Posts Tagged ‘henry louis gates jr.’
Committee to “Learn Lessons” from the Gates Arrest Forms, Includes Former D.C. Police Chief
The Cambridge, Mass., police department has announced the creation of a committee to "help identify lessons learned from the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr." or, rather, to Figure It All Out. It supposedly will meet several times over the next few months and do what all committees do: make a report.
Our Morning Roundup: We Need Another Beer Summit
Kudos to CNN for leading its Obama Beer Summit story with who drank what instead of who said what. There's a special place in hell for people who pander. Also, did you know Obama had another meeting yesterday, with Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Of course not.
While we're on the topic of elevating abusive cops above world leaders, I've got two more candidates for future beer summits--and one of 'em's local!
Read More "Our Morning Roundup: We Need Another Beer Summit" »
Our Morning Roundup: Do You Feel Safer?
Good morning, City Desk readers (both insured and uninsured), and welcome to our muggiest Freedom Friday yet! Bad ideas thrive on attention, and the Henry Louis Gates Jr. story is getting a ton of it. According to the arrest report, which Gates has said contains "fabrications," the arresting officer asked Gates to come outside and for his ID and Gates initially refused to cooperate. He was then able to prove himself the resident of the home and was instead arrested for being belligerent.
In essence, Gates was arrested for saying that he felt violated and oppressed on his own property. And President Barack Obama was right: The Cambridge police did "act stupidly." The arresting officer, Sergeant Jim Crowley, claims “there was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother,” and yet neither charge would hold up even as a ticketable offense.
But for the record, finding yourself in handcuffs after arguing with a police officer isn't something that just happens to blacks and Latinos. Cops everywhere are always on the lookout for opportunities to assert their authority, and, as in Gates' case, they'll gladly misinterpret public safety laws in order to show a civilian who's the boss.
Washington Post Nails Gates React Scoop
The Washington Post's Krissah Williams has a great piece based on an interview with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., following his bogus arrest last week for breaking into his own home. The killer quote in this piece comes when Gates is talking about the large white police officer who entered his home and arrested him.
"I weigh 150 lbs and I'm 5' 7''. I'm going to give flack to a big white guy with a gun. I might wolf later, but I won't wolf then."
Strikes me that a little editing may be in order here: Sounds as if the second sentence in that quote needs a question mark. But priceless stuff, regardless of punctuation issues.
Anyhow, Gates is using the incident, which he quite reasonably connects with racism, to fire up some research. "I hope to make a documentary about racial profiling for PBS...[The idea] had never crossed my mind but it has now."
How did Washington Post get the first interview with Gates? Not quite sure on this end, but the self-disclosure in the Post story provides perhaps a hint:
What follows is Gates's first public account of his arrest. He spoke to The Post in an hour-long phone interview while resting on Martha's Vineyard. Gates is a founder of the Root.com, (www.theroot.com), a Web site owned by The Washington Post Co.
