Racist or not?

I personally would side with the cops on this one and think our president should STFU about local issues instead of flaming the fire.

What'd yall think?



The white cop under fire for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. blasted President Obama Thursday, saying he was "way off base" for accusing police of stupidity.

A defiant Cambridge, Mass., Sgt. James Crowley refused to apologize for the collar a day after Obama defended his Harvard professor pal in a prime-time news conference.

"I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts," Crowley, 42, who teaches a course on racial profiling to police academy students, told Boston radio station WBZ-AM.

"I acted appropriately. I've done nothing wrong."

Later in the day, Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs tried to walk back the President's comments that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting" Gates.

Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One, "Let me be clear; he was not calling the officer stupid."

Gibbs said Obama felt that when it became clear that Gates was not a burglary suspect, "cooler heads on all sides should have prevailed."

Gates said he understands why Obama used the word.

"I think that the circumstances are so egregious that it was the adjective that ... logically popped into his head," Gates said Thursday on "The Gayle King Show" on Sirius radio.

"People ... are looking for something that I could have done to justify Sgt. Crowley's actions. There's nothing that I could have done to justify Sgt. Crowley's action," he said.

Speaking for the first time since the ugly incident, Cambridge Police Chief Robert Haas said he was "deeply pained" by the President's comments.

"We take deep personal pride in this agency," Haas said. "We don't have the reputation that we have been painted with."

Crowley, an 11-year veteran of the Cambridge Police Department, responded to a reported break-in at the renowned scholar's home last Thursday.

A neighbor reported seeing two black men break into the professor's home. She was unaware the man forcing his way inside was Gates, who had locked himself out.

When Crowley arrived, he told an incensed Gates he was investigating a report of a break-in and asked for his identification

"Why? Because I'm a black man in America," Gates responded, the police report says.

Gates initially refused to hand over his ID, instead angrily accusing the officer of being a racist and "leveling threats that he wasn't someone to mess with," the report says.

After Gates produced his Harvard University ID, he repeatedly demanded Crowley state his name, which the officer claims he had already done.

Crowley said Gates continued hurling insults at him as he left the home. Crowley arrested the scholar for disorderly conduct. The charge was later dropped.

"He was arrested after following me outside the house, continuing the tirade even after being warned multiple times - probably a few more times than the average person would," Crowley told the radio station.

Gates demanded Crowley apologize.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world...l#ixzz0MCNZsDQW

Not a race driven event at all. The officers were acting exactly as they were trained. You are responding to a burglary in progress, you stay on your toes. When you are verbally assaulted by a person on scene, you detain them to ensure overall scene safety.

A few months ago, I reported a break in where I live. 3 county mounties showed up very quickly, and acted in basically the same way as what happened to Mr. Gates. In fact, I was quite worried I was going to be tazed by the 2 officers grilling me for ID, etc., and thankfully, the 3rd officer kept the very unhappy german shephard on the lead until after they were satisfied I was in fact in my own front yard.

I'm white, all the officers were white, the dog however, was all black... racism?

The cops were there to protect his property, and the Gates guy let the chip on his shoulder get the better of him.

Dogfish read that one right. There's more to this incident than is revealed to the public eye. The Prez shoulda' kept his nose, or mouth, out of it. Why the hell didn't the woman who called the police realize it was her neighbor "breaking" into his own house? Do cat burglars break in front doors in the middle of the afternoon wearing orange polo shirts? There was more than enough stupidity to go around: stupid neighbor lady; stupid Gates who's spent a career studying how blacks are treated differently by cops - what the hell did he expect?, blacks always lose and cops always win; stupid officer Crowley for going so far as to make an arrest; he had to know this wouldn't end well; stupid Prez, just because he knows Gates, he doesn't know enough facts to comment publicly on the topic, and that's what he should have said.

Sg

I locked myself out of my car one time when fishing. I was trying to jimmy open the rear slider when the cops pulled up. They gave me a pretty hard time right off the bat, but eventually we got squared away and I thanked them for their vigilance. It was, in fact, my asset they were protecting, same as Mr. Gates case.

When your career is victimology . . .

How come no one is calling "the neighbor" a racist? They are the ones who originally called the police.

Guy must be real popular to have his neighbors call the police on him.

The cop was in the right and did what he was suppose to do when someone mouths off to him. The scholar was in the wrong. Dude has a huge chip on his shoulder and thinks he's more important than he really is.

I see it all the time with faculty (and most of you. ). Big inflated heads on little tiny shoulders.

No doubt.

My neighbors just moved near me from the greater Humptulips area. They almost called the cops when they saw me watching Steve Pool tell me the weather.

Funny [censored] ! Steve Pool is a great guy, met and talked with him twice. Obama is the one looking like a fool..kudos to 99% of LE.

