Harvard Professor Arrested At Home

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Registered: 03-18-2000
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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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 5:28pm



Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 6:27pm

And I'm wondering who he will turn to if he's ever in a situation where he's actually threatened by criminal actions. Will he acknowledge police vital need for citizen cooperation then? It might be that he would have an entirely different mindset under such circumstances.


In response to those questions, Gates has answered that in this article near the conclusion:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072101771.html?nav=hcmodule


Scholar Says Arrest Will Lead Him To Explore Race in Criminal Justice


By Krissah Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 22, 2009


Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has spent much of his life studying the complex history of race and culture in America, but until last week he had never had the experience that has left so many black men questioning the criminal justice system.


Gates was arrested outside his house in Cambridge, Mass., after a neighbor reported seeing two black men in the middle-class, predominantly white area pushing against the front door.


"I studied the history of racism. I know every incident in the history of racism from slavery to Jim Crow segregation," Gates told The Washington Post on Tuesday in his first interview about the episode. "I haven't even come close to being arrested. I would have said it was impossible."


Instead, in a country where one in nine young black men are in prison, where racial profiling is still practiced, the arrest of a renowned scholar on a charge of disorderly conduct in front of his house last Thursday has fueled an ongoing debate about race in America in the age of its first black president.


The charge against him was dropped Tuesday, but Gates said he plans to use the attention and turn his intellectual heft and stature to the issue of racial profiling. He now wants to create a documentary on the criminal justice system, informed by the experience of being arrested not as a famous academic but as an unrecognized black man.


Gates has come to see the incident as a modern lesson in racism and the criminal justice system. The police department views it as an "regrettable and unfortunate" incident that "should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Prof. Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department."


Here is Gates's account of what happened:


After returning from a week in China researching the genealogy of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Gates found himself locked out of his house, and he and his driver began pushing against the front door. The sight of two black men forcing open a door prompted an emergency call to police.


The white officer who arrived found Gates in the house (the driver was gone) and asked him to step outside. Gates refused, and the officer followed him in. Gates showed him his ID, which included his address, then demanded that the officer identify himself. The officer did not comply, Gates said. He then followed the officer outside, saying repeatedly, "Is this how you treat a black man in America?"


The police report said that Gates was "exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior" and that the officer, Sgt. James Crowley, identified himself. "We stand by whatever the officer said in his report," said Sgt. James DeFrancesco, a spokesman for the Cambridge Police Department. He would not comment on Gates's version of his arrest.


The department said that Crowley tried to calm Gates, but that the professor would not cooperate and said, "You don't know who you're messing with."


"These actions on behalf of Gates served no legitimate purpose and caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed," the report said.


Gates said he does not think that anything he did justified the officer's actions. He walks with a cane and said he did not pose a threat.


"I weigh 150 pounds and I'm 5-7. I'm going to give flak to a big white guy with a gun. I might wolf later, but I won't wolf then."



Barack Obama's election as the nation's first black president was "huge and important," Gates said, but "did not translate to structural change. Given the demographics of Cambridge, probably voted for Barack. That wasn't much help to me."


He added: "I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that the criminal justice system is rotten."


It was also a teachable moment on race and class for Gates, 58, who directs the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard and is a founder of the Root (http://www.theroot.com), a Web site owned by The Washington Post Co.


Billionaire media and sports entrepreneur Bob Johnson has described in interviews with The Post his experience of parking his car next to a ritzy hotel and a white woman opening the back door because she thought he was a chauffer. Coming out of another hotel, he was stopped by security -- locked in a revolving door -- because a black man had committed a mugging in the building and they were stopping all black men coming out of the building.


Charles Ogletree, Gates's friend and lawyer, who also teaches at Harvard and wrote about the relationship between minority communities and law enforcement after the Rodney King verdict, said his own experience with profiling has been similar. On a trip to his home town of Merced, Calif., a police officer stopped him in his rented Cadillac to ask what he was doing in the neighborhood.


Gates's prominence played a dual role, Ogletree said, bringing unflattering attention to Gates in the first reporting of the incident. Then, it allowed him access to well-connected friends and resources that got his case dismissed quickly.


