower drain". Pure and simple, they lie, and are nothing but animals in uniforms.
A year later, I'm still in the system, waiting to take it to trial. My life has been ruined. I suffer chronic depression knowing I might spend 3 months in county jail for something I did not do. I have lost all faith in our system of justice.
They can get away with anything as "following procedure". I know racial profiling exists, but in my case, I am white, the female DOC officers were black. Police brutality and excessive force on innocent citizens can happen to anyone.
CountRaoul
This is not racism. Andit's not racial profiling. Cambridge is 12% black and crime statistics show over 50% of those arrested for property crimes are black. Clearly, the 911 call was from a witness who thought she was witnessing a crime. I fear Gates is using this for grand standing. He looks for opportunity to cry 'foul' and this played right into his hands.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Uncommonsense
Will they then be your colleagues?
pinkcrickets
CountRaoul, this is a great example of you seeing a statistic purely in the way you want.
The fact that Cambridge is 12% black and statistics show that over 50% of those arrested for property crimes are black could actually be evidence FOR racial profiling. Arrest does not equal conviction, so if we're looking to fabricate explanations for these numbers, we could just as easily say: why, if only 12% of the people in Cambridge are black, do they account for 50% of property crimes arrests? That seems disproportionate. Maybe it's because the Cambridge cops arrest black men for going into their own homes late at night?
Also, this is a gross oversimplification - you say this as if black people can't get into Cambridge unless they live there. I doubt crime statistics mirror population statistics anywhere - unless the population is 100% homogenous.
What we would really need to do is compare the arrest rate vs the conviction rate of white vs black arrests, that *might* show us something about racial profiling in the form of erroneous arrests.
Also, the idea of Gates "grandstanding" and looking for an opportunity to "cry foul" is laughable and offensive. If you've ever seen him on television or in person, the idea of him being "tumultuous" is a bit ridiculous. Second, it's not grandstanding to want to right the wrongs done to you.
Whether you think this is about race or not, as another commenter pointed out, the police officer acted inappropriately and abused his power. Gates should not have been arrested and detained for being in his own home OR being belligerent in his own home - and the officer should have read him his rights AND given his badge number and information willingly. There is no reason why the officer should get away with this - no matter how rude Gates may have been, absent any threats or physical violence (of which there is no evidence whatsoever, from either party) the officer did not have good reason to arrest him. He was on a powertrip at best, and he should pay the consequences for his inappropriate behaviour.
hinesr15
I applaud your comments.....most eloquently put.
ElizaS
Let's also keep in mind that only 2% of criminal cases go to trial -- 98% are plea-bargained. There is clearly racism at every step of the criminal process -- from questioning, arrests, convictions, sentencing, and post-sentencing... Numerous studies have shown this to be true.
josev-
The fact that Cambridge is 12% black and statistics show that over 50% of those arrested for property crimes are black could actually be evidence FOR racial profiling.
Good point. I live in Cambridge and was talking to a friend about this just the other day. Almost every time I see a car stopped by the police here there's usually a black or latino driver behind the wheel. This in a city where there's no shortage of crazy drivers of all races. Of course this is only my observation, maybe the statistics tell a different story.
Gwenola
Yes, you are right and Crowley with his I will NEVER say I am sorry in front of a camera should learn to hush. If the media would find another story, we can be over this. the situation will be settled in a smoked filled room and we can get on with our lives.
Bunx05
To add to Gwenola's point, Crowley could have at least said, "I'm sorry Gates thought this was racially motivated. It was not." Instead, he's sticking to his initial comment of "There will be no apology."
RomeoSierra
Yes the Police have never lied, fabricated reports, or framed innocent individuals!
So if 50 percent of those arrested for proprety crimes are black, should it be automatically assumed that Dr. Gates is a criminal?
misha1000
"And it's not racial profiling. Cambridge is 12% black and crime statistics show over 50% of those arrested for property crimes are black."