There have been 9 daylight residential burglaries in that area in the last couple of weeks. The police could have arrested Gates when he refused to produce his I.D. when first asked. Not really sure what the term neighbor means in this instance? Next door neighbor or someone from the neighborhood driving by?

I think Salmo outlined what I believe. Plenty of stupidity to go around on this one. However, there is one area that I have not heard mentioned. It appears that Gates was arrested on his own property for verbally harassing the officer. Now it was called disorderly conduct, but why aren't more people talking about the obvious property rights issue here. Let me pose a hypothetical. A cop walks by your home, you lean out the window and call him or her a racist pig. Is that an arrestable offense? If Dogfish (just picking a name out of the thread, not trying to state or imply anything) walks by your home, you lean out the window and call hima racist pig, is that an arrestable offense? I would submit that both are not which is precisely the reason that the charges have been dropped. However, Gates, the cop, the neighbor, and the President all look bad in this one.

I agree about Herr Doktor Proffesor being a prick. But it's not uncommon among academics to have an over-inflated sense of self-worth. I think Herr Doktor got a reality check.


LOL@Rocket Red

I'd probably say yes. I'm almost 100% positive that nothing good will come out of someone yelling a racial slur out of a window at a uniformed police officer. If the officer deems you to be a "threat to society", he's going to arrest you. Anyone who yells racial slurs out their window at uniformed officer is probably a good candidate for someone who is "a threat to society".




Probably not, as Dogfish is not a uniformed officer, but rather a civilian just walking down the street. But if Dogfish calls the police, and says that he felt "threatened" from the person yelling from the window, I'm 100% positive that they would show up and have a talk with the person in the house. Where it goes from there probably depends on what the accused person does or doesn't do. IE, mouth off to the cops and you are probably going to get arrested much like Gates did.

In reality, Dogfish would probably just bust a cap in yo ass, so I wouldn't be calling Dogfish Homey, or [censored] like dat! Wurd!

Don't know the real facts so can't comment on that.

However, when I was 20 years old, near dusk, had my headlights on because back then cops loved pulling people that age over for any reason. Well I had a bulb out. Got pulled over. Had a half rack in back. Being a few months under age the lady cop, which was rare in those days, made me pour each beer out. Afterwards I asked "what should I do with the empties?" she said "take them with you" I asked "isn't it illegal to have empties in the car?" she said if I wanted to get smart with her she'll arrest me and hall me off to jail. OK OK I'll take the empties. A week later I read in the paper she had been placed on leave, eventually fired, for kicking a handcuffed prisoner in the nuts at the jail and he lost a testicle.

Moral of the story: don't piss off a cop because they can and sometimes do overreact and you may pay dearly.

Neither is an arrestable offense.

For once, I'm in complete agreement with Hank: "Cooler heads should have prevailed on both sides and Obama made a mistake in commenting in the manner he did."

The Professor was a prick.

The cops were on a high horse.

Basically, both should be slapped in the head and told to screw their heads on straight.

And Obama should have witheld commentary until all the facts of the case were known.

Parker, you posted -
Originally Posted By: eddie
\Let me pose a hypothetical. A cop walks by your home, you lean out the window and call him or her a racist pig. Is that an arrestable offense?


I'd probably say yes. I'm almost 100% positive that nothing good will come out of someone yelling a racial slur out of a window at a uniformed police officer. If the officer deems you to be a "threat to society", he's going to arrest you. Anyone who yells racial slurs out their window at uniformed officer is probably a good candidate for someone who is "a threat to society".
Looking at the rest of your post, you indicate that the civilian (Dogfish in this case) must feel threatened in order to file a complaint. Can a police officer make the complaint that he or she is threatened by words? And what makes a police officer a different kind of citizen when we are talking about someone yelling from their private property? I would agree that the person yelling is stupid, stupidity is not an arrestable offense - for better or for worse.

Crap, I was a uniformed officer for 2 years, so what does that make me?


Gates set a series of events in motion. Had his initial conversation with the police been different, this would have had a different outcome.

From what I understand there may be audio, or video, of this event. That could prove us all wrong.

I read both police reports, and based on the other eyewitness statements, this really isn't a case of racisim, but of reverse racism on the part of Gates.

Appears you were an "uninformed" officer for 2 years.

I thought it was interesting that the Officer teaches Racial profiling classes at the academy. Sounds like Gates is a Louis Farakan level Dickwad who should have just STFU instead of running his mouth and he wouldn't have had this problem. I've been pulled over a bunch of times, had cops at the house in my earlier years etc.. Most cops aren't assholes until your a dick to them. Act politely, get treated decent.. Appearantly that Dumfuk professor is so worried that something racially motivated might happen to him, he created his own problem.

