Harvard Professor Arrested At Home

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Harvard Professor Arrested At Home
161
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."

Photobucket      The WeatherPixie 

 


Photobucket&nbs

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Sat, 08-01-2009 - 11:46pm

I ask again if you read the Cookie Bandit link I posted earlier. The Gates' defense camp doesn't seem to realize the possible inherent danger which police face when they're called in response to 911 reports. So far, I've seen a lot of cries and howls about "racism" or "profiling" or "discrimination"; and precious little which gives consideration to the huge unknowns a policeman faces when he responds to a possible crime in progress. Hindsight wasn't available to Jim Crowley.

And I'm more than exasperated by the continued oversight. If we are to have a society where each of us feels safe without being armed to the teeth, then it must be because we know the men and women who serve as law enforcement officers, and trust them to do the work for which they were hired and trained; rather than nattering like nutcases about race or screaming about rogue cops, particularly when they're only doing their job. Do you realize that? Or do you want us to each be a walking talking arsenal of the latest in firepower? That's the sort of choice we could face when someone cries "wolf" without damn good reason. Gates has NOT provided that reason in any way which convinces me.

I posted a link to the police report which Crowley filed. Here it is again: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html Suggest you read it. There's a lot more than hypothesis to the report though it's still only one man's perception.

Probably would also be helpful if you read the other posts in the thread rather than my rehashing what has already been said.

I was aware before the November elections that Obama wasn't the wunderkind/messiah the media had painted him. Last September, he came to Española to speak to a rally. Was an hour and a half late and people were keeling over of heat exhaustion/dehydration (prolonged standing, high altitude, intense sun, lack of shade, and lack of water can have that effect). When he finally arrived, he not only mispronounced the name of the town (dumb when you're courting Hispanics), he justified his tardiness by explaining that he was delayed by talking to Native American leaders in Albuquerque. If one has spent any time in the Southwest, one learns that Hispanics and American Indians also have their fair share of bad blood--goes all the way back to Oñate in the 1500's. On a local scale, it wasn't quite as severe as the Gates' kerfuffle but his comment and pronunciation gaffe showed lack of insight and awareness. He still got a rousing reception--not so much from me since his late appearance meant that I had to hotfoot it back to Albuquerque for a late afternoon appointment with appliance repair personnel. But I heard and saw firsthand that Obama just didn't have his political ear tuned to the pulse of the locals. And he did it again with the nation over the Gates affair. An attempt to pour oil (or beer) on the waters seems to have been a case of too little, too late.

My great hopes are not gone but they took a big hit. He's got two strikes already in my book. Why squander political capital in such a profligate way? He leads the nation, not just African Americans. Hope he remembers that in future.

Edited to reword a sentence to more accurately reflect an idea.

Edited 8/2/2009 12:01 am ET by jabberwocka




Edited 8/2/2009 9:28 am ET by jabberwocka

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2009
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 12:47am

Welcome back :)

Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 10:07am

I like what the Washington Post had to say about this. We might not ever know what happened but if this episode leads to more understanding and opening minds rather than closing them, it could be the start of something good, instead of more finger pointing. We all, regardless of race or profession, bring biases into how we read situations. We're human. And it helps to try to understand how the other person is viewing the situation. Pass the beer--but not the Bud Light. What was Obama thinking?;-)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/31/AR2009073103547.html

Can We Talk?
Over beer and snacks, a start at mending a racial rift
Saturday, August 1, 2009

THE RACIAL DISPUTE that resulted from the contentious July 16 arrest in Cambridge, Mass., of a highly regarded African American Harvard professor by a highly regarded white police officer may have started to mend Thursday over beers at the White House. Just off the Rose Garden, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley capped two weeks of wrenching debate. We hope the conversation they fostered will continue.

The president did the right thing by inviting the two men over for a beer to cool the controversy that began with a report of a potential burglary by two men at Mr. Gates's home. As it turned out, it was Mr. Gates and his driver returning from the airport and trying to get in through the front door after his key wouldn't work. Sgt. Crowley arrived. What exactly happened next between the two men remains in dispute, but it resulted in Mr. Gates being led away from his own home in handcuffs. The charges of disorderly conduct were later dropped, but not before the incident exposed long-simmering tensions between blacks and law enforcement, and overall concerns about racial profiling. Mr. Obama unintentionally inflamed the discussion when he remarked that the police "acted stupidly."

