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Pre-eminent black scholar arrested in Cambridge

If someone was breaking into your house, would you want the police to intervene? Or perhaps ask for ID? I think that I would, even if that person happened to be a Harvard professor.
 
parky76 said:
doesn't look like a criminal to me. looks like a smart guy.
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Sorta like this guy?

bundy.jpg

Ted Bundy?

Seems to me that if he'd acted calmly and showed his ID when asked, the cops would have apologized for disturbing him and walked away.

You might think the lady was reacting to color too, but she was just doing what the police tell people seeing something suspicious to do, call for help.

Now he's given Sharpton another 10 minutes in the camera lens to assist no one but ol' Al.
 
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parky76 said:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_disorderly

he was questioned by police...for breaking into his own house.

case of racial profiling? looks like it to me.

even I recognize this guy just by his face.

doesn't look like a criminal to me. looks like a smart guy. but he is also black..and that's all the cops over there need..I guess.
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A neighbor called saying she saw 2 black males forcing their way into the house. That is why the police showed up.

That isn't racial profiling.

Should they have arrested him? I don't know. If he is being totally honest about showing his license and that was the address on said license, then they obviously are wrong.

But they were damn right to show up and question him.
 
From the article:

"Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him," the officer wrote.
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Yelling at cops seldom ends well.
 
parky76 said:
doesn't look like a criminal to me. looks like a smart guy. but he is also black..and that's all the cops over there need..I guess.
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What, exactly does a criminal look like?
If he looks like like a smart guy (how does one look like a smart guy) does that mean he clearly can't be a criminal?
Silly OP.
 
ravdin said:
If someone was breaking into your house, would you want the police to intervene? Or perhaps ask for ID? I think that I would, even if that person happened to be a Harvard professor.
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If a Harvard professor were breaking into my house, I would want the police to intervene, because, unlike the house in the article, my house has no Harvard professors living in it.

If someone was breaking into my house who happened to be me, I would want the police to intervene, and ask for ID, and then after I showed them my ID, with the picture matching my face and the address matching the address in question, I would want the police to stop intervening at that point. Even if I were upset.


It seems like discussions like this sometimes break down along the lines of "it's dumb to be belligerent with cops" and "cops should treat people better." In my opinion, these are both true - getting belligerent with a cop is a bad idea, but that doesn't necessarily make the treatment you will receive in response justified.

Hope the charges get dropped - so ridiculous.
 
Some guy - color irrelevant - breaking into a house, refuses to give ID to the cops... what are they supposed to do?

Just because he's a Harvard "scholar" doesn't mean he has any sense.
 
If a cop came to my house after the same type of incident, and don't say it wouldn't happen, I would give my ID, end of story. I would thank the officer for doing a good job, and he would leave feeling happy that he made a good career choice.

This guy, however, even as educated as he is, refused to be civil.
 
The police were called and had to respond. So, I don't see how their showing up to a reported crime (even if the report was mistaken) is racial profiling.

If Gates refused to speak to the police or show his ID initially, then that was a dumb move.

If the officer did not give his name or badge number when requested, he should be disciplined.

I agree with linusrichard that the charges should probably be dropped. Seems like it's probably a big misunderstanding on all sides. Let's move on.
 
maddog said:
Some guy - color irrelevant - breaking into a house, initially refuses to give ID to the cops and then does ... what are they supposed to do?
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Leave politely, apology optional, and maybe go find some actual crime to fight.

Just because he's a Harvard "scholar" doesn't mean he has any sense.
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He's not a "scholar"; he's a scholar. And no, that doesn't mean he has any sense. But the fact that he's angry about being accused of burglarizing his own home doesn't mean he doesn't have any sense.

I may be repeating myself here, but just because the cops' reaction was predictable doesn't make it okay.
 
I don't know that the police were racialy profileing him, but the witness who made the report might be.

It seems like a legitimate reason for the police to show up and look at his ID, one that he seemed to have taken wrong. Of course the police might well have been less that polite about it as well.
 
To me this is an open and shut case. Henry Louis Gates Jr was seen forcing the front door of his own home open (The witness obviously didn't know that, nor did the police when they arrived, nor did any of these people know that Henry was a Harvard scholar with a chip on his shoulder.) When the police arrived Henry refused to step outside of his house to speak with them, and then started crying about racial profiling. Finally, Henry cooperated with police by providing ID, but was still arrested for disorderly conduct because he was initially loud and uncooperative.

OMGZ RACISM!!!! :jaw-dropp
 
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Donal said:
A neighbor called saying she saw 2 black males forcing their way into the house. That is why the police showed up.

That isn't racial profiling.

Should they have arrested him? I don't know. If he is being totally honest about showing his license and that was the address on said license, then they obviously are wrong.

But they were damn right to show up and question him.
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A video camera of the incident would have been nice. I note the police had to fall back on disorderly conduct to arrest him. This seems suspicious. In any case, you could have seen if he was giving the police a hard time.
 
This isn't racial profiling! This is... er, suspiciously-forcing-doors-open profiling! Even worse! How dare people be so judgemental to report people to police who are forcing doors open!
 
Reminds me of an episode of West Wing with Edward James Olmos.

Anyway, the real question is: Would the woman have called the cops if he was a white man who appeared to be trying to break in to the house. I would hope so.
 
Faydra said:
Reminds me of an episode of West Wing with Edward James Olmos.

Anyway, the real question is: Would the woman have called the cops if he was a white man who appeared to be trying to break in to the house. I would hope so.
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And would the police have treated a white man in the same situation in the same fashion.

It is entirely possible everyone acted badly here.
 
Faydra said:
Anyway, the real question is: Would the woman have called the cops if he was a white man who appeared to be trying to break in to the house. I would hope so.
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I don't see why not. I don't care if you're a quadriparetic trying to force a door open with your tongue. I'm reporting you! You can call me an anti-door-forcer, or a door-forcerist all you want; I'm not going to change my mind.

In all seriousness, this race baiting garbage is getting annoying. I also find it a wee bit ironic that there's a trend in which people presume that a white person is racist until proven otherwise. Looking at this situation from that point of view, I'd seem Henry was the only one guilty of racism.
 
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Actually, I think the only one who acted badly was the Harvard Prof.

He should have proven his identity to the cops, then thanked them for coming out. Then he should have gone to his neighbor and thanked her for keeping an eye on his house.

That's what I would have done.
 
Where do people live that a lock would break due to shoulder-push?

I've lived in a bunch of places where the doors would stick when humidity or temperature changed. That action is pretty clearly not breaking into a house unless you're already thinking "What are those black guys doing in front of that nice house"

After the report though, the cops had to come and to ask for ID, that's their job. Did they need to handcuff him for being pissed off at the situation? No, that was their call, but I think it has more to do with cops power tripping than his race. There are no shortage of innocent people of all skin tones being cuffed for pissing off a cop.

As for Gates, he has reason to be suspicious and reason to be pissed. Remember what happened to that 12 year old black girl the cops thought might be a prostitute? Even though the report they were following was of three white women?

Neighbor: Possibly racist, possibly just a paranoid busybody
Gates: Justifiably pissed
Cops: Power tripping, sometimes being a **** can be colorblind
 
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