Well... since you ain't black or latino and haven't experienced racial profiling or institutional racism first-hand WRO... I'd venture to say that you don't really know what the f*#k you're yappin' about now do ya?

WTF do I know, I forgot I'm not a bleeding heart liberal socialist feel good fukstick, if I was then I'd know that common sense has no place in this argument.

So what your saying is that instead of treating an officer with respect when he first shows up, you should immediately accuse him of racial profiling, then yell, then don't follow orders, then cry foul when you get arrested for disorderly conduct. Thats obiviously why the cops showed up, was to racially profile the black man and unjustly throw him in jail, not because somebody called in an african american person trying to force their way into a house in a neighborhood that has had multiple mid day break ins in the last few weeks.

BTW,

Did you make it up to the ditch to floss this year? you look like a guy from seattle I used to fish next too quite often up at near where old man frank usually fished.

This is what Obama said today..."I could've calibrated those words differently," What a PUTZ...he should have said I mispoke and that he was sorry!!! This guy is NOT fit to lead this country! Even the libdems are starting to wake up. hahaha r

Who really gives a rat's ass? I've never heard a President use the word "stupidly" before, and I found it rather refreshing. He didn't say all cops are stupid, or even that all cops in the area are stupid,.....he said the situation was handled stupidly. Is it hard to agree on that? I think Dogfish is absolutely dialed on this.
My guess is that the Prof is a racist with an anti-cop 'tude. Perhaps with good reasons from past issues....I have no way of knowing. Did the cop lose his cool?....maybe. Is that OK? F'CK NO! Cops need to be held to a higher standard than is reasonable, but they have the right to go home safely, just like anyone else. If the cop(s) felt the Prof was a threat.....let him cool off in a safe place.

My 2

I'm not and have so I'd venture that you don't know what the f*#k YOU'RE yappin' 'bout...do ya?

Typical liberal that HAS to side with the "minority"....

BTW what is Gates' (Mr. I see racism in everything) claim to fame? Last I looked Professors (even Harvard) don't get a free "I can be a dick to the cops" pass. But I'm sure ymmv.

Looks like even Obammy the magnificent has backtracked....but carry on.

Waiting for a comment from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Joe Jackson.

Mf

Poor RvW...

Did he experience some "racism" while he was in an "institution"?

No offense, but when did you NOT think so?

BTW, they arrested him for 'disturbing the peace', NOT for 'breaking and entering'... (I'm pretty sure they KNEW he owned the house when they put the cuffs on.)

Disorderly/disturbing: Splitting hairs.



Maybe he should have left, maybe not. Hard saying, not being there and all...

You are ignoring this:



Threatening a police officer is grounds for arrest. Police OFTEN arrest folks (and the charges get dropped) for similar behavior... and it doesn't mean any racism is occurring.

Let me put it this way:
How about if I call the cops over to your house based on having seen an attempted break-in. When they ring the bell, start hurling threats and insults at them. Allow them to enter your house, then yell at them some more, even after they continually warn you not too. Continue to insult them as they are leaving.

What type of outcome do you think you should expect?

What's wrong with just respecting that the officer has a job to do and is responding to a call?

Why not calmly show your id (with your address and picture on it) and say goodnight to the officer(s)?

These are not the actions of a reasonable person, and a responding officer should not have "stood down".


But again: I wasn't there...














Dude, they are COPS. They aren't there to get your cat out of a tree... And they don't usually care about your intellectual musings about wether or not they are racist.

Any of you so-called rednecks that have ever been at a logging-road kegger that got busted up by the county mounties would know that the cop's story the next morning is a very different tale than what actually occurred.

As in:

"During the suspect's apprehension, he tripped repeatedly in his intoxicated state and contacted the hood of the police cruiser with his face repeatedly."

You were prolly being a stupid drunk...live and learn.

Which person benefits the most from this situation? I dont think the officer is liking the publicity as much as the professor. Oblaba's knee jerk reaction was reckless. Now his back-pedding has become another embarrassment for his presidency. Inviting them both over to the white house for a beer?! a pathetic attempt to come across as the good guy, the peace-maker. If I were the cop, I'd tell him HELL NO.

I hope he doesn't let him off the hook for his racially based comment.

arrests like this happen every day the only reason we heard about this one was because he was a Harvard professor

I disagree. The only reason this happened, is because this guy is buddies with Obama, and he knew it would get him in the news. Guessing he didn't consider the backlash against his pal though.

OK, KK What does this guy teach? HMMM? What has this guy spent a good chunk on his career trying to bring to the public? Seems like a perfect opportunity to bring his work out doesn't it?

John
Get in your rig and meet us at Eddy Vine.
Tbird and Summerrun are the company.

I never said it was planned. Opportunistic maybe.

Here is somethin for ya!

