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Obama Steps In It
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Henry Louis Gates’ arrest had nothing to do with America’s racist past. But why did Barack Obama go off half-cocked about it?
Read other takes on Gates' arrest from Daily Beast writers.
Once we get to the point that everyone from Maureen Dowd to Stanley Fish feels the need to say something about the more-than-minor incident that happened to Skip Gates at his home in Cambridge, we should not be surprised that every professional Negro victim worth his or her salt has had something to say. We have been repeatedly told what the incident itself "reveals" about purportedly stationary stereotypes that continue to resonate against an inarguable racist past. Inarguable though that racist past surely is, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
President Obama put his big foot in it when he chose to give an uninformed opinion using words far below his expected eloquent shrewdness to describe the minor mishap. The grand irony is that Obama, who once appeared so far above the kind of overstatement one expects from a rapper talking about race politics, spoke on the amateurish level we perhaps thought was behind us, because Obama seemed to perfectly understand the restraint demanded of his enormous power and influence. Every second-rate black comedian has a routine in which black Americans get a chance for "payback" and take the white folks to task for all of the wrongs that they might not have committed but that they did not spurn whenever they resulted in skin-color privilege. The president stumbled into a version of that kind of routine when he allowed the issue to overshadow a discussion of his health-care agenda.
Have no fear: Barack Obama will recover and he will bring all of the obligatory honor back to his administration and will continue to lay down the overriding challenges to all concerned—as he did in his brilliant speech to the NAACP on its 100th anniversary. It is more than significant that the president, as he told those attending his NAACP address, has chosen not to accept any excuses for selling out oneself, one's ethnic group, or one's country. Digging in and doing the very best that one can do has become a new version of patriotism. Given the stage cynicism of our moment, that version of patriotism is something far more meaningful to all of us than what happened to an influential black academic one afternoon in Cambridge on the steps of his home, where he was arrested for belligerence, no more, no less.
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Exactly! Thank you.
skippy gates acts like he still lives in the jungle, at his primal core.. sign me 'whitey' -- right skippy?
Um..since when did being "belligerent" become a crime? And...if you had shown 2 forms of ID when the police came to your house and yet they still were shaking you down about your presence there - wouldn't YOU be belligerent??? This is from a white-bread honkie...
Well, maybe because to arrest a man in his house with id is stoopid.
All President Obama did was to put a "normal" characterization on the action of the Cambridge DA who refused to indict, four hours after the arrest. Why do you ignore this? Because it does not fit with your prejudice? The arrest was a bad idea - President Obama merely posited the action of a Cambrige official. By this, all of your commentary becomes empty.
Stick to jazz.
Then why doesn't he just give us his "normal" reactions to every local arrest that someone protests?
Gates is his buddy.
Bottom line, he should not involve himself in commenting on local events when he is not in full posession of the facts. It's un-Presidential.
Though I guess it's what buddies do for each other, "He's my friend, I'm on HIS side!"
What fact is more important than the fact that the local DA had already refused to indict? Breathing While Black is not a crime.
I keep wondering if Obama feels a bit burned and used but doesn't want to admit it.
Oh please people...Obama saw this whole episode as a lawyer would see it. He is a civil rights and constitutional lawyer and he was absolutely right the arrest was stupid. we know that Crowley has lied...why did the guy lie about the witness talking to him once he reached the Gates' house? He says in the official report she reiterated she saw two black men with backpacks??? At her press conference, she said Crowley said exactly two words to her ...wait here and they never spoke again. Lucia Whalen (the witnesss) said in her 911 call when pressed by the police dispatcher about the race of the men, Ms. Whalen said one might be Hispanic and she didn't see the other because he had entered the house. She also said they had suitcases, so they could possibly live there too. How did Hispanic and suitcases, become two blacks with backpacks? Crowley got the call and took it while driving around, so he had to get the info from another or the same police dispatcher. Did that dispatcher interpret Ms. Whalen's description on his own? Did he change it? That's where race enters the picture...except of course unless Crowley added that bit to cover his butt...because why would he even enter the house if the suspects were Hispanic and the owner is black and can prove he is the owner? And what about the witness saying they had bags? Would Professor Gates have mentioned he just got home from China? Also Gates' version provided by his lawyer says that Gates and his driver had tried to enter the front door which looked to have been tampered with, so Gates had gone around to the back of the house entered the back door to shut off the alarm. One suspects he walks through the house and attempts to open the front door from the inside. He cannot and he returns to the front porch. The driver helps him force the front door open brings the bags in and leaves. Professor Gates tells us he immediately gets on the phone and is calling someone to come to fix his lock when he sees a policeman on the front porch....the rest is history.
