Henry Louis Gates Arrested in his own home

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by valo403

Well I hope for your sake that you never find yourself in a situation where you feel that you have been mistreated based on your skin tone, your religion, or any other basis. It's very easy to sit there and call people scum when your knowledge of the situation is based completely upon hearsay.

So what your saying here and above is we should just paint people with the same brush...if i was a 9/11 survivor should i be accusing any muslim of being a tourist? You know cause i was mistreated because I was american?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by valo403

Well I hope for your sake that you never find yourself in a situation where you feel that you have been mistreated based on your skin tone, your religion, or any other basis. It's very easy to sit there and call people scum when your knowledge of the situation is based completely upon hearsay.

If the officers did anything wrong.....it was in arresting Gates after he deciding to scream 'racism' and act like a prick even after getting warned.

Nothing they did warranted the initial reaction by Gates.

[fatso]

Originally Posted by gargamel

I can understand the people defending the cops, but I just don't get the people vilifying Gates. Unless you're a black man who has lived in a highly segregated city, who are you to say that he should have just shut his mouth and accepted what he perceived, reasonably or unreasonably, to be racism? I'm not saying the cop was racist, but if I were a black man being questioned in my living room in a predominantly white neighborhood, I might have jumped to that conclusion.

As a white man, I wouldn't think anything of it if I got pulled over while driving legally in most neighborhoods. But if I happened to be passing through a predominantly black neighborhood and was pulled over by a black cop even though I thought that I did nothing wrong, I'd assume that it happened because he wanted to let me know that I wasn't welcome around there. That doesn't mean that I'd yell at the cop, but that's because I don't have the stones to risk being arrested. Gates does. More power to him.

You're missing the point of these threads (or at least what they inevitable devolve into). What would be the point of the CP OT board if you couldn't just sit at your computer in Alberta and be outraged and indignant about happenings elsewhere? God forbid it just be a discussion or a debate... there has to be total indignation and exasperation, otherwise we wouldn't be doing our job as internet warriors. Throw in a slam at Obama and his minions, or just government generally, and you're good to go.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Azure

Obama is a moron, and here is more proof.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/...lar_disorderly

Sweet. That really makes Obama looks like a moron.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

There is obviously truth in that. Let me relate a humorous episode to lighten the mood. We were suing the police of a native band for assault (they beat the crap out of our client in front of his kid after pulling him over). Their notes said "The subject retreated in an aggressive fashion, and we had to use force to protect ourselves" to the best of my recollection. We had fun with that one in Discovery.

Man oh man!!! I just about busted a gut from laughing so hard when I read that!

[CaramonLS]

Here is a scenario about proper conduct to the cops should you ever find yourself in a similar situation to Mr. Gates. You should really attempt to avoid acting like "Mikey the Redneck" or "Dion" in these situations.

----------------------

Officer: Hi there sir are you the owner of the house?

Gates: Yes I am officer.

Officer: Listen, someone just called 911 and reported that 2 suspicious people were trying to pry open the front door of this residence.

Gates: Oh sorry officer, the door was jammed, so me and my friend here were trying to wedge the door open. I can totally understand how it looked like someone was breaking into the house.

Officer: No problem sir, could I just see some ID to validate your claim and that this is your residence?

Gates: Sure thing, *hands over proper ID* - here you go. I'm really glad you were thinking of my safety when you responded to this call. I'm really sorry that prying open the front door caused so much of a problem.

Officer: It's alright Mr. Gates, we're sorry to have bothered you and I hope you have a good day.

----------------------

There is a really good chance your face wont be plastered on national TV if you follow these steps.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

So what your saying here and above is we should just paint people with the same brush...if i was a 9/11 survivor should i be accusing any muslim of being a tourist? You know cause i was mistreated because I was american?

Well if they're wearing socks with sandals then I think you're required to call them a tourist.

I'm not sure how you got anything about painting people with the same brush out of any of my posts, my point is that making judgments about the perceptions of people based on sparse second hand knowledge is ridiculous. I don't think this was race motivated, but I can certainly see how that could be the opinion of someone who is in the situation. There's nothing wrong with questioning the validity of that opinion, I just think that coming to concrete conclusions and calling people scum is a bit much.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Here is a scenario about proper conduct to the cops should you ever find yourself in a similar situation to Mr. Gates. You should really attempt to avoid acting like "Mikey the Redneck" or "Dion" in these situations.

----------------------

Officer: Hi there sir are you the owner of the house?

Gates: Yes I am officer.

Officer: Listen, someone just called 911 and reported that 2 suspicious people were trying to pry open the front door of this residence.

Gates: Oh sorry officer, the door was jammed, so me and my friend here were trying to wedge the door open. I can totally understand how it looked like someone was breaking into the house.

Officer: No problem sir, could I just see some ID to validate your claim and that this is your residence?

Gates: Sure thing, *hands over proper ID* - here you go. I'm really glad you were thinking of my safety when you responded to this call. I'm really sorry that prying open the front door caused so much of a problem.