Gates has told The Washington Post that he now intends to do a documentary on racial profiling – an idea that had "never crossed his mind" before now. The "criminal justice system is rotten," he said.

Never crossed his mind, really! Huh, guessing the other documentaries he did, that most never heard of, will be shown now too.

Ya know KK you are the epitome of the "open minded, enlightened liberal intellect".

Oh, I almost forgot,,, and a really nice guy too.

STFU....

The Dark Side has been pretty lively lately.

+1

...I almost forgot what a "locked thread" was.

KK,

You're almost sounding as cranky as me. Heck, I'm going for my curmudgeon badge right now. How you doin' on yours?

KK can never be circumsized.....there's no end to that prick!!!!

What is so far fetched about a guy getting himself arrested for a cause? Happens all the time. This guy has spent the majority of his life educating people in African American studies. Getting himself arrested has brought him attention, and will offer him a better opportunity to bring this education to more people.

I don't remember ever trying to convince you of those things, but if thats where you want to go with it...

It makes no sense! Why would an ueber smart guy who wasn't doing anything illegal refuse to show his ID to the cops?
If he didn't want attention he would have just given them what they asked for.

We have HVAC! 68 degrees and cool, as long as I was inside.

Here is a link to the police report. You will notice the phrase "initially refused" when asked for his ID. Some interesting other stuff in there as well.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/upload/documents/GatesPoliceReport.pdf

What ever the reason, bizarre behavior for sure.

KK,

Ignoring all the conspiracy theories etc. that you keep bringing up, do you really think Obama should have made a public statement about this event?

As you say, there are "plenty of other things going on much more pressing, health care, Afghanistan, Iraq still, economy, Sottomayor and SCOTUS"...If I'm Obama, why even address it?

My take on this, follows what others have said, there was plenty of stupidity involved with this case...pretty much by everyone involved in this case.

pretty much covers it........still true today.

Holy crap that is just about the dumbest remark ever! Was the professor a jerk? Yeah, it looks that way. I think he had a huge chip on his shoulder. (Maybe he heard about slavery, segregation, black voter suppression and KKK lynchings?) Did the cop over react, yeah it looks that way. It's mighty hard to justify arresting a man on his own porch for poor behavior.
Do black get harassed more often than whites? Hell yes! Have you ever heard of the crime of driving while black?
Anyone that believes that cops reacts the same no matter the race of the contact person is simply not paying attention,or is purposely obtuse.

Yeah right...we know you break out you're monogrammed " Obama " knee pads for the inspector too.

Hey 3-10, try being a smartass to a big city cop and see what it gets you, OK? (the unstated portion of the above is that you are a white)
My bet is that you will end up doing a mini-stint in the closest jail and maybe aquire a bruise or two in the process.

As far as racial profiling goes....it's one of those things that is based on experience...like it or not. I realize that it can be way too big a paint brush, but that same methodology is used in almost everything now days. KK's favorite is refering to RWNJ's when he really means anyone who doesn't think like his poor misguided self. Oh well, diversity is a funny thing....it's posed often to promote a desired outcome, but it also means we don't have to agree.

Thanks for the correction, KK. Wouldn't want to misquote any of the moronic babble. I'm sure that in your world there's a difference.

I guess thats still a tad better then being the product of one drunken night between a bull dyke and a tranny.

Wow, the thread reads "Racist" and we've got 10 pages of [censored] posted up....

Here's a thought... Who really gives a [censored] what happened...

Keith

It's my believe that the officer bent over backwards BECAUSE Gates was black. If Gates had been white he would have arrested him alot sooner.

Tape of the incident will be released some time today, so we'll get to see how good we are at being Monday Morning QB's.

Question is will KK eat crow?

Keith

Relax...................... Wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something? Was just poking a little fun at ya.

Heck, one most post on this thread and it breaks the century mark over stuff that really doesn't even matter.......

Keith

It was a small deal made big by one person.

I'm just glad mods don't have tasers.

My theory is Dick Cheney set the whole thing up from an undisclosed location to get the wingnut GOP voter base fired up.

I don't know whether he'll eat crow or not but because he dishes it out so well and because he has been a staunch Obama defender, I'd like to see him admit whether Obama made a mistake or whether he stands by Obama's response.

I can appreciate someone who dishes it out so long as they can take it too...or at least admit when they could possibly be wrong about something.

With KK, you rarely see something like that.

When Goats fly....

I'm not sure what you are aiming to get KK to admit being wrong about? I'm not sure even Obama himself "stands by Obama's response"? A response that KK (if it would even f'ing matter?) never defended.

Maybe I'm missing something?

The biggest NON-shocker about this whole event is how much attention it has received.

Holy sh!t.

6 f'n pages about the Prof., the Cop, and the Pres.

