Black professor in race row arrest accepts Obama's invitation for a beer

[steven johnson]

Source: Guardian


guardian.co.uk, Saturday 25 July 2009 17.46 BST

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, who was arrested on suspicion of breaking into his own home, has accepted Barack Obama's invitation to visit him at the White House to have a beer with the white police officer who detained him.

Gates told the Boston Globe last night that he had spoken to Obama and agreed to meet Cambridge police sergeant James Crowley. Gates, one of the country's most prominent black academics, said he hoped his arrest would lead to greater sensitivity on racial profiling.

"My entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them," Gates said in an email, adding: "It is time for all of us to move on, and to assess what we can learn from this experience."

Obama phoned the two men to invite them to the White House yesterday as he sought to calm the debate sparked when he said the police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/25/obama-race-row-professor-beer

---

I'm not so sure this talking to people without preconditions is a good idea. I do enjoy a good press war once in a while.

Sorry, moderator, I duplicated a post here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6144042

[Wilms]

1. I'll drink to that!

:toast:

[Forkboy]

2. I knew it was the Guardian before I even clicked on it.

We don't have "rows" here. ;)

[Robb]

3. We call them "race rows" "regattas." nt

[SkyDaddy7]

4. What has truly shocked me...

Is the amount of people here on DU that think the cops had the authority to remain in Gates house after knowing it was his...Regardless of what Gates was saying the "Police Officers" should have left. However, the "Cops" decided to remain and fight, period. This is why the charges were dropped.

I was clearly taken back by the amount of people on DU who think the cops should have such authority! SHOCKED!

Maybe Obama will be able to bring something positive out this?

[Gator_Matt]

7. That's one possible version of events

Others state that Gates followed the officer outside and was screaming his head off. That's a little different from the office remaining in the house.

I'd be curious to hear the police audio of the event before making a conclusion.

[MissDeeds]

9. I too want more info

And the to hear the audio before making a decision. I think a rush to judgment is ill-advised - on both sides.

:toast:

[jaysunb]

10. IF there were an audio,

especially one favorable to the police, we would have heard it a million times by now.

[HughMoran]

13. Yes, and since yelling at someone in your house is illegal

It's no wonder Gates wasn't arrested sooner.

[SkyDaddy7]

14. That changes nothing!

Cops are not special...We the people can be angry at cops and we can yell at cops! There is no law that says we the people can't express our feelings to a cop especially when you have done nothing wrong...And especially when the cops, the government is in your home uninvited and without authority...Which was the case once the cops knew it was Gates home! At that point the cops should have been "Professional Police Officers" and left! Instead they wanted to flex their "cop" egos or even the score with Gates who was calling them names. Regardless the cops should have left, problem solved!

The growing egos of cops is empowered by people saying we the people should just except the government, the cops, can and will treat us how they choose. NOT ME! I know my rights! The sad thing is expressing your rights to cops today will get you tazzed, possibly beaten and of course, arrested! SAD!

There is nothing Gates could have said short of a physical threat that he should have been arrested for, PERIOD! From some of the reports I have heard the entire situation changed when Gates demanded the cop's name and badge number...Try asking a cop that these days and see where it gets you.

The law was on Gates side and the charges were dropped!

[Xipe Totec]

20. He was asked to step outside by the cops

a deliberate ruse, just so they could arrest him.

That's another version of the story.

If he had stayed in his home, he could have continued to hurl invectives at the cops with impunity.

And the cops knew it.

Let me repeat that...

And the cops knew it.

That's why they asked him to step outside, knowing that would give them the excuse they needed to arrest him.

It was entrapment.

That's why the charges were dropped.

But the cops didn't care that the charges would be dropped.

All they wanted to do was put him in the cooler to teach him a lesson.

[JonLP24]

26. That is not what the officer even said in his police report

He said Gates asked for ID, but asked him to come outside and Gates refused. The reason why the officer said that was due to some excuse of acoustics and not being able to transfer info in his walkie-talkie.

If he did any following it's because the officer wanted him outside.

[Name removed]

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[704wipes]

5. recall all the hype about having a beer with the Moran* ?

2000 & 2004 all the pr about the guy you would have a beer with?
Obama one ups that crap by having a couple guys over to the white house to really have a beer...

[truthisfreedom]

6. Pretty f'n brilliant. Bush couldn't do it because he "didn't drink."

Bush has got to be shaking his head over this one.

[EndersDame]

27. Wasn't Bush An Alcoholic who would want to have beer with him

he seems like he would be a mean drunk. I personally want to smoke a bowl with Kucinich

[Chemisse]

8. Now that's the Obama I voted for!

Not the one who fanned the flames by denouncing the cop last week.

Whether he should be denounced or not is immaterial. Dividing people with criticism is not the theme of Barack's presidency. That was Bush's way and it left us much worse off.

But to pull the two men together for a beer and a chat, that is making an altogether different statement.