Officer: It's alright Mr. Gates, we're sorry to have bothered you and I hope you have a good day.

----------------------

There is a really good chance your face wont be plastered on national TV if you follow these steps.

LOL, ya I'm pretty sure it started out just like that. Do you live on the set of Leave it to Beaver?

[Weiser Wonder]

What this case basically comes down to, racism or not, is that the cop should have gotten the hell out of there when Gates showed him his ID. It's his house and he was doing nothing illegal besides acting very rudely to police showing up to arrest him.

I don't think the cop is a bad person, nor do I think Gates is a good person. I don't know them. But the cop showed poor judgment and Gates should have no fear of getting arrested on his own property for disorderly conduct when the police came on his property for a non-existent crime.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by valo403

LOL, ya I'm pretty sure it started out just like that. Do you live on the set of Leave it to Beaver?

And how exactly did it start out then? Do you think the cops went Clint Eastwood and asked:

"What are you 2 spooks doing here?"

[Weiser Wonder]

Topical and hilarious video from the Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/content/vide...rees_black_man

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

What this case basically comes down to, racism or not, is that the cop should have gotten the hell out of there when Gates showed him his ID. It's his house and he was doing nothing illegal besides acting very rudely to police showing up to arrest him.

I don't think the cop is a bad person, nor do I think Gates is a good person. I don't know them. But the cop showed poor judgment and Gates should have no fear of getting arrested on his own property for disorderly conduct when the police came on his property for a non-existent crime.

I still haven't seen anything that suggests for certain the officer was completely satisfied of GATES id. He doesn't really say it in his report.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

And how exactly did it start out then? Do you think the cops went Clint Eastwood and asked:

"What are you 2 spooks doing here?"

As I've said repeatedly throughout this thread the truth is somewhere in between the two accounts. I don't get why that is so hard for people to grasp.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I still haven't seen anything that suggests for certain the officer was completely satisfied of GATES id. He doesn't really say it in his report.

He obviously wasn't, considering he called the Harvard Police to come help him.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I still haven't seen anything that suggests for certain the officer was completely satisfied of GATES id. He doesn't really say it in his report.

Which is a little strange, isn't it? He claims that Gates only showed his Harvard ID, but also concedes in the report that he was satisfied that Gates lived in the house.

Why he didn't leave upon being satisfied is anyone's guess. A lot of people point to Gates' actions as the cause of the situation here, but the fact is that some people are a-holes. You can't arrest all of them. A cop has a responsibility to behave as a professional and not be an a-hole himself--because it can easily become an abuse of power.

In the article that cal guy posted, there is a pretty clear explanation of why a disorderly conduct charge would never stick--basically because Gates didn't do anything that would meet the legal standard for disorderly conduct:

What, exactly, is disorderly conduct?Behavior that might cause a riot. Massachusetts courts have limited the definition of disorderly conduct to: fighting or threatening, violent or tumultuous behavior, or creating a hazardous or physically offensive condition for no legitimate purpose other than to cause public annoyance or alarm. (The statute, however, just says "idle and disorderly persons," a formulation that is, on its own, patently unconstitutional.) Violators may be imprisoned for up to six months, fined a maximum of $200, or both.
The stilted language in the Gates police report is intended to mirror the courts' awkward phrasing, but the state could never make the charge stick. The law is aimed not at mere irascibility but rather at unruly behavior likely to set off wider unrest. Accordingly, the behavior must take place in public or on private property where people tend to gather. While the police allege that a crowd had formed outside Gates' property, it is rare to see a disorderly conduct conviction for behavior on the suspect's own front porch. In addition, political speech is excluded from the statute because of the First Amendment. Alleging racial bias, as Gates was doing, and protesting arrest both represent core political speech.

[metallicat]

This thread is just a revolving door with the arguments. This is the exact same thing that happens with every police related thread on CP...and probably everywhere on the internet.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Which is a little strange, isn't it? He claims that Gates only showed his Harvard ID, but also concedes in the report that he was satisfied that Gates lived in the house.

Well, he called the Harvard Police, and also radioed in the information to whoever they radio that kind of stuff too.

Maybe whoever was talking to him confirmed that Gates lived there.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

This thread is just a revolving door with the arguments. This is the exact same thing that happens with every police related thread on CP...and probably everywhere on the internet.

Yeah, but its fun.

Plus, I keep getting closer and closer to taking over as the biggest post whore on CP.

[flylock shox]

I think this is much ado about nothing.

Having read the articles, police report, and having watched Gates speak, I think it is more likely that he profiled the investigating police officer than the other way around. In short, he assumed the officer was investigating him because he was a black man, and he was confrontational about it from the outset.

I thought his positive comments about his neighbour (who is the only person from what I have read who can be said to have "profiled" him) were disingenuous and entirely for political effect.

This is hardly a cross burning on his lawn. I'm not buying his sob story or his lawsuit.

Having said that, arresting him wasn't the coolest move on the dancefloor either.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Azure

Yeah, but its fun.

Plus, I keep getting closer and closer to taking over as the biggest post whore on CP.

If it helps, I already think of you that way.