A great many arrests result in no indictment.
Of course the arrest was a bad idea: The officers should have known that they were arresting a member of a privileged class who was going to continue to scream racism very, very loudly.
Frankly, if I'd been in Gates' position, I wouldn't think anything of the way the cops behaved. They were following procedures, being careful.
It's nauseating that Gates believed that he is too privileged, too successful to have to show his ID in his own house and that he could heap screaming verbal abuse on cops without consequence.
He may be very sensitive on the topic of race, but he clearly could use some consciousness-raising about elitism. And he demonstrated an incredibly unsophisticated, knee-jerk reaction to the cops.
However, is that a result of false police reports?
why is the word normal in quotes? is that not the word you mean?
Dont even know why I wasted the time reading this article. I'll never make the mistake of reading this guys articles again.
I'm sure he's heartbroken to hear that important news
Your response, Mr. Crouch, was unfortunately, as predictable as the responding police officer's response.
I would love to read an account of how you would have behaved in a similar incident.
Actually, Mr. Crouch is right. Context is everything here. A neighbor saw two men "barging into" a house and called the police. An officer arrived, outnumbered from the start 2:1 (and, as far as he knew, maybe more), and yet was prepared to lose his life in the defense of a citizen's home and castle. His adrenaline level is about as high as it gets. The homeowner who, under different circumstances, might likely have thanked the officer for investigating something which did indeed look suspicious and dangerous, is instead rather testy and annoyed. The officer (incorrectly, but perhaps understandably) responds in kind. A pissing contest ensues. The guy with the gun wins. An old Chinese proverb "When in the cage with a tiger, don't pull him by the tail". The tiger in this case doesn't get paid enough to put his children in a situation where they may have to think somber thoughts for the rest of their lives. Is there a right and a wrong here? No. Did Obama make a mistake. Yes. Should we jump all over him for this? No, because he spotted his error right away and has come up with an elegant resolution (and think of his context as well). Time to put this to bed.
This is the fault of Harvard which promotes racism as the primary evil to be eliminated. Corruption is OK with Harvard but not racial discrimination against their highly (over?) paid multi millionaire professors. They have black professors to divert attention from their elitist abuses who speak about racism as if the black Harvard lawyers and politicians ever had theid careers hindered by it. Gates at 58 years old was first arrested in July 2009 for disorderly. He was brutally abused by racist police during his life. Ahem!
For obvious reasons, elitism is not nearly as popular a topic at Harvard as racism!
Gates has been reported to have said something about how he couldn't believe it was happening to him, a prominent and successful person!
I suspect his outrage had more to do with his offended sense of privilege than anything else.
(When the cops have hassled me, I've usually assumed it was because I'm obviously rather poor.)
This guy sounds to me like an Uncle Tom..
You sound like a total twit
My husband has an uncle Tom, Hugh(Bud), and William. All I have is uncle Edgar(Slim), Ralph, Myron, Forest(Bud), Gary, and Gerald.
Google him,he's one of the sharper writers on the scene.
