Harvard Professor Arrested At Home
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| Tue, 07-21-2009 - 10:28am |
Police Report Says Henry Gates Called Officers Racist
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/20/AR2009072001358.html?nav=hcmodule
Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's most prominent African American scholars, was arrested last week at his home near Harvard University after trying to force open the locked front door.
According to a report by the police department in Cambridge, Mass., Gates accused police officers at the scene of being racist and said repeatedly, "This is what happens to black men in America." The incident was first reported by the Harvard Crimson.
Gates, the director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Studies, has been away from his home much of the summer while working on a documentary called "Faces of America," said Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law professor and friend of Gates who is working as his lawyer. Gates returned from China last week and had trouble opening the front door with his key.
Gates, 58, was arrested Thursday by police looking into a possible break-in for disorderly conduct "after exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior" at his home, according to the police report. Officers said they tried to calm down Gates, who responded, "You don't know who you're messing with," according to the police report.
Ogletree said Gates was ordered to step out of his home. He refused and was followed inside by a police officer. After showing the officer his driver's license, which includes his address, Ogletree said Gates asked: "Why are you doing this? Is it because I'm a black man and you're a white officer? I don't understand why you don't believe this is my house." Ogletree said Gates was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and racial harassment.
Gates did not return calls to his office Monday, and the police department would provide no further details on the arrest. He was released four hours later, and arraignment has been scheduled for Aug. 26, but Ogletree said they hope to resolve the case sooner.
Gates is resting on Martha's Vineyard, according to Ogletree, and will soon resume traveling. He is scheduled to interview cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whose genealogy he was researching in China.
Gates, is a founder of the Root (http://www.theroot.com), a Web site owned by The Washington Post Co. He is also host and co-producer of "African American Lives," a Public Broadcasting Service show in which he uses genealogical resources and DNA testing to trace the family lineages of prominent black Americans. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1981 and was among Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Americans" in 1997.
Gates's arrest points to broader racial disparities in the criminal justice system, said Ryan S. King, a policy analyst at the Sentencing Project, a think tank that researches incarceration rates.
"If you look at every stage of the criminal justice system from initial police contact all the way through sentencing and incarceration, you see that African Americans are disproportionately impacted by each stage," King said. "What we ultimately see as disparate incarceration rates are contributed to by all of these factors."
As news of the arrest spread Monday from Harvard into broader academic circles, one professor who follows Gates's work said the arrest was both "not surprising" and "disheartening."
"I felt bad that I would hear about something like this happening, especially to someone as recognizable and distinguished as , but in the academy we still sometimes encounter that. I've been in situations where I encounter people who don't believe I'm a college professor," said Jelani Cobb, an associate professor of history at Spelman College in Atlanta. "We have obvious signs of progress, but we're not there."



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I am glad that they have tapes to play rather than relying on somebody's imperfect recollection. IMHO, the Cambridge police department should invest in tape recorders which could be used to give a fuller sense of what actually transpires on police visits, responses, etc. NOW would be a good time to procure them!
But apparently Gates is still attempting to portray the episode as one where he was victim of racial profiling:
"Gates said he hoped his arrest would lead to a greater understanding about racial profiling in America."
He's already made up his mind and too many people, on far too little evidence, have agreed with him. What a shame. Our police forces are already dealing with fraying social fabric and don't need to be hounded for a bogeyman when it may not always exist.
And I wonder still, what they're supposed to do when a crime is in progress, obviously perpetrated by an African American. Back away from involvement because if they don't get injured or killed in actually stopping the crime, and they arrest a suspect, they'll be accused of racism later? IF Gates is crying wolf, the fallout from his actions could be far more damaging than he realizes.
There really is a pressing need to have some record other than "he said, he said". The full picture may not be visible but at least there might be less likelihood of police brutality (they wouldn't want to get caught), and less chance of false accusations as well.
Jabberwocka
I would think this 911 call would erode most of his racial profiling argument.
And this sounds kinda mean, and is O/T.... but I wonder about the outrage should he have been down here in Texas and got tasered.
That's what I meant in my first post about how it's too bad there wasn't a video, like they have on police cars, of the incident (to which you responded you weren't sure you feel similarly). People's recollections can and are
I'm 100% with you on police departments investing in taping devices so that there's no more he said/he saids like this case. Who really knows what was said and how it could have been interpreted by the other person?
If either one of these two, cop or Gates, is blatantly lying about their part in this, then the supposed "sharing a can of beer" pow-wow with Obama will be a disaster. The president should have just kept his mouth shut in the first place until he was sure he had ALL the facts, and even then, to use the word "stupid", or "stupidly", was something I would expect from Joe Biden, but certainly not from Obama.
Op-ed: Bite Your Tongue
By MAUREEN DOWD
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/opinion/26dowd.html?em
Being obnoxious isn’t a crime.
As we reflect on the arc of civil rights dramas from Jim Crow to Jim Crowley, my friend John Timoney, the police chief of Miami, observes: “There’s a fine line between disorderly conduct and freedom of speech. It can get tough out there, but I tell my officers, ‘Don’t make matters worse by throwing handcuffs on someone. Bite your tongue and just leave.’
Actually, the "wouldn't feel similarly" sentiment was in reference to the blasé attitude of Britons towards the CCTV's (which are fixed position) in public places. And there is still violent crime since criminals make a point of finding the "dead zones". While we were in London two years ago, police were seeking public help in leads on a rape.
Regarding police departments using headcams or something of similar nature, my concern would be for the "camera can't lie" kind of reasoning. A camera can't record everything. Same would probably be true too of a audiotape but perhaps such media would be given less total faith.
In a Photoshop/YouTube world, our eyes aren't the reality witnesses they once were. Take the skating babies, for example!
Edited to add a paragraph.
Edited 7/28/2009 12:09 am ET by jabberwocka
Jabberwocka
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