What's heartening is that the heated rhetoric has given way to positive talk about moving forward. It is "incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand," Mr. Gates wrote after the meeting in an essay on TheRoot.com. (The Web site, which Mr. Gates helped to found, is owned by The Washington Post Co.) Sgt. Crowley said that he and the professor have different perspectives "and have agreed that both perspectives should be addressed in an effort to provide a constructive outcome to the events of the past month."

The common denominator here is understanding. The public needs to become more familiar with police work and appreciate the dangers inherent in it. And law enforcement must appreciate the wariness of a population that feels singled out and mistreated. That some police departments, including the District's, are reassessing their diversity and racial profiling curricula is a positive result of the Gates-Crowley confrontation. Another is that Sgt. Crowley and Mr. Gates plan to meet again to keep talking. Only good can come of this.











iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 11:03am

>"that Sgt. Crowley and Mr. Gates plan to meet again to keep talking. Only good can come of this."<


Let us hope more understanding can come from this unpleasant episode.


Photobucket

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 2:39pm

There are ways of enlarging the font size for easier reading...but if you must type in all caps, then it's no skin off my nose.


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2009
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 2:49pm
well thanks for the information. I appreciate it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 2:56pm

Hi! What sort of browser are you using? If you're using Internet Explorer, you can use the iVillage reply composition window to change fonts and make them different colors and sizes.

It's a little more challenging if you use some other browser since the iVillage web site designers apparently optimized on the IE platform (from what I can see, their focus has been more on ad placement than considering a user-friendly interface). If you use Firefox, I can give you some tips about how to to download and use a helper application called Xinha.

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 3:19pm

I ask again if you read the Cookie Bandit link I posted earlier. The Gates' defense camp doesn't seem to realize the possible inherent danger which police face when they're called in response to 911 reports.


I've already acknowledged it in a previous post.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 3:29pm

Excellent piece!! ITA!



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Sun, 08-02-2009 - 5:20pm

Hmmmm. Yes, now I see you posted that you understand that cops face dangerous situations like cornering the deadly Cookie Bandit; and similar events have happened in your region. Period. Not much comment there.....but OK. I understand that Gates was sensitive to racial profiling and that other African Americans have felt that they were profiled. Period.

My query about rogue cops (which seems to be how the more vehement of Gates' supporters portray Crowley) had to do with deteriorating ability to enforce laws which could take place when police personnel have to account for their levels of political correctness. When they're involved in being PC, do they have the focus and resources to actually stop or capture criminals without putting themselves or innocent bystanders at risk? Or are they going to second-guess whether they'll be called on the carpet? I don't endorse absolute faith in law enforcement but can see how police personnel could be hamstrung by the kind of accusation which Gates leveled against Crowley and the Cambridge police department. I know you don't support broad gun-rights. Neither do I. And that's my point. If law enforcement becomes ineffective, a vacuum is created. That vacuum will be filled, either by rampant crime or by vigilante firearms-toting citizens; some of whom will doubtless look just as benign as Henry Gates while still being quite capable of doing deadly harm. And forgive me while I choke on the incredibility and inconsistency of racial profiling being "bad"; but judgments based on other physical appearances which perhaps indicate a higher socio-economic level as being acceptable.

I didn't see anywhere near the amount of ego coming out of Jim Crowley, as those which came out of Henry Gates. Public statements--zip until after the meeting with Obama and even then he was remarkably low-key*. Published interviews--zilch. Efforts to capitalize (write books, host PBS specials)--zero. Ramped up demands for apologies--nada. Perhaps you have links which indicate a Crowley super-sized ego. By all means, please share them because he has nowhere near the high media profile level of Gates. Or maybe it's just that Crowley refused to apologize.......?

I suggested reading the other posts in the thread, mine included, because have already covered why Gates looks more apt IMHO to have contributed to the turmoil. Several times.
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-elinthenews&msg=15984.20;
15984.24;
15984.143

I hold Barack Obama to a higher standard than a doofus like George W. Bush. After eight years of near-idiot governance, am not willing to just say "oh well, at least he's not Dumbya". I could have voted for McCain and his Bush-equivalent VP candidate if that was my sole criterion.