Sitting handcuffed in the police cruiser, Gates was able to ask his secretary to "call Tree," referring to Ogletree.


"He knew: At least somebody will know where I am and what needs to be done. That is the advantage he had to know a lawyer and to call a lawyer."


The harsher side of the experience was "deeply painful and traumatic," Gates said. "I'm outraged that this could happen to me in my own home, but I'm outraged that it could happen to any individual."


He said his documentary will ask: "How are people treated when they are arrested? How does the criminal justice system work? How many black and brown men and poor white men are the victims of police officers who are carrying racist thoughts?"


He has always said his neighborhood is the safest place in the world for him. He is often recognized on the streets, asked for autographs or to debate his latest documentary.


He has no qualms about the neighbor who called the police.


"I'm glad that someone would care enough about my property to report what they thought was some untoward invasion," Gates said. "If she saw someone tomorrow that looked like they were breaking in, I would want her to call 911. I would want the police to come. What I would not want is to be presumed to be guilty. That's what the deal was. It didn't matter how I was dressed. It didn't matter how I talked. It didn't matter how I comported myself. That man was convinced that I was guilty."


Gates has asked for a personal apology. Ogletree said it is not clear whether he will receive one.







iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 7:00pm

The initial altercation occurred last week. Gates has had time to rest up and cool down, if he was so inclined. As of this morning, he was talking about a lawsuit and a PBS special on racial profiling based on HIS side of the story. He's definitely setting up an adversarial relationship unless your idea of congeniality is to discard rational and calm conversation for lawsuits alleging racial profiling and talk of shows which might not be as objective or even-sided as ought to be the case. What will he gain? A police force which will no longer approach a minority criminal for fear of being called "racist"? Fomenting more hatred and ratcheting up racial tensions for purposes of..........what, precisely? Whether or not that's what he intends, that's what is taking place. I wrote earlier, without knowledge, but the attack dogs and media hounds (Gates himself?) are already in full hue and cry, Al Sharpton included. Now Gates wants an apology from the officer too, presumably because Gates thinks the policeman reached a conclusion based purely on race Seemingly Gates gives no thought at all to context--like a reported burglary. Where is the logic, the reason, the wisdom in ANY of that?

We're also getting contradictory stories about Gates. He had a cold, couldn't raise his voice. Only raised his voice to ask for Crowley's name and badge number. Wanted to "speak with your mama outside" according to the police report. Pffffft. Not impressive delivery for a man who apparently considers himself an academic.

Gates doesn't categorize his own behaviors as undesirable or bad. Anybody else reading his responses to the police officers would probably be put off and/or incredulous. "Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had 'no idea who he was messing with,' the report said. Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because 'I’m a black man in America.'” Now he's saying that "really it's not about me - it's that anybody black can be treated this way, just arbitrarily arrested out of spite." Again, pfffffft! Just a reminder. Police got a report that someone was attempting a break in at Gates' house. Spite, my arse.

You do bring up an interesting point though regarding Gates and his relationship with police officers. He's not consistent. When he wants to make a point about his race, he'll do a grandstand appearance at the station house. When he might conceivably have reason to notify them on something other than race (like problems with a doorlock), they're extraneous. When they "disrespect" him, he threatens a lawsuit. BTW, at the time I suggested that he could have just given them a call, had no idea about the "black face" comment, otherwise would not have suggested it since he clearly does have a huge resentment/fear/hatred of police personnel.

As regards a person writing about their experiences and perceptions, there's a vast difference between that and threatening law suits and hurling epithets like "racist" at a person doing his job. Presumably Michele isn't interested in punishing anybody. Can you say the same of Gates?

As far as "Gates wanting to be treated with respect in his own home", heck. The officers had gotten a report of an attempted break-in taking place and they responded. "His front door was stuck shut, and his taxi driver helped him pry it open. According to the subsequent police report, a woman called to report two black men trying to force their way into a house."

A police officer asked the man they thought was responsible to come out. I wasn't there and certainly don't know the exact words, site layout, or sequence of events. But here's the unavoidable point. They didn't know (how could they!?) that it was Gates' home. He was clearly not being helpful. Treat a burglar with respect? You suggest that? That's who they thought they were dealing with, maