Black Harvard professor arrested at his own house

[pookha]

"Gates yelled at the officer, refused to calm down and behaved in a tumultuous" manner." That's why he was arrested. Not because he is black.

None of which was arrestable behaviour after he had proved that he was the owner of the house.

That's patently ridiculous. If you are uncivil you are breaching the peace. Hence, he was arrested.

according to one version..
another is..

Gates denies that he yelled at the officer, other than to repeatedly ask his name and badge number, and says he readily turned over his driver's license and Harvard ID to prove his residence and identity

we might never know the truth and frankly the truth might be some place in between.

but, there is a reason the story is carrying so much weight across the country.

boston and the surrounding area has had its own nasty history of racism that goes to pretty current times.
the reaction to busing was as nasty as some places in the south.

and more recently..

Stuart caused a citywide manhunt in 1989 when he said a hooded black man shot him and his pregnant wife as they got into their car after a maternity class. Stuart eventually was labeled the killer, but not before a black man arrested on unrelated charges became the prime suspect.

the above and more from this ap article that gives a lot of background
on the situation.

 

[Servo]

Well, Obama wasn't saying it was racially motivated, but when the reporter posed the question, she asked him if it was indicitive of current US race relations. Like I said, I missed his answer.

The other comment by Gertch is equally stupid...

Why am I not surprised?

I edited it to be more "appropriate" for the forum because it'll invariably be taken as a personal attack whereas I just thought the opinion was. And I don't know why you're not surprised. His signature and his remark both make his political leaning obvious and his unwillingness to admit to being wrong about the President even more blatantly obvious.

"Why am I not surprised?" is a rhetorical turn of phrase. Of course I know his political stance, and my statement was meant to illustrate that a stupid political comment from him comes as no surprise to me.

 

[Teelie]

I misinterpeted your response. I've gotten used to seeing too many people back up responses like his sometimes I forget not everyone agrees with it around here.

 

[Gertch]

Just saw coverage of Obama's press conference on the BBC news channel. Some reporter asked him what he thought about this, and he said that the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" in arresting a guy who had just proved he was in his own home. He did start to elaborate on how this was indicitive of race relations in the US, but the moron BBC correspondant started talking over the top, and I couldn't tell what he was saying.

The cop was stupid to arrest him but it doesn't make it a racist motiviation. Except it does, since that's the only reason possible.

Absolutely not. The cop was within his duty to arrest him for disturbing the peace. But I'll gladly change my mind if you are an officer and was at the scene at the time.

The other comment by Gertch is equally invalid, but then that's the problem this place has; everyone's own opinion is fact, everyone else's opinions are invalid.

There's a useless comment. How about including which statement you think is stupid and why?

 

[Gertch]

boston and the surrounding area has had its own nasty history of racism that goes to pretty current times.
the reaction to busing was as nasty as some places in the south.

and more recently..

Stuart caused a citywide manhunt in 1989 when he said a hooded black man shot him and his pregnant wife as they got into their car after a maternity class. Stuart eventually was labeled the killer, but not before a black man arrested on unrelated charges became the prime suspect.

the above and more from this ap article that gives a lot of background
on the situation.

Oh yeah, that's all current!

 

[Data Holmes]

The cop was a typical jackbooted thug pissed because the civilian wouldn't [cartman]Respect His Authority![/cartman] and he was going to teach him a lesson by locking him up for the night.

 

[TexasNightt]

So wait, The white guy pulled over by a white cop on COPS, infront of his house for speeding around the corner,was arrested for throwing F yous', spittin AT the cops and flipping them the finger was Racial Motivated?

 

[pookha]

boston and the surrounding area has had its own nasty history of racism that goes to pretty current times.
the reaction to busing was as nasty as some places in the south.

and more recently..

Stuart caused a citywide manhunt in 1989 when he said a hooded black man shot him and his pregnant wife as they got into their car after a maternity class. Stuart eventually was labeled the killer, but not before a black man arrested on unrelated charges became the prime suspect.

the above and more from this ap article that gives a lot of background
on the situation.

Oh yeah, that's all current!

not everyything is current though it does adress that there had been more recent incidents.
but it does play into the mindset of the people both in the area and else where about how they view the situation.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

What a surprise our ass of a president was talking out of his. He should shut up if he doesn't have the facts. But The Divider strikes again.

I watched all the conference, and his ideas for financial and healthcare reforms sound pretty good. He even credited the Republicans for one of them.

Obama seems to be a lot better than that chimpanzee you had in office previously.