Why does anyone think it's less than racist to call someone an "Uncle Tom" simply because they don't capitulate to the "black party line"? I'm offended that everyone with skin darker than Padma Lakshmi is supposed to think in lockstep with the likes of Mr. Gates, Mr. Jackson, Spike Lee, et al or be branded an outsider to their own race. Aren't we past this bullshit?
My president is a Chicago street punk...yay, lucky me!
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I have always been a bit of a misanthrope. It is probably the trait that has bothered me the most and has persisted throughout my life. But underneath that prickly exterior is some sweet pulpy mess that is life-giving and nourishing. You just have to know how to handle me.
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You're "point of the pyramid" is also known as "chip on the shoulder".
You could also see the dysfunction in homosexuals who get in everyone's face about their "gayness" and the need for "diversity".
Great job Stanley. You always have an independant and fair take on race relations. So much better than the mindless, agenda driven drivel from both sides.
Indeed!
I don't disagree that President Obama "stepped in it." The arrest report is enlightening:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html
And, Andrew Breitbart nails it:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/27/obamas_accidental_ gift_on_race_97637.html
Outstanding! George Patton
Belligerent?
Did the author read the police report?
Very clearly the officer made up his mind to arrest Prof Gates because he insisted he come outside his home. Had Prof Gates stayed inside his house - which was his right - he could not have been arrested for "disorderly conduct"
And was it necessary to handcuff a disabled man who needs a cane to walk? In the police report it clearly states that Prof Gates was in pain with his hands handcuffed behind his back so the kindly officer took the handcuffs off and handcuffed the "dangerous" suspect with his hands in FRONT of him
Prof Gates then spent four hours in a police station being booked - fingerprinted, photo's etc --
Certainly a humiliating experience for anyone - but especially in this circumstance
I can defend/understand a police office who loses their cool in a circumstance of imminent danger etc BUT in this case--
The Prof had shown 2 forms of ID
The Officer even called the Harvard Police after seeing the ID to confirm who the Prof was
There was belligerence - Officer Crowley may be a good man but he got himself into a pickle and the more graceful out would have been to walk away
Had he not insisted on an arrest that was not only - yes stupid - but illegal -- the charged were dropped the same day
Good article. But here's a great one by Andrew Breitbart:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/27/obamas_accidental_ gift_on_race_97637.html
SkipperGate its going to leave a lasting mark on Obama and it will not be one that does him any favors.
Obama picked his fight and it was a very bad fight to pick.
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Picked his fight? Yeah, he's really putting all his efforts into this one! If you consider stating his opinion once and then backtracking to be a "fight."
Why feel the need to take shots at rappers in everything he writes?
Wow, we are on the same page, Stanley - you rascal, you.
It was stupid to arrest somebody for yelling.
This is true but the President should have stayed out of it.
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I agree with you for the most part. Personally, I could relate to the frustration Gates must have felt. He just returned from a trip to China only to have the door not work (old homes are beautiful, but the doors always stick!), so he breaks in and thinks finally, I can relax, but no, his neighbor has called the cops. I would not have greeted them with much warmth either especially after proving that I lived there. When you put yourself in each person's shoes, you can understand how the situation occurred. The neighbor thought she was doing the right thing. Gates was tired, irritable and just wanted to be home. The officer didn't like being talked down to and had the power to do something about it. An unfortunate situation all around.
I feel that President Obama was a bit hasty and overly zealous in moving to assure black Americans that he would not fail to stand up for them. And Mr. Gates, especially in view of his career background, seemed overly eager to jump on a situation where he could yell "racism" where he himself was concerned. It would be a weighty bit of example for some future lecture or speech.