We're doomed.

I'm disappointed he's going to drink a Bud.

There is no end to this prick....

I was actually thinking of setting MYSELF on fire to make it stop.........but like a moth to flame, I keep clicking on this thread.

KK, will you take me fly fishing one of these days? I really like to catch trout on dry flies..but my casting is awful.

I'm warning you SD...............he'll teach you to cast, and then swipe your fish when you're practicing.

He's pathological, I tell you.

Is he working at Kaufmans downtown ?

KK couldn't catch his ass with both hands.

Kaiser D,

Not trying to get KK to admit to being right or wrong about anything...he has lots to say about a variety of topics and I just wanted his opinion on Obama's response to this situation.

So no, I don't think you are missing anything. I 'fished' earlier for a response from him and he didn't bite so being a dedicated angler, I cast again.

KK,

I find your posts entertaining...not that I agree with everything. I recall you supporting Obama during previous discussions. I was hoping you (or any other Obama supporter) would provide their thoughts on his remarks to this situation. Nothing more...nothing less. I agree, you had not previously defended him during this thread but you have obviously been a prior supporter...and that was what I was looking for...someone who supported his position on this issue.

Your right, no one should deserve any respect no matter what laws they are required to uphold or the fact that their in a position of authority. There is a difference in questioning authority and being a Fuking Dick. I deserve the right to call the cops when my neighbor is screaming in the yard and making my life miserable and I want to see the fuker go to jail if he doesn't STFU and stop disturbing the rest of the hood. Which is precisely what this highly edcuated douche bag did, despite the fact that his house was robbed the recently before that. Hmm, if I'd been recently robbed and the cops showed up to investigate a possbile robbery I'd be happy they were doing there job.

Haters of the Constitution are everywhere.

So are dickheads that are protected by the Constitution.

Makes it a tough row to hoe.


But let's go on for another seven or twelve pages, shall we?

Okay, where do you draw the line at then BWP? At what point does looking out for the community out weigh the right to scream in your yard. Are you saying that the neighbors who called in most of the parties I through at my house in college were infringeing on my First Amendment rights? I guess I should have the right to make as much noise as I dam well please whenever I want. Others right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness be damned!

Love this.

Race-baiting rantings by a conservative economist? That's the best you can do? Birther.

KK, you seem to stand tall and proud for Obama... Care to comment on this?

Keith

BWP,

Of course Gate's house is his castle, but the accounts strongly suggest he hassled the cop after reluctantly showing his ID. Seems to me if race weren't an issue for either of them it would have gone thusly:

Cop: Hey, we got a call that someone might be breaking into this house. Who are you and what are you doing here?

Gates: I'm Henry Gates and I live here. Just got in from a trip - point to suitcase - and the door was stuck shut even after I unlocked it.

Cop: OK, but how's about showing me some ID so my report shows that the occupant of the house verified he lives here?

Gates: Yeah, no prob. Thanks for following up and looking after the place. Come in, sit down, let's have a beer; it's hot.

Cop: love to, but can't during duty hours.

Yeah...............but who can snivel and rant for 7 pages over a conversation like THAT?

Jeezus........next thing you know, you'll tell us there are more pressing matters to discuss than what went down between the cop and the prof, and what the Pres. had to say about it.

Reminds me of dressing a scraped knee, while the femoral artery is gushing blood.

Where's that f'n gas can?

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid271557392?bctid=1701226987

The President's going to drink...... Bud.

WOW....you paid enough attention to elevate yourself to sh!t stained dildo....good job SSD!

Here is another sh!t stained dildo from harvard of the correct color to be a real SSD..kinda like "Skip".


Guest Opinion
by Professor John Evans Evans-John
Harvard School of Harvard Faculty [bleep] Studies
Harvard University

When I first learned of the arrest of my colleague Professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates after he stood up to the fascist jackboots of a declasse, ill-educated Cambridge police officer, I was of course angered -- but scarcely shocked. L'Affaire Gates simply aired, in public, the dirty 100-thread-count table linen of an American culture where Harvard faculty [bleep] still face a daily struggle against profiling, abuse, and insolence.

It will come as no surprise that Skip's arrest was the talk of the Douchebag Room at the Harvard Faculty Club last Friday. I and a group of colleagues had assembled for our weekly lunch; I opted for their competently-prepared Ahi Tuna Tartare and an amusing glass of '05 Hospices de Beaune Premier Cru Cuvee Cyrot-Chaudron. I had noticed that the Frantz Fanon Memorial Booth -- Skip's long-reserved lunch spot -- was uncharacteristically empty, and asked our waiter Sergio for an explanation.

"Professor Skeep, he no is come today," said Sergio. "I tink he is in the jail."