Sounded great! That is if you liked watching him not actually EXPLAINING his plan. And are you okay with him also being referred to as a chimpanzee, or is that just okay for the previous guy?

 

[TexasNightt]

"And are you okay with him also being referred to as a chimpanzee, or is that just okay for the previous guy? "

Wait wouldnt that be considered Racist?

 

[Servo]

What a surprise our ass of a president was talking out of his. He should shut up if he doesn't have the facts. But The Divider strikes again.

I watched all the conference, and his ideas for financial and healthcare reforms sound pretty good. He even credited the Republicans for one of them.

Obama seems to be a lot better than that chimpanzee you had in office previously.

Sounded great! That is if you liked watching him not actually EXPLAINING his plan. And are you okay with him also being referred to as a chimpanzee, or is that just okay for the previous guy?

That depends. Is Obama currently swinging from a tyre in the Oval Office, chucking his own shit at a world map to see who he can invade next?

 

[Galactus]

Ok did I miss something. Exactly how can someone be disorderly in their own house toward someone who is not suppose to be there. I guarantee you that if the police had been there to take a gun after a neighbor reported hearing a gun shot, conservatives would be screaming.

Teelie tell me exactly when is it racial when an innocent black man is arrested, shot, or killed. Give me an example that you recall. Could they have arrested Gates for some other reason, sure, but is it very likely, absolutely not.

 

[TexasNightt]

Has any one asked this nosy neighbor her point of veiw? Im sure she was watching everything from behind her frilly lil curtain. To bad we dont have a video.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Ok did I miss something. Exactly how can someone be disorderly in their own house toward someone who is not suppose to be there.

The police were supposed to be there, since they were investigating the report of a possible B&E.

And it's always possible to be disorderly. All it takes is an attitude and a loud voice. I'm sure there are some cops who would let it go, but they don't have to.

 

[Teelie]

The fact the police were there because of a reported B&E is consistently ignored. I'm tired of every incident of a minority being mistreated as a racist thing. It's as if the fact cops can and do abuse their power all the time against innocent people, black or not, is irrelavent when you can just cry racism and be done with it.

Also, I have not seen a single response to whether it would have made the news had the arresting officer been black, or the professor was white. It's just so outside the scope of some people's minds that either is possible they just can't see it to respond.

 

[Galactus]

As I was saying before, that sounds like a police state. If you think it is ok for the cops to come to your for whatever reason of probable cause they have and then arrest you for telling them to leave and identify themselves once that issue is resolved that is a scary thing. I mean are we all just at the mercy of the police and whether they feel like letting us exercise our constitutional rights? That is a very, very scary world.

 

[Teelie]

So now you interpet it to endorsing a police state? No one I think has said the cop was right. I sure as hell said he wasn't. What I question is his motive but you and several others have already determined it was racist because the cop was white. If anything you are profiling the cops. Irony.

 

[Galactus]

The fact the police were there because of a reported B&E is consistently ignored. I'm tired of every incident of a minority being mistreated as a racist thing. It's as if the fact cops can and do abuse their power all the time against innocent people, black or not, is irrelavent when you can just cry racism and be done with it.

Also, I have not seen a single response to whether it would have made the news had the arresting officer been black, or the professor was white. It's just so outside the scope of some people's minds that either is possible they just can't see it to respond.

That is because you can't find a single case where it has happened. When you tell us one then we will respond. You are ignoring the fact that no one is saying that the police should not have been there, not even Gates himself. The problem is that they arrested him for no reason. None. Everyone seems to get that except for a few people that want to pretend we live in this magical world now where people are stupid for all kinds of reasons except for being racists. It can be ever reason in the world except the most obvious one. Now again can you honestly say that Gates would have been arrested if he was a white man?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If you think it is ok for the cops to come to your for whatever reason of probable cause they have and then arrest you for telling them to leave

But that's not all this guy did. He yelled and screamed and was abusive in general. And you cannot behave that way to the cops.

If they have probable cause (i.e. a warrant), then I have to let them in. It's the law. But if not...If they're not investigating a break-in (like they were here), and if they don't have a warrant, I can say "You don't have a warrant, please go away", and they will - they have to. And they will have no reason to arrest me.

 

[TexasNightt]

Its not surprising that yahoo news has bloated this story up so much, They are just as Biased as Fox news, if not more so. As BATMAN states how can you be expected to inforce the big laws if you dont inforce the small ones. Yes, respect isnt a law but Id rather see dozens of armed police walking the streets, than hear gang members doing drive bys everyday.