Like I Posted Last Night... on another site, I'm pleasantly surprised that Obama spoke out about what happened to Dr. Gates the way he did. I just hope when the :smt067firestorm from the Republican right & the law enforcement community hits, as it probably will, he won't back down too much on his prior statements! We'll see...
I can' believe Obama would even comment on this when he states, " I don't know all the facts". If you don't know all the facts, then you don't know what your talking about!
Well, at least Bill Cosby agrees with her On a Boston radio program this morning, Bill Cosby suggested that President Obama spoke too soon on the controversial arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. “I’ve heard about five different reports ,” Cosby said on Boston’s WZLX. “If I’m the president of the United States, I don’t care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I’m keeping my mouth shut.” “I was shocked to hear the president making this kind of statement,” Cosby said referring to the president’s remarks during last night’s press conference. The comedian appeared to have dialed his comments back a bit in a later interview on Boston’s FOX 25 television station. Cosby cautioned those from coming up with their own conclusions, but gave the president some leeway. “People who have not been there, people who don’t know are beginning to have their own personal feelings, but they weren’t there,” Cosby said.... http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/07/23/bill-...
As a Black man -- way before he entered politics -- there's no doubt in my mind that Pres. Obama has had confrontation(s) with the cops. He does know what he's talking about from personal experience. Barack went to school in L.A. pre-Rodney King (before camcorders were available to the public), when the LAPD ran rampant in the communities of color. I don't think he called the cop a racist. He said the cop acted stupidly...which anyone with a brain can deduce is fact. Prof. Gates should not have been arrested at all. He proved to the cops that that was his home. My theory is he was charged because he talked back to the cops. This has happened to me before. The cops come up with a bullshit charge like disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace when they want to harass someone who give them backtalk. The charge(s) won't stick...but, they're not meant to -- they're only arrested & charged for the purpose of harassment. I can't say whether or not the cops were racist unless I could read their minds, but clearly they stepped way over the line by arresting Prof. Gates. He clearly has grounds for some major litigation against the city of Cambridge, Mass. and the police. The Kid Rasta
You should consider becoming a stand-up comic or a writer for SNL. Your posts are hilarious!!!:smt042
It doesn't matter if Gates acted belligerent or not. Gates did not draw a weapon and the officer saw his driver's license. At that point, considering Gates didn't physically threaten the officer but merely used choice language, the situation should have been dropped. Arresting Gates only makes it appear that "The Man" wanted to shut this uppity negro down. 2 Things Americans have no answer for: 1.) Uppity black folks with clout. 2.) Educated black folks that are indifferent to assimilation into "white" or "black" culture.
The thing that I don't understand is that nobody mentions this was an ELDERLY man, a scholar, not a fighter. Have you SEEN Prof. Gates? There is NO WAY that the police felt he was threatening in any way. The professor had just returned from a trip to China and was ill - maybe he went off - he was probably in a real bad mood, coming home sick like that, tired and jetlagged and being locked out. It's already the worst day on record. And then the police think he's robbing his own house? So he probably lost his temper. I would have, too. But come on ... this is an old dude getting cranky, not some 30-something body-builder banging heads together! Two tempers obviously clashed. Obviously too must testosterone in the room. But the police officer, as a public servant (Gates pays his salary, dig?) is supposed to NOT lose his cool and defuse the situation, not escalate it. He DID act stupidly. He is supposed to be trained as a "peace officer," right? No matter what happened, he was WRONG. He should apologize.
basically as educated as Obama is, i'm surprised that he made the novice mistake of firing off a comment like that, knowing that people will be examining each and everything he says or does. If you do not know all the facts, you should say nothing. There's always a chance that the facts could leave you flat on your ass, when they come out. Isn't this guy a lawyer?
Obama made a political gaffe that he will have to respond to many times in the future. Probably won't hurt him in Mass but will definitely hurt him in some red states he took from the republicans last Nov. This police officer has a great reputation and is known for his fairness. Hand-picked by the former Cambridge Police Commissioner (black guy) to be the instructor on racial-profiling at the police academy. The police responded to a call from neighbors that two black men were breaking in. (I would like to see an interview with that person--is it common to break in from the front door, and they don't know their own neighbor). Dr Gates should have cooperated peacefully with the police. By the way, there was a black police officer at the scene of the arrest so if profiling went on, he was a party to it.
this won't be the first time the masses cried 'racism,' only to be dumbfounded by the presence of black officers (let me guess, he was cooning it up for whitey right, instead of bearing witness to a routine arrest?), within the offending party. gates started to get out of hand, and they arrested him like they would anybody else. they released him because of the pressure that his association with Harvard put on them.
I have tried to stay out of this debate but.........I can't. I will try to keep my emotions out of my response. As an ex police officer a number of things strike me about this incident. It was reported as a B&E in progress It was reported by the neighbour If I had been sent to that call I would have had my gun out which is standard operating procedure for a B&E in progress and heightened by the fact that it WAS called in by the neighbor who you would think would know who lived next door. Secondly, the police let Dr. Gates walk around in his house once they entered. That is a no no. At that point he was a suspect and I dont care how old he is.....you never let a suspect walk around. I have a number of scars to prove the stupidity of that including a nice one in the back of my head courtesy of an 85 year old woman and her trusty frying pan. So he was getting treated differently because of his age. Violence is a non issue here. He was NOT arrested for a violent offence. He was arrested for disturbing the peace. It does not matter that he was not swinging at the officers.