Our table exchanged knowing glances, for we knew immediately that Skip was only the latest victim of a system that singles out the Harvard faculty [bleep] for stigmatization and unequal justice. It is a system that all of us knew too well, and provided an opportunity for an open conversation about our shared experiences as Harvard faculty [bleep] in America while waiting for Sergio to bring the dessert cart.

One after one came the cascade of stark stories: the rolled eyes of our department secretaries. The Spanish language mockery of our office janitors. The foul gestures of drunken strap-hanging Red Sox lumpenproles aboard the Red Line. The frequent police stops on the highway to Cape Ann and Martha's Vineyard for "Volvoing While [bleep]." And then there are the insulting media stereotypes, where we are routinely caricatured as pompous, effete, self-important, irrelevant elitists. All, I might add, by a motley collection of lowbrow inferiors, few of whom have ever published in a peer-reviewed journal. Let alone edit one.

Sometimes it even comes at the hand of self-styled "peers" from D-list state ampersand institutions. One colleague recounted the tale of his restroom confrontation with a Texas A&M professor at a national academic conference last year. After relieving themselves at adjacent urinals, my colleague noticed the oaf leaving hastily for the plenary session and decided to gently point out his hygienic forgetfulness. "A Harvard man washes his hands after urinating," he said. "And an Aggie don't piss all over his hands, [bleep]," came the reply.

A female colleague from the English department recalled a recent incident along the Charles River jogging path during her regular morning run. A confused passer-by rudely interrupted her progress and requested directions, as if my colleague were some sort of lowly campus guide or untenured adjunct. "Where is the library at?" she demanded. Naturally, my colleague took the opportunity to correct her, noting that "at Harvard we do not end our sentences in prepositions."

"Okay, where is the library at, [bleep]?" barked the interloper. Needless to say, my colleague's daily morning runs have since been replaced with tear-filled visits to the Faculty [bleep] Self Esteem Counseling Center.

For untold hundreds of Harvard faculty [bleep] such indignities are, sadly, still part and parcel of being "The Other." As Associate Director of the School of Harvard Faculty [bleep] Studies, I have worked to institute policies to insure that Harvard maintains a nurturing environment for all [bleep] in our community, be they faculty, students, or alumni. Some progress has been made, such as Harvard's mandatory sensitivity and deference training program for all incoming freshassholes. But such internal programs do little to address the impertinence and discrimination we still face outside campus. Some have suggested that we involve the Cambridge Police Department in an educational outreach program, but in my experience the CPD is among the worst offenders.

Case in point: last winter I was slated to deliver the keynote address for an intradepartmental [bleep] colloquium at Lowell House. Running late, I temporarily parked along Plympton. As I emerged from my Audi, I discovered that I had captured the unwelcome attention of a CPD officer. "Hey Buddy, is that your car?" he barked.

"Why? Because I'm a Harvard faculty [bleep] in America?" I cleverly retorted.

"No [bleep], because this is a snow route and you can't double park here," he sneered, concocting a flimsy excuse for his continued harassment. "You have to move it now."

"That's Professor [bleep] to you, you fascist townie," I explained, tossing him the Audi's remote-start key. "Need a valet? Call your mother at the brothel."

It doesn't take an experienced [bleep] rights activist to tell you what happened next: my Audi was on its way to impound while I rode to the Cambridge Police Station in the unheated vinyl rear seat of Bull Conner's squad car. To add insult to injury, the desk officer refused my request for a dignified background bookshelf for my booking photos.

Thankfully the Constitution still allows even Harvard [bleep] a bare modicum of human rights, so I used my allotted phone call to alert the Dean and the Faculty Grievance Committee to my plight. In those 35 excruciating minutes I wasted away waiting in that stark cell, I wrote the opening chapter of "Letters From a Cambridge Jail," my forthcoming scholarly magnum opus on the grim legacy of [bleep] oppression in America.

Eventually my arrest record was expunged and I agreed to meet the loathsome arresting officer at President Faust's office for a conciliatory off-record "beer chat." As the University Counsel had predicted, the lure of free limitless alcohol proved irresistible to the simpleminded Irishman, and he was soon happily signing confessions of guilt and abject apologies. Still, even after he was fired, I was left to pick up the pieces of my shattered psyche.

As I recounted the details of that unpleasant encounter to my colleagues, a few wondered aloud if we were not better served by changing the system gradually. Then our eyes turned to the stately historic portraits of the Harvard faculty [bleep] who came before us, hanging in silent judgment on the Douchebag Room walls; Schlessinger, Galbraith, Leary, Cornel West, Alan Dershowitz, Theodore Kaczynski. Would these great [bleep] have accepted complicit silence in the face of crude police insolence? How will we be remembered by future generations of Harvard faculty [bleep] who will battle future generations of Cambridge police and parking enforcement officials? Where is Sergio with the damned dessert cart?

