So, why couldn’t Gates just shut up and answer the questions rather then get up in the cops face with this race crap and the “do you know who I am” garbage. This stuff is going on way too much and people are sick of it. Just like the black Nascar worker suing for millions and winning. She was just saying whatever to bleed Nascar, and it worked. Is it any wonder if people are losing respect for blacks more and more. They think they have a free ride coming to them and most will lie to get one. Now Gates will sue this police dept. which will mean laying off some good cops to pay for the legal fees and resulting lawsuit damage. When does the bs end folks. Lets stop playing into whiners demands and tell them to grow a pair!

But I forget. He’s a white cop, so by definition he’s a racist pig.

J.

Are you saying it was not your fault that you got arrested? Are you saying that racism played a part in your arrest?
We’re gonna need more info.

Wow. Really? Which country is that? Cracker Barrel Country?

That’s what happens when you’re white, and you’re arrested in America in 2008. Pardon me if I am lacking in empathy for Professor Gates.

Not seeing a connection there, Frank. Sounds more like that’s what happens when your being a belligerent dick and you’re arrested in America in 2008. And lawyers where you live go home at 12:45 PM? Pretty short day, I’d say.

Dude, The Man is capitalized. Get it right.

Word.

And a thing is, I’m more likely to agree with “News Reference”‘s views than Frank’s on many subjects discussed here on OW. But, gods, he is annoying.

Why would it? It’s written from as biased and partisan a point of view as what the left-leaning wingnuts here rail against on the right.

“Likely imagining herself as some courageous vigilante protecting the sanctity of her exclusive neighborhood to the unending praise of her grateful neighbors,”

“Gates, understandably exhausted from the return flight from China he had just taken, responded to the officer’s insistent questioning of his identity with frustration”

Terry’s making stuff up here because it supports the view he wants to have. He doesn’t know what was in the woman’s mind, but that doesn’t stop him from suggesting it was an extremly self-serving desire for popularity. No report I’ve seen, including the statement from Gates’ own lawyer, suggests Officer Crowley knew Gates had just completed a long flight or describes the officer’s questioning as anything near “insistent”.

Race is complicated in America. Bias exists and blacks and other minorities have been unfairly treated. But when folks who want to point that out resort to overstating their case they only serve to undermine their credibility. They demonstrate the same prejudices they are supposedly condemning in others.

Gates had a key. It’s how he let himself in through teh back door. It’s that his front door was jammed the caused the problems.

But don’t let your complete lack of knowledge of the facts stop you from jumping into the conversations. Seems the thing to do these days.

And here I thought she called the cops on two guys she saw forcing the door of house. You make it sound like she saw poor Gates limping up his driveway and that’s why she decided to call the cops.

Now, here’s a question for you, “Would a white person of similar standing in the community have been arrested at his own home for doing something similar?” I think the answer pretty obvious.

So do I, but I suspect I have a different answer than you.

Again, I can quite believe that, after showing the officer his ID, Gates did say the things he’s accused of saying. However, NONE of the stuff he’s even accused of saying justifies either the arrest or the charge.

Agreed. I also think the cop could have handled the situation better. I’m just not convinced that, confronted with a white person behaving in a similarly abusive manner, that the cop would have reacted significantly differently.

Ummm….yes, I am.

Based on your posts, what do you think?

Based on my posts I think anyone would be hard pressed to say with assurance what my race, age, marital status, parental status, sex, sexual preference, citizenship, occupation or location are.

But I do love seeing the occasional assumptions that are made.

When they’re using their shoulder to force the door open, yeah. A possible crime in progress.

I know you’re conditioned to see the cops as completely in the wrong because it was a black man that was involved (who clearly couldn’t have been doing anything that might even appear suspicious) but could you at least not be so obvious in your spin?

See, this is an example of the “making stuff up” that I’ve mentioned before.

Which is routine when this sort of stuff happens, right?

Except… nothing in the police report OR in Gates’ lawyers description of events cites race

The same goes for the neighbor – same conditions, two white men, she in all likelihood would have taken a moment longer to assess the situation before calling the police.

I agree the cop screwed up. (I suspect Gates over reacted as well.)

The rest, I think, pretty well sums up the crux of the difference in our views on this. I am not at all certain that the cop would have handled the situation differently if it was a white man. That if a white man was yelling at him and behaving as Gates had his reaction may very well have been similar to what it was.

The same goes for the neighbor. I’ve seen no reason to think that in all likelihood she would have reacted differently were the men she saw breaking into a house white men.

It’s not even conscious most of the time, making it oh so hard to admit to ourselves, much less to others. And that’s why it is so insidious.

And it goes both ways. The tendency to cry “racism” where no actually exists, or to see more than is actually there, is equally insidious. And I’m always a bit surprised by those who can see the racism, but not that other side.

Liar.

You couldn’t “leave this thread” for even two hours.

Do I get a refund on that extra grande “steaming hot cup of shut the f*ck up?”?

A rain check?

Prorate it at least?

Optimistically speaking, it’s only half empty…

2) Why would you care what I have done for brothers and sisters? Is it your plan to grade my accomplishment? Perhaps to insinuate that I am lying about it? Why do you want to know?

And what might that be?

What were you arrested for?

Stop the presses.

DHS releases a report that far right extremists might be getting recruited into extremist groups and everyone slightly left of Goebbels left whine about “profiling”.

Funny that.