If you just broke into your own home by forcing open the front door, and then the police showed up to investigate after receiving a call from a passerby that two men wearing backpacks broke into your home, would you:
A) Explain the situation and thank the police for trying to protect your home from potential burglars, or
B) Rant and rave and call the police racists.
I'd pick option A, but it seems that Henry Louis Gates Jr. chose option B. Oh, excuse me. I mean HARVARD BLACK SCHOLAR Henry Louis Gates Jr. chose option B. I've yet to read a news report that didn't refer to Gates as a Harvard black scholar, as if that is somehow supposed to make a difference in the events that took place.
Gates, the Harvard black scholar, accused the police of racial profiling. If you ask me, this brings Gates' scholarly reputation into serious question. The police didn't pull Gates' car over at random on the highway to hassle him because he was black. THAT would have been racial profiling. No, the police were responding to a call, to a potential crime. The police went to Gates' house, in effect, to protect Gates and his possessions. That's what the police do. That's their job. Protect and serve. The police asked Gates to produce identification to prove he was who he said he was. No problem there, either. What were the police supposed to do, just take Gates' word for it and leave ? They'd pretty much have to be the dumbest police in the world to do that. Even Mayberry Deputy Barney Fife wasn't that dumb. Barney would have asked for ID.
That's as far as I can go with the facts, because I don't know exactly what happened after that. I wasn't in Gates' house, so I have no way of knowing. We have conflicting testimony from the parties involved. Gates thinks the police were being racist, and the police say they were following protocol and Gates was being disorderly. Gates ended up being arrested for disorderly conduct. The charges were later dropped. All I'll say about that is, if I'm the police, I'm going to do everything I can to calmly extricate myself from what was nothing but a misunderstanding. If I'm Gates, ditto. Obviously, that didn't happen.
What is instructive here is how liberal knees automatically jerked toward blaming the police (the liberal default position), even without command of all the facts. That knee jerking worked it's way all the way up to liberal numero uno, President Barack Obama, who said the police "acted stupidly" in the Gates case. Obama used the Gates incident to launch into a riff about how blacks and Latinos are treated unfairly by the police.
I've known for a long time not to hassle the police. Things won't go well for you if you do. If you hassle them long enough, you'll end up in handcuffs, just like Gates did. It doesn't matter what color you are. I'm white, and I can attest to that fact personally (don't ask, cuz I'm not telling). If you are out of control, they will put you under control. That's part of their job too, and it's not easy. I wouldn't want to do their job. My default position is to respect the police. I guess that's one of many reasons I'm not a liberal. I'm suspicious of people who view the police as the enemy. The enemies of the police are commonly known as "criminals."
Not that I'm saying Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a criminal. He isn't. That situation just spun out of control. If I had to offer an opinion, I'd say it was Gates who was a victim of his own prejudices, not the police. Gates is sticking with his racial profiling story, no matter how inappropriate, and wants to make a PBS documentary about it. The police know better. The black officer on the scene at Gates' arrest confirms that. He supports the actions of the cops. So does the police union. President Obama even knows that he spoke out of turn. Obama said he "could have calibrated those words differently." (Don't you love politi-speak ? Why can't Obama just say "I'm sorry" like a normal person ?) White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has decided to blame the media's "obsession" for keeping the story going (translation – Obama looks bad, so the White House wants the story to go away. If Obama had looked good on this issue, he'd be making an hour long speech on race relations on primetime television about it).
But at least Gates' arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, might get to have a beer with the two Ivy Leaguers, Obama and Gates. I'm sure they can tell Crowley all about racial profiling, even though Crowley teaches a class about it.
Update 7/27/09 – A copy of the police report of Gate's arrest is online now. It makes Gates look like an pompous jerk.
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King, this is why the charges were dropped…….."On Monday, Fox News Legal Analyst and former New Jersey state Judge Andrew Napolitano told to the conservative network’s audience that police broke the law when they arrested Professor Henry Louis Gates for disorderly conduct."
had nothing to do with Obama, the police broke the law.
Tell it to the Judge……LOL
Is that why the charges were dropped Walt. You talked to the source. I would be willing to say the charges were dropped because Gates had a clean record and it was no big deal after things cooled down. Plus, Obama's people had them drop the charges to get this off of the front pages. Obama f*cked up bad and he knows it, his approval ratings are spiraling down the tubes since this started. This must be why Hillary was talking about running for president in 2012.
joe, I can see where YOU would think that it's no big deal for the cops to break the law and deny Gates his rights under the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution……..Gates is a negro fer crissakes
What rights did they deny Walt? Right here it is. They did search his house all they wanted was ID stating that he was who he was. They didn't seize anything or anyone. He was suspect because of his own actions.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Again in typical liberal style. If you cant make a point you try to attack a persons crediblity by trying to insinuate that I am a racist. We all are to a point, even you Walt. However I would not take away any of Gates' constitutional rights. He is an American and entitled to them, that's how conservatives roll. Not like the libs who want to continue to take away our rights, you are on the wrong team and don't know it. However I do know one thing about you, you are just like Obama, you make up sh*t without knowing the facts. You lied against my character and you don't even know me, you have never seen me or even talked to my friends or family to determine my character. You are a liar. How do you know I'm not black.