Some suggest that the election of President Obama proves that America's prejudice against Harvard [bleep] is a quaint relic of the past. But for those of us who live with it every day, the evidence shows the opposite. And it isn't just Harvard [bleep] suffering the cold, rude hand of uppity townie privilege. Other, if less endowed, [bleep] faculties suffer similar oppression; in the southern Lacrosse fields of Duke, in the west coast arugula farms of Stanford, at Northwestern, where ever Northwestern is.

No, we must not be silent. That is why I have used a portion of my class action windfall against the Cambridge Police department to produce a shocking new documentary film, "[bleep] Like Me," detailing the courageous plight of the tenured Sphincter-American community. It premiers this Friday at the Science Center. Get your tickets now -- with free beer on tap, demand will be high!

Funny stuff right there....

Mf

all i've gotten from this entire thread is that some people might be plaid

only in SF Hankster, only in SF - oh yeah, the democratic independent people's rent controlled state of Berkely too

Beck works for FOX? Ergo, zero credibility among thinking people. Further, what's the big deal? Practically everybody's a racist to some degree; most just don't know or refuse to admit it. FOX ought to consider going into the news business, but then again, they're ill prepared for that line of work.

Sg

See fixed it for you. BTW CNN is boased towards the Libs, Fox is Biased for conservatives. Funny thing is though Fox has higher ratings..

BTW

Colin Powell had this to say about the whole incident..

"When you're faced with an officer trying to do his job and get to the bottom of something, this is not the time to get in an argument with him," Powell told CNN's "Larry King Live."

"I was taught that as a child. You don't argue with a police officer."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world...l#ixzz0MfmpMIOy

WRO,

FYI, Aunty outed me in that "other" forum as a fraud who's not really a liberal, so I'm not sure what you think you fixed.

All the "would be" news networks are biased, with FOX being further over the edge than most, albeit the opposite edge.

Colin Powell is a very smart man. I probably think that because he thinks so much like me. I wonder why he'd go on Larry King's show however.

Sg

Powell also said this:

"Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would have thought at that point some adult supervision would have stepped in and said, OK, look, it is his house. Come on, let's not take this any further. Take the handcuffs off. Goodnight, Dr. Gates."

Powell stated that he'd been racially profiled many times, and as an example said, "as a national security adviser to the president of the United States, I went down to meet somebody at Reagan National Airport and nobody recognized -- nobody thought I could possibly be the national security adviser to the president. I was just a black guy at Reagan National Airport. And it was only when I went up to the counter and said, "Is my guest here who's waiting for me?" did somebody say, "Oh, you're General Powell." It was inconceivable to him that a black guy could be the national security adviser. "

Thanks for the rest of the story. No wonder I've always been a fan of Powell. The guy's at least as smart as me.

Seems to me the cops had every right to insist on ID. Mr. Gates was being a jerk and should have complied immediately. But... once he did and the cops were aware that no crime was taking place, they had no right to be on his property anymore. At that point if they did not leave immediately when asked to, they would be trespassing. I would guess that the officers were pissed of at him due to his actions and were taking there time to leave. He followed them out giving them his opinion. Remember, at this time, refusing to vacate the property would be a legal trespass. They had no warrant and no longer had reason to beleive a crime was taking place. I would be of the opinion that if they can not prove he was a threat to them or was so disruptive as to facilitate a disturbance to his neighbors or the pulic in general, they are liable for a false arrest. It is hard for me to believe that a single person, even yelling at the top of his lungs (in the middle of the day) at a person who is leaving, constitutes a public disturbance, especially when you consider the moment the person leaves the disturbance is most likely to end. Gates is a jerk. The cops were illegal in their actions and should have to pay. Race was probably only a factor to Gates.


Giving respect to all cops is like saying we should give respect to all our elders. I am sure I could find you a couple old farts (or cops for that matter) that would love to bend you over and..... Hey, just give them respect and comply with their wishes. It will be over in a few minutes anyways.

Krijack,

I truly believe there are cops and cop actions that don't deserve the slightest degree of respect. Nonetheless, whether good cop or bad, they have the gun, the baton, and the Taser. Consequently when cops misbehave, you have to get your payback another day and another way.

Sg

This thread is right up there with "Pinks are skanks "

We should now call it "Libs are skanks"

Marsha, you put a serious hurt on my serenity virtually every time you post. Does that mean I could have you arrested????? LOL

Oh I don't know Marsha - serenity has its place, so does agitation. Balance in all things.

bwp, its bad enough you going on and on about your hero michael, but now to defend the loudmouth racist prof? You trying to catch up to auntie's post count or something?

Sorry Salmo, the flyrod confused me .

I find this rebuttal rather interesting....