What is the CONVICTION rate? We are innocent until proven guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt.
socialworklady
pinkcrickets,
Thank you.
Uncommonsense
Yeah Dr. Gates needs attention.
GateKeeper
Racist love to embellish..that is what they are KNOWN for..they are LIARS..since before FOREVER...and that is a long time..
I wouldn't believe a word CountRaoul states... unless he can prove his statement with MERIT..
Gwenola
It is very clear that if they had communication in their community, like we have in ours, they would know one another. What is wrong up theree?
oekosjoe
Those from college towns miss the unique character of Cambridge and Harvard. The past several police chiefs have been black, and race has been a critical theme in Cambridge police training for several decades. The current mayor, and past mayor, are also African American, this one a woman, the last a gay man. While Gates is right, in general, his "right" to be right is considerably twisted by his institutional affiliation. Harvard owns Cambridge (and shares some of it with MIT). The gentrification of the past three - not just one - decades has wiped out townies and relegated native people of color to small colonial villages surrounded by antipathetic yuppies.
While Gates, Ogletree, and a few others have tried to create islands of social mobility for the poor, communities of color, and immigrants, they've failed. The city in which HE lives is not merely racist, it's beset by class and the power of his title, employer, and the influence those resources use mindlessly to repress others, including Irish cops.
Errors of taste and protocol were made. They were mutually racist, and, less mutually, classist. The incredible arrogance of anyone giving a media interview inviting a police officer to apologize publicly, and casting himself as the only arbiter to accept or reject that apology could ONLY have come from a Harvard professor, regardless of his race!
southernsense
very well said !
athrelkeld
Of all the comments posted here, and after filtering through all deeply entrenched attitudes, this perspective is the most interesting and provoking. Though I do not absolve the police officer for escalating a situation that should have come to its proper denouement once Prof. Gates proved his identity and ownership of the property, attitudes often exist in context. Perhaps it was the setting--Cambridge and Harvard, an academic elite and a law enforcement officer--that factor into the reactions of both parties in this debacle. I'm glad that this incident has been brought to national attention, but not merely as one where a racist White man victimizes a Black man. It's not always that simple.
Bottle
This is one of the neatest articles I've ever read. At the core of it is the good-humored relationship between a father and daughter. Why have the other posters here not commented on that? Don't they believe in such family relationship or have a similar one of their own? I detest most of these people. I don't know their color unless "ignorant" is a color. I find them bestial and compare them to the Orcs in the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Chicago48
Where is the wife in all this? If I was locked out of my house, I would call a relative to bring the key.
osopolar
I like blogs they help us express our frustrations....American citizens are in a mess in more then one way!
In general, Obama is like a poison pill...it will result in unprecedented reactions by all who hold power or media clout. People outraged and want a place in the sun...Media is filtering and culling all comments out of blogs in order to shut up critics of walla walla..and the Washington financial trio...i'm affraid black, hispanic, french, jew, stranger action... will only increase cardinal sins...against them, very sorry to see what is happening to some of americas best..the people..
RTL212
I understand its upsetting to be the daughter of someone who's upset, but you have this upside down.
No one -- no one -- is allowed to speak condescendingly, disrespectfully or arrogantly to an offer. I've met your father: with all due respect, but for his color and the celebrity based on that color, he is just another Harvard professor. He is wealthy, arrogant and self-obsessed. So instead of recognizing that the officer was doing his job, your father deemed it necesary top be treated like a celebrity and was amazingly arrogant and belligerent towards the officer.
Your father was also sufficiently self-absorbed to forget that officer Crowley himself is at best one generation removed from horrible mistreatment of the Irish.
So he got what he deserved a. White people are arrested all the time for being abusive and disrespectful towards police officers. Sorry to say, the need for law enforcement is a lot more important than your father.
PS -- very few people watch PBS. Even fewer are interested in the narrow PBS series' about black people. And for you to think that police officers should be watching PBS shows about blacks demonstrates that as the daughter of a wealthy black celebrity, you're as much of a spolied kid as any white child of a celebity.