Sorry, I meant to say they didn't search his house.
pdt1420 sezzzzz…. only Rev could think walt was intelligent…
I see joe has ventured into the Walter Zone (similar to the Twilight Zone), just like I did.
I propose an experiment for you, walter. Go find a cop and then start yelling at him. Follow the cop around, ranting and raving. Call him a racist, say things about his mother. Do it in public. When he warns you multiple times to stop, just keep right on yelling at him. Let's see if you get arrested.
I'll bail you out.
Eventually.
pdt….King, and everyone else for that matter, have not answered walter's questions. If they have, please point those answers out, cause I missed them.
Stating the obvious, that walter's questions have not been answered convincingly, is just that.
And…perhaps you might explain what it is that conservatives accept as proper police behavior in situations like these. Is a homeowner at least safe from police abuse inside his own home or do the police have a right to do as Crowley did…….in less than six minutes from arriving, after finding out that, indeed, it's your house, you get arrested for talking loudly to a policeman inside your own home…..one whom you did not invite in.
King, let me repost this…..
"On Monday, Fox News Legal Analyst and former New Jersey state Judge Andrew Napolitano told to the conservative network’s audience that police broke the law when they arrested Professor Henry Louis Gates for disorderly conduct. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct during a conflict with police on his own property, but as Napolitano explained, the law only “allows an arrest for being disorderly if you are in public. … So if Professor Gates was arrested because of the words he used to police inside his house, on the front porch or on the front lawn, it was an improper arrest.”
"but as Napolitano explained, the law only “allows an arrest for being disorderly if you are in public. … So if Professor Gates was arrested because of the words he used to police inside his house, on the front porch or on the front lawn, it was an improper arrest.”
"but as Napolitano explained, the law only “allows an arrest for being disorderly if you are in public.
So if Professor Gates was arrested because of the words he used to police inside his house, on the front porch or on the front lawn, it was an improper arrest.”
joe, this is for you…..
Napolitano added that police violated Gates’ Fourth Amendment rights the minute they entered his home without his permission:
The law says, unless [a police officer] witnesses a felony…or unless he has a piece of paper from a judge—a search warrant or an arrest warrant—saying “you can go in that house,” he can’t go in the house. So when Professor Gates said “no you can’t come in,” and the police went in anyway [the police] violated the federal Constitution.
Of course Judge Napolitano was only a judge where you and King are the inventors of law……LOL
Rev,
It would be helpful if you pointed out which of walter's questions were not responded to. I ask so many myself that y'all ignore that I don't feel compelled to answer every single one y'all bring up.
walter,
Since it was Fox News that said all this stuff, it must be wrong. That's what liberals tell me about every other thing Fox News says. Fox just spouts those lying GOP talking points, remember walt ?
Just messin' with ya.
quoting – "as Napolitano explained, the law only “allows an arrest for being disorderly if you are in public. … So if Professor Gates was arrested because of the words he used to police inside his house, on the front porch or on the front lawn, it was an improper arrest.”
I'm glad you brought this up again, walter. Gates was arrested OUTSIDE his house after he wouldn't stop screaming at the cops in PUBLIC.
quoting – "Napolitano added that police violated Gates’ Fourth Amendment rights the minute they entered his home without his permission"
This one's a possibility (a lot better possibility than that stupid racial profiling nonsense that prompted me to write about this in the first place), but I've heard no evidence that Gates denied the cops permission to enter, plus Gates opened the door to them.
What else ya got ?
So if someone breaks into my house, (bust's down a door at that) and the police come, they don't have to show him an ID because they are in a private residence, they can just tell them they are the owners and the cops must take them at their word? Then if the police suspect this robber may actually be a liar, they have to get a warrant to arrest him? So all the robbers have to say is that they are moving and then the cops should just turn around and leave? Doesn't make sense…. I think it would be better for all parties if the homeowner would just produce an ID and thank the cops for their concern and then thank the neighborhood watch captain for the awareness they have instilled in the residents.
This isn't a case where the cops were casually driving by and saw a person trying to get into a house because they locked their keys inside, this is a case where a reported crime may have been in progress.
King sez……"but I've heard no evidence that Gates denied the cops permission to enter, plus Gates opened the door to them." Where's the "Gates opened the door to them"?
King sez……"Gates was arrested OUTSIDE his house after he wouldn't stop screaming at the cops in PUBLIC. He was arrested as soon as he left his house so he was arrested for what had transpired inside his house
"as Napolitano explained, the law only “allows an arrest for being disorderly if you are in public. … So if Professor Gates was arrested because of the words he used to police inside his house, on the front porch or on the front lawn, it was an improper arrest.”
average….nice strawman….has absolutly nothing to do with this case but nice none the less
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