Did you miss the part where the officer refused to provide his name and badge number? I.E. violated Prof. Gates’ rights as a US citizen? By all accounts, Gates didn’t get agitated until this happened.

Whether Gates misattributed his treatment to racism or not is beside the point. His rights were violated by that officer, and that harm was never redressed.

Gates, like many blacks, think everything that happens to them is about their race. I can imagine he is constantly looking for “racism” in every aspect of everything he does.

Most people would understand the police have a job to do and if he had cooperated and not been such a angry person the officer would have done his due diligence and left. But no. It can’t be that easy. Gates has to accuse the office of racism and yell at him.

Gates got what he deserved and it had nothing to do with his race and everything to do with his behavior.

The good professor is indeed guilty of racial profiling. He assumed since Crowley was a cop and is white that it automatically means he responded to the break in call because he is a racist cop that is out to harass the professor who was innocently breaking into his own home.

If that isn’t racial profiling I don’t know what is.

You can look at the picture of him and see it was acting very uncoopertive mouth open..yelling…

if gates would have acted like gentlemen and not class yelled and acted stupid..it would have been over and done with.

no where did I see the police in that report do one thing wrong..

possible break in..I sure hope they investigate it..

someone acted belligerent and yelling and and disorderly..that why we have disorderly conduct in the law..

Gates screwed up big time and he is trying to blame others for his classlessnes

Up to that point everything the cops did was perfectly legal, and by the book. Then Gates becomes a schmuck.
It’s race vs class. Which side do you choose?
Neither.

But you can carry your open fucking suitcase over the door of your own house.

LOUD NOISES!!! OMFG, make it stop!

But you could. Unless they have probable cause (whatever that means), you do have the right to refuse.

Maybe she just saw a man forcing the door open and didn’t know that he just came out of the car (probably not a limo) parked nearby. According to Gates statement, he went to the back door first, not directly from the car, and there is no mention of carrying anything in.

O rlly?

Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates’ luggage into his home.

Most car companies use black Crown Vics or Lincoln Town cars. Not a stretch limo, but reasonable to be called a limo.

Hell, for all I know, that could’ve been an impersonator on the porch. If a cop refuses to do his duty and produce a badge, he should be treated as something other than a law enforcement authority.

I can see “GTF out of my house!” but “yo’ mama” is too much of a stretch and a stereotype. The cop seems to have left out any mention of an inquiry as to his name and badge number. I say the cop is a LYARR.

I think that it is wonderful that a man of Prof. Gates’ caliber is training his intellect and passion on a subject that could use a little illumination.

Please.

NEVER step outside.

NEVER let them into your house

NEVER agree to a search of your car –or anything else

That cop report is written in the BS way they write as a a part of their CYA training.

Note the use of various legalized jargon about “I was surprised and confused” “I needed him outside to stop the echo and the loud noises in the kitchen” etc.

That Professor is god at Harvard, and a man’s home is his castle.

That pig was acting like a pig.

How do we know that’s what the caller saw? Maybe she just saw a man forcing the door open and didn’t know that he just came out of the car (probably not a limo) parked nearby. According to Gates statement, he went to the back door first, not directly from the car, and there is no mention of carrying anything in.

Point being, there are a lot of assumptions as to what actually happened when we don’t have all the facts, just two sides of the story. There’s no indication that Gates deserved to be arrested, but there’s also no indication that the cop decided to arrest him because he was black. My own hunch is that the cop got annoyed at being asked for his badge number when he thought he was just confirming that the guy who broke into the house actually lived there. Maybe he was more sensitive about a black man making demands of him, but we have no way of knowing what he was thinking or whether he consciously or subconsciously considered the race of the man in front of him before deciding to arrest him. We may all have our own hunches based on personal experience, but we should recognize that they are hunches and not accept as indisputable fact that this is a case of unequal treatment based on race.