A Colleague's Concerns

Published On Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:58 PM

By RUTH R. WISSE



Dear Skip,

My first thought on hearing of your arrest was for your welfare, so I was relieved to learn that the case against you had been dropped and you were off to join your family on Martha's Vineyard. From what I can piece together, you must have been exhausted after a long flight, exasperated to have your front door jammed, and then dumbfounded to find yourself suspected of breaking and entering your own home. To that point, you have my sympathy.

But thereafter your case becomes disturbing, and while the president's unwise comments turned a local episode into a national referendum, it's the local issue that troubles me. Like you, I live in Cambridge, commonly known as the "People's Republic of Cambridge" for its left-leaning political correctness. Our congressional district has not sent a Republican to Washington since 1955. Not surprisingly, the officers who came to your door—a rainbow of black, Hispanic, and white—were led by a man hand-picked to provide training on the avoidance of bias in policing. To accuse the Cambridge police of racial profiling, as you did, is about as credible as charging Barack Obama with favoring Republicans.

What puzzles me most in the report of your actions—or reactions—on July 16 is why you would have chosen, as I've heard you put it elsewhere, to "talk Black" to Officer Crowley instead of "talking White" as you so eloquently and regularly do? These are distinctions I've heard you expound—how educated African Americans switch their register of speech depending on what part of themselves they want to get across. Many of us do something similar inside and outside our particular communities, but you make it sound like a sport that is also for African Americans a tool of survival. So why didn't you address the policemen as fellow Cantabrigians? What was that "yo' mama" talk instead of saying simply, in the same register your interlocutor was using, "Look, officer, I'm sorry for your trouble. Thanks for checking on my house when you thought I was being burgled, but this is my home, and if you give me a minute, I'll find the piece of mail or license that proves it to you." It seems it wasn't the policeman doing the profiling, it was you. You played him for a racist cop and treated him disrespectfully. Had you truly feared bias, you would surely have behaved in a more controlled, rather than a less controlled, way.

Do you really think anyone in this country has reached adulthood without having undergone the humiliation of self-justification to police? As it happens, a few days prior to your arrest, I was pulled over on the highway near Saranac Lake, New York. My husband and I had driven into town for dinner and were on our way back to our camp in the Adirondacks. When I saw that I was being stopped, I said, "I don't get it. I'm going under 55 mph." Nonetheless, when the officer approached the car, I quickly rolled down the window, reached for my driver's license as my husband got the registration out of the glove compartment, and said to the officer as gently as I could, "Excuse me officer, have I done anything wrong?" (I had not noticed that one of our headlights was out: We were told to repair it at the next gas station.) It would not have occurred to this gray-haired Caucasian female to count on a policeman's sympathy; the last time I tried joking with a policeman, some 40 years ago, my quip cost me an extra $15 on my fine.

Rather than taking offense at being racially profiled, weren't you instead insulted that someone as prominent as you was being subjected to a regular police routine? A Harvard professor and public figure—should you have to be treated like an ordinary citizen? But that's the greatness of this country: Enforcers of the law are expected to treat all alike, to protect the house of a black man no less carefully than that of white neighbors. You and I entrust our protection to these police, and we also entrust to them the protection of Harvard students. These are the police who were called in on May 18 to deal with the shooting of Justin Cosby, 21, inside one of the Harvard dorms by suspects who, like him, were African Americans. Has any case ever been dealt with more discreetly—likely at least in part because it involved African Americans? Should we not be encouraging all students to live within the law and to consider ourselves on the side of the law unless clearly and manifestly demonstrated otherwise? Is it not for faculty to set an example of politeness, civility, responsibility, and cool temper?

The ironies of progress can hardly be lost on you. When I came to Harvard in 1993, you had just published in the New York Times an op-ed urging black intellectuals to face up to their own racist attitudes. Invoking the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., you wrote, "While anti-Semitism is generally on the wane in this country, it has been on the rise among black Americans. A recent survey finds not only that blacks are twice as likely as whites to hold anti-Semitic views but—significantly—that it is among younger and more educated blacks that anti-Semitism is most pronounced." You argued then that owning up to such internal racism was the key to self-respect. Now that America has a black president, Massachusetts a black governor, and Cambridge a black mayor, you appear to have adopted the posture of racial victim. Are you trying to keep alive the politically potent appeal to liberal guilt?

I'm concerned for you, but would not like to see the authority of our police diminished, their effectiveness reduced, or their reputation unfairly tarnished. Since, inadvertently I assume, you have made the work of our police force more difficult than it already is, I wish that you would help set the record straight. You are the man to do it.


Ruth R. Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature, and Professor of Comparative Literature, at Harvard

Hey now! I happen to know Ryan and I know for a fact that his sister is not his mom!