Instead of bemoaning all the racism that remains in this country, he is saying that we can work it out if we just put aside the anger and see what we all have in common.

[wisteria]

11. I am happy both individuals agreed to do this. n/t

[rollingrock]

12. Crowley has not accepted the invitation

this further confirms my suspicion of him as being a major league jackass (not unlike most cops in general).

[Fire1]

16. Agree. n/t

[AverageJoe5]

18. Chagrined by the obsession about race

I am chagrined by the obsession about race. Why can't an incident like this be evaluated without reference to race?

Did Gates do or say anything to justify a charge of disorderly conduct? Was the police officer's response, to Gates' actions and words, justified?

Can't those questions be answered without taking into account Gates' skin color or the police officer's skin color?

[PSzymeczek]

19. I thought Crowley said

he'd NEVER, EVER, talk to Gates.

[rollingrock]

21. Which proves Officer Crowley is a certified, immature asshole

when you arrest someone in their damn home for no apparent reason you
shouldn't be surprised or upset if they go off on you and cuss you out, which was apparently Gate's response to this gross invasion of his privacy. A man's home is supposed to be his castle, but Sergeant Crowley seems to think we're living in a police state where the cops can do whatever they please, and the citizens are there to serve the police instead of the other way around. This ain't the Soviet Union under Stalin you know, at least it wasn't when I was growing up.

[LisaL]

23. No he didn't.

[Fire1]

15. What I would give to be a fly on the wall at that meeting. n/t

[izquierdista]

17. Now if Kim Jong Il would have a beer....

I think Hillary will have to appoint a deputy secretary for beer diplomacy:

[moonbatmax]

22. Oh, GHOD, not HIM!!!

Actually, from what I recall of the Simpsons, this guy could probably be a great diplomat...

if you could keep him away from the beer!

[struggle4progress]

24. When I had run-ins with the po-po, WE never got invited to the White House. Of course,

I never drank brewskis back in those days, but I think I'd have been willing to smoke a few doobies with Tricky Dick and the cop and give them both some pointers on how not to be fascist pigs. It's too bad that never happened: the country could have become a better place :D

[hughee99]

25. He was arrested on suspicion of breaking into is own home?

I've read a good bit on this story, and I have yet to see anyone claim this. Oh well, it is the Guardian.

[ohio2007]

31. What about the 'nosy neighbor' that called in to report the break in ?

I didn't read up much on the story but somwebody called the cops in the first place.

Why ?

[Tzimisce]

32. The woman...

...called the cops because she saw two men attempting to force the door of the house. She apparently didn't recognize either of them, and rather than stepping out for a better look and putting herself at risk, she called the police and reported what was going on. Without knowing the identity of either of the two individuals trying to get the door open, it's a reasonable conclusion, at least until further information is available, to consider it a burglary in progress, which is exactly what happened.

As to what happened when the officer arrived, it's little more than a case of he said/she said, despite both parties being male. And according to the police report, Gates was not arrested for breaking into the house; he was arrested for disorderly conduct, having followed the officer outside while yelling and screaming. Doing so in a public space is, in fact, disorderly conduct, and a person can be arrested for it. Whether or not it actually happened that way is up in the air, since both parties claim different things happened. But to say he was arrested for being in his own home, or breaking into it, is incorrect.

Personally, I believe both parties were in the wrong. Professor Gates could have helped the situation by keeping his cool and providing his ID when it was requested, which according to the officer he failed to do. The officer could have helped the situation by just ignoring the shouting, getting back in his car, and driving away, having ascertained that no actual breaking and entering occurred. The whole situation was a misunderstanding, from where I stand.

What I find disconcerting are the people who are chiming in with the ridiculously over-the-top "fuck the pigs" remarks. Had the cops not gone out when they got the call, and had it turned out to be an actual burglary, the cops would be under fire for being racist in that they didn't give a damn about protecting a black man's property. The cops I know are good people who want to serve their communities and earn a living while they do it.

It's a little disgusting how people are so willing to condemn all cops as pigs, fascists, thugs, etc., while at the same time spouting off about how progressive and enlightened they are. Prejudice is prejudice, whether it's a KKK scumbag holding the belief that all non-white people are subhuman, or a so-called enlightened progressive holding the belief that all cops are fascist thugs with no regard for the rights of others. Judging an entire group based on the actions of some of its members is not enlightened, nor is it progressive, and yet people do it and consider themselves to be both.

Cognitive dissonance much?

[ohio2007]

33. turn out the lights, the party's over

What I find disconcerting are the people who are chiming in with the ridiculously over-the-top "fuck the pigs" remarks.

...

Judging an entire group based on the actions of some of its members is not enlightened, nor is it progressive, and yet people do it and consider themselves to be both

Cognitive dissonance much?

[marshall]

34. That photo should give us all so much hope for the future

Obama leading the way--the white policeman helping the lame African American man. The success of the "beer summit" is evident, and it warms my heart to see that photo.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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