Comments on: Beginning To Unpack Race, Class, and Privilege in the Case of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

By: Alice de Tocqueville

Alice de Tocqueville — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:10:03 +0000

The police are way out of control everywhere. Self-respecting people need to learn to stand up to them, if we can, and take it to whatever authorities are appropriate, too. If we all do our best, we can maybe start getting our country back. And I don’t want to hear about ‘the good ones’- if they’re so good they should clean out the bad actors in their forces.

I know it’s not easy; I got thrown face down on the jail floor with a fat cop’s knee in my back, and I was plenty scared. I don’t romanticize gettin’ arrested. All I could think about was how much worse they’d be treating me if I was black or brown, so this is aimed at my fellow lily-white people, who have no idea how mean and stupid these cops can be.

By: thebewilderness

thebewilderness — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:27:30 +0000

Having read the transcript of the 911 call I see that I was in error.
The passer by reported seeing two men with suitcases barging in to the front door. She stated to the 911 operator that she did not know if they were potential burglars or simply having trouble with their key.
So that moves the question farther up the chain of communication. How did we get to two large black men with backpacks? The 911 operator whose job it is to accurately transmit information? I guess we need the transcript of the dispatch now.
Still, I come back to this being standard humiliation procedure. They do it to any men, women, or children, who get uppity, or combative, or hysterical, or wev. If you grovel enough they declare you to have calmed down and remove the cuffs and let you go. If not… well, you remember the kid who came out of the convenience store to see his dad being arrested and ended up body slammed on a car after he was cuffed.
Criminy!

By: thebewilderness

thebewilderness — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:56:34 +0000

Perhaps this officer needs a bit of that sensitivity training Sgt Crowly provides. Criminy!
http://gawker.com/5322447/cambridge-cops-unfortunate-vanity-plate-why+ tee

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:21:40 +0000

I was under the impression that the person who called the police was a neighbor, not a passerby. That, of course, makes it all the more messed up. Maybe folks in upper class neighborhoods don’t pay attention to each other, but I sure as hell recognize all of my neighbors; but yes, race most certainly played a part from that beginning. I’ve had to break into my own home before, and yes, I looked around to see who might be looking for this very reason.

I agree with you about “standard police procedure,” but that is also what intrigues me about all this and why I feel it needs more unpacking. On the one hand, I’m sorta glad if Gates didn’t defer to the cop. On the other hand, I know that I would never do what he allegedly did (again, those police reports. who knows?) because my ass would still be in jail and probably beat to hell as well. And that’s where I start to wonder about egos clashing.

By: sri

sri — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:36:33 +0000

Wow!! I never thought that this will be such a big news. It went from Gates arrest to Obama apalogy. This has become more interesting than what I thought. So, I collected all the sites or articles (more than 250 sites or articles) related to this hot topic “Cambridge Police Unit Demands Apology from Obama”. If you are interested take a look at news, video coverage, people views and reviews on this topic at the below link.
http://markthispage.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-about-cambridge-police-un it-demands.html

By: thebewilderness

thebewilderness — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:42:14 +0000

My first response to this was that when authoritarian asshats collide the one with the badge and the gun usually wins.
To me it wasn’t upper class vs working class as some of the media is framing it. Does anyone except “Tweety” really view LEOs as working class? I do not think so.
I think that race enters at the very beginning, when a passer by, not a neighbor, assumed a black man having trouble with a door must be a criminal. We can thank the media for that.
Gates was hostile, or not deferential enough, or wev, when the officer arrived on the scene. Standard police procedure in that event is to publicly humiliate the subject.
The officer proceeded to make a spectacle of the event and then arrested Gates for that spectacle.
That’s how it is done in every city and town across the country.
I have read a lot of police reports over the years and this one is standard for the crime of sassing an officer.

By: Reggie Greene / The Logistician

Reggie Greene / The Logistician — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:24:24 +0000

We have three observations about the Harvard professor incident:

1. We find it interesting that the fact that this was the professor’s home was evidently not established early on way before the dispute escalated;

2. We find it fascinating that the versions of two members of society, who most would ordinarily view as responsible and honest citizens (this obviously does not include politicians), would vary so dramatically from a factual point of view.

3. Finally, considering that the reading and viewing public were not present at the scene (and thus have no first hand knowledge), and that there is no video tape to our knowledge of the sequence of events and what was said, how so many have formed conclusions, and made assumptions, about who did what and who was wrong.

There are some things which Professor Gates might have considered upon the arrival of the police, no matter how incensed he may have been.