NOTHING I have read indicates that Obama apologized to Crowley. If you have evidence to the contrary, please share. Or are you referring to this?
"I want to make clear that in my choice of words I unfortunately gave the impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sergeant Crowley specifically. I could have calibrated those words differently. I told this to Sergeant Crowley. I continue to believe that there was an overreaction in pulling professor Gates out of his home and to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I've heard, that professor Gates overreacted as well."
It's better than nothing but since when did "unfortunate impressions" or "calibrations" constitute remorse and apology? How about his continued belief that Crowley "overreacted"? Pretty underwhelming!

As regards the rally in Española, Obama was an HOUR AND A HALF late showing up. The gates had opened at 10:00 AM, people were waiting in line at 7:00 AM, and Obama didn't show up until after 1:30 PM. His organizers didn't allow umbrellas, backpacks, bags, purses, lawn chairs, anything like that into the secured area beyond the gates. And they didn't see fit to tell us that he wasn't actually supposed to show up until after noon. Many people waited considerably longer than five or six hours to see him. Maybe some are willing to worship at the altar of celebrity and endure considerable physical discomfort to do so. I ain't one of 'em and consider the whole thing to smack of poor logistics. Obama still got my vote because I hoped he had the ability to think, speak extemporaneously, and transcend stereotypes. Am now wondering.

I still hope. But not robustly.

*SGT JAMES CROWLEY: First, I would like to thank the police officers from Cambridge, from my hometown of Natick and from Massachusetts and across the country for your overwhelming support for me and my family during this difficult time.

During this ordeal, one of the challenges was to make clear to people across America what a difficult and challenging job police officers face every day. We had a cordial and productive discussion today with the president, the vice president, and Professor Gates. We have all agreed that it is important to look forward rather than backward. Issues important to all of us will form the basis of discussions between Professor Gates and me in the days and weeks to come.

Professor Gates and I bring different perspectives to these issues and we have agreed that both perspectives should be addressed in an effort to provide a constructive outcome to the events of the past month.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Also here with us, we have Dennis O'Connor, who is the president of the Cambridge Police Officers Association, and Alan McDonald (ph), who is a legal counsel, as well.

QUESTION: Did anyone apologize?

CROWLEY: No.

QUESTION: Sergeant Crowley, (inaudible). What was accomplished today around that table with the president and the vice president?

CROWLEY: I think what was accomplished was this was a positive step in moving forward as opposed to reliving the events of the past couple of weeks, and an effort to move not just the city of Cambridge or two individuals past this event, but the whole country, to move beyond this and use this as a basis of maybe some meaningful discussions in the future.

QUESTION: So Sergeant, When you talk about these discussions, was there some sort of plan for you and Professor Gates to be meeting again or meeting on a regular basis?

CROWLEY: Yes.

QUESTION: Can you tell us, you know, that you're going to have one meeting a week or you've already planned a meeting?

CROWLEY: We have already planned a meeting. The professor is heading back to the vineyard right now to spend time with his family. He and I are going to have a phone conversation in the coming days to lay the groundwork for that meeting that's already been discussed.

QUESTION: And you're going to meet -- do you know where you're going to meet or (inaudible).

CROWLEY: I do.

QUESTION: Can you tell us?

CROWLEY: No.

(LAUGHTER)

CROWLEY: The venue is much too small to support all of us.

QUESTION: Are you going to meet in a house, or are you going to meet in a bar for a beer, you're going to meet at the governor's mansion?

CROWLEY: I think meeting at a bar for a beer on a second occasion is going to send out the wrong message. So maybe a Kool-Aid or iced tea or something like that. We do have a venue in mind, but again, that's also up for discussion.

QUESTION: What kind of things would you like to discuss with Professor Gates?

CROWLEY: I would like not only to discuss, but I would also like to listen to Professor Gates' perspective, and certainly he has the credentials to enlighten me a little bit, and I think that perhaps the professor, as he expressed to me, has the willingness to listen to what my perspective is as a police officer. And again, as I said in the statement, the difficult job...

QUESTION: Was anything solved today, Sergeant Crowley?

CROWLEY: Hold on just a second. I just want to finish that. The difficult job that police officers do every day. So the professor was quite receptive to that.

I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Was anything solved today, Sergeant?

CROWLEY: As far as -- well, we agreed to move forward.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

CROWLEY: No, I think what you had today was two gentleman agreed to disagree on a particular issue. I don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. We have spent a lot of time discussing the future.

QUESTION: Can you describe how the body language was, and how the tone was set? Because the people who saw the first couple of minutes said that (inaudible).

CROWLEY: Well, that wasn't the first we encountered -- the professor and I encountered each other while we were both on individual tours of the White House, and the professor approached me and introduced his family, I introduced my family, and then we continued on with the tour, but as a group. Two families, moving together, and that was the start. So it was very cordial.

QUESTION: Sergeant, can you share any words the president shared with you? CROWLEY: It was a private discussion. It was a frank discussion. I would rather not go into the specifics of what was discussed.

QUESTION: Did the president make any contributions to the discussion?

CROWLEY: He provided the beer.

QUESTION: Pretty much it?

CROWLEY: He contributed in a small part, but he really wanted to bring two people together to try to solve not only a local issue in Cambridge, but also what has become a national issue.

QUESTION: Did he...

CROWLEY: Hold on just one second.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask you. The president has talked about this being a teachable moment. Did you learn anything? What did you learn through this?

CROWLEY: What have I learned from this? I learned that the media can find you no matter where you live. They did a good job of doing that.

I think that's the responsibility of Professor Gates and I in the coming weeks when we have these discussions to maybe learn from each other. Certainly, he brings a lot to the table, and I hope that I do as well.

QUESTION: Did the president express any additional regret over saying that the police had acted stupidly (inaudible)?

CROWLEY: The vice president was just a great man, it was nice, he was very nice with the children as well. We did share a few stories that were unrelated to the topic at hand.

I'm sorry, what was the first question?

QUESTION: Did the president express any additional regret over saying...?

CROWLEY: Parts of that conversation are private, and we understand that going into it, so I think it would be best to honor that agreement.

QUESTION: Can you just say on a personal level, what it was like to have this experience?

CROWLEY: I'm not really sure this is really happening. I'm still not -- having caught up with this. I'm going to need a few days off maybe just to reflect on the events of the past couple of weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great, we want to thank everyone. QUESTION: Wait! I have one more question.

CROWLEY: Please. Yes.

QUESTION: You brought a letter from Sergeant Lashley to give to the professor (ph) (inaudible), did you not?

CROWLEY: I did not.

QUESTION: OK. It was my understanding that there was a letter that was delivered that Sergeant Lashley perhaps feels that Professor Gates may have caused irreparable harm, and (inaudible)?

CROWLEY: Sergeant Lashley has views on this event, just like we all do. Those are Sergeant Lashley's views, and I knew in the days before, Sergeant Lashley came out in support of my position, that he was going to be putting himself in a position of ridicule. Sergeant Lashley's statement, whatever it is, I haven't heard it, would speak for itself. It wasn't a message I relayed.

QUESTION: Can you talk, though, about the support that you've gotten from the police in Cambridge?

CROWLEY: The men and women of the two associations have been tremendous. They have helped provide protection for my family. I've gotten phone calls, e-mails, letters, things in the mail from the men and women of the police department, and I think this has brought us closer together as a law enforcement family, and I wouldn't want to leave out the incredible work that the Natick police department has done in ensuring the safety of my family. As you know, they have been barraged with the media, out in a small area of the town, and those men and women really deserve a lot of thanks, because they're protecting what is most important to me, my family.

QUESTION: What's your impression of the president?

QUESTION: How has your perspective changed on this?

CROWLEY: He's a very interesting man.

QUESTION: A very interesting man in what way?

CROWLEY: He's just a regular person sitting around a table having a discussion about an issue, and he just was very cordial. I respect the man a great deal.

QUESTION: Was there tension, or did you guys sort of, you know...

CROWLEY: There was no tension.

QUESTION: No tension.

CROWLEY: No tension.

QUESTION: Did you joke around and have an ordinary conversation, or was it business? Was it business?

CROWLEY: It was both. It was business, but discussing it like two gentleman instead of fighting it out either in the physical sense or in the mental sense, in the court of public opinion. So it was very productive.

QUESTION: Did Professor Gates ask you to be part of any documentary he's thinking of working on?

CROWLEY: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great. Thank you all very much. We really appreciate it.

CROWLEY: Thank you very much.

Edited to insert the transcript of an interview.




Edited 8/2/2009 5:28 pm ET by jabberwocka

Jabberwocka

Pages