To me, race relations and racism are a distraction from the real issues in the Gates arrest, a red herring that's keeping everyone from seeing the more universal problem. HL Gates Jr was arrested for "mouthing off" to the police, something that happens daily to people of all races, something that would likely happen to any Daily Beast reader under the same circumstances. The real issue here is the possible abuse of police powers, arresting someone on the notoriously vague charge of Public Disturbance for something that isn't criminal, being obnoxious on your own front porch. If it was wrong to arrest Prof Gates it's not because he's black but because he didn't break any laws. Yet if you read the paper or watch a show like "Cops" you'll see that the same thing happens frequently, people of all races are arrested for refusing to "calm down" or to submit to the authority of police officers. They do a dangerous job and need to be wary, but due to the distracting accusations of racism we've missed the chance to discuss the larger issue, the use or mis-use of police power. The police were there in response to a 911 call and so it makes this a poor example for a discussion of racial-profiling but the arrest makes a good case for defining Public Disturbance. And make no mistake, the charges weren't dropped with such alacrity because they were so blatantly wrong but because Dr Gates has a public profile that drew attention to this case. If it were a Graduate Asst with no TV show who had been arrested the charges would have been pursued.
I don't think there will be much discussion. Cops have a tough job. Just cooperate and they will get off your case. Simple as that.
I'm with Stanley Crouch on this one, despite that his article was unusually brief and written so that even I could understand it without the usual struggle with the thesaurus. Almost suspisciously so,
Personally, I think that "the nation's most famous black scholar"* was having a bad day and decided to share that with Crowley, who wasn't interested in sharing but was interested in having his authority respected.
I am also pretty sure that the name Henry Louis Gates meant nothing to Crowley (at the time), because if Crowley knew that he was dealing with "the nation's most famous black scholar" that Crowley would have been more circumspect and perhaps even differential, especially if he knew that Gates was the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. If he knew that he probably would have assigned one of the officers present to guard the house until the lock was fixed.
I also think that TDB should post greenmanTN's article above along with the rest of the commentators. He's exactly on point.
*Michael Kinsley referred to him as "the nation's most famous black scholar".
"I'm with Stanley Crouch on this one, despite that his article was unusually brief and written so that even I could understand it without the usual struggle with the thesaurus."
Thesaurus, hell! I just have a hard time understanding his writing. It is more akin to trying to understand poetry or decode a riddle. But then I just don't get jazz, either.
Try,your life will be enriched.
pricklypear - There are different kinds of jazz. Try Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass or George Benson or Walter Beasley or Nat King Cole or Marion Meadows. Smooth jazz.
It' great that the police responded to report of citizen's report of suspected forced entry; but it is not good that after finding out that he is the legit resident of the house that they lure him outsie and find some lame excuse ("disturbance in public") to arrest him. They do not need to arrest him under the circumstances. The former shows they are doing their job; the latter shows that they are flexing their muscles. Pure and simple.
After 8 years of Bush's alienated and alienating personality, I think too many people forgot the Pres. is human.
In the same way that Pres. Clinton kept the seach for JFK, Jr. going far longer than any search for a non celebrity would have lasted, there are times a president must show that he's more than a political entity.
Actually, I was quite pleased when Obama spoke. Yes, it is a teachable moment. Even more so now that the 911 tape was released and it's very clear that the caller was calm, did not mention the word black or use any language that characterized the two people at the door as dangerous. When asked by the 911 operator about the race of the men the caller responded "one could be hispanic."
The media, once again, is to blame for inciting people to react to a situation that didn't exist. The media layered this story into something it wasn't.
As I wrote one other time. If you'd just completed a 22 hour plane ride, had a bit of a cold, to come home and find you front door jammed, you might be a bit excitable yourself.
There are so many "should haves" in this story that reflect on all three parties.They seem to be trying to rectify the situation for the nation by the time-honored solution of having a beer together.We all have bad days and say and do things that we wish we would not have.Let' s move on to The Economy and Health Care and let these three good,albeit not perfect, men enjoy their beer and their company.
The summer of '09. Is not the real racist issue the snowballing number of so-called "Americans" who spend their time wondering if President Obama was born in the United States?
I think the snowball will stop growing at a certain point. There just aren't that many stupid people. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, maybe a couple of million. But only so many will believe, their belief reinforced by the disbelief of the non-stupid.
Thank you.
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