Jessica150
"no one is allowed to speak condescendingly, disrespectfully, or arrogantly to an officer"???
What the hell planet do you live on? Police officers are treated to this kind of behavior and worse, and THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO ARREST YOU FOR BEING ANGRY, LOUD AND BELLIGERENT IN YOUR OWN HOME. We call that one "freedom of speech".
And while Professor Gates is clearly not your favorite person on the planet, I'm not sure that ragging on his daughter is a particularly classy approach.
I enjoyed the article. So there.
rubyslipper
Excuse me, have you even read any of the articles? Did you read the interview? Gates COMPLIED with the officer who showed up in the middle of the afternoon with a scenario in his mind that he was unable to shake. Yes, it's good that he responded to that old lady's CRAZY 911 call----seriously, what moron would try to break into the front door of a house in the full sunlight of the afternoon?---but he SHOULD have understood that there was no break in when he viewed Gates's ID. But he didn't. For whatever reason, Crowley saw tiny, little old Gates as a threat. He refused to give him his badge number! He ILLEGALLY followed him into his kitchen! He didn't even read him his Miranda rights when he finally put him in handcuffs! Any cop anywhere in the US knows that these mistakes are HUGE mistakes. You'd better believe that they'll be used against him in the future.
Give me a call the next time you interact with a cop who refuses to listen to your word. It happens to hundreds of people every day--black, white, brown, red. The difference is that this time, the victim has enough power to stand up for himself and have people listen.
djanimaequeen
"PS -- very few people watch PBS."
Correction: Very few ignorant people watch PBS. The fact that you're ragging on public television is proof of your stupidity. Maybe you should start watching. You might learn something. Troll.
nagor76
Actually, COPS would probably be a better teaching moment for both of you.
hinesr15
Hey.....I didn't know you were there. Ok......tell me what really happened?.....come on, you can tell me.
itsallnoosetome
:::banging head on desk::::
No.
No. He did not "get what he deserved." NO ONE can be arrested for being "disrespectful towards police officers."
There is NO LAW requiring you to be on your best manners with ANYONE in this country.
I need a drink to toast the demise of basic civil rights education in this country. Anybody with me?
wiselike
"No one -- no one -- is allowed to speak condescendingly, disrespectfully or arrogantly to an officer."
This would be classified under First Amendment rights. I note that you did not say "threateningly," because that would actually be an offense.
And, I'm sorry but one generation away from the Irish being treated badly because their Irish makes the officer, what, 92? The first Irish president was elected nearly 50 years ago, and the major Irish immigration was roughly 125 years ago or less. The major African immigration started roughly 350 years ago, and there is finally a black president, who is actually of half European descent, and raised by his white family.
There's really no comparison.
frankregan
Whoa! Spoken like a typical angry South Boston Irish guy/gal with a generations long grudge against Harvard, Blacks and WASPS. The spew of your community's fury has been ongoing for so long and has given your people such a lousy reputation that no one wants to hear your tales of woe about Irish repression anymore.
I'm a first generation American of Irish parentage from another state and I know that the BIC tag is lethal.
You folks should hire an image consultant so that people will start to take you seriously again. And stop posting stuff like this.
GrnStmps
While I agree with you to the extent that Dr. Gates PROBABLY was most at fault here, and Sgt. Crowley was doing a reasonably decent job as police officer, and MAY have been within protocol to arrest Gates --
Neither of us were there.
Second, your opinion of PBS is irrelevant. Smart people don't turn down an option like PBS to consider another point of view, even if it is slanted liberal. Ditto for liberals and a right-wing talk show host. This is from a moderate. I suggest you take in as much as you can stomach. Consider the other POV. Always consider the possibility that you're wrong and the other person is right. It's bound to be true, some of the time. (If you have smart kids, as I do, this is a matter of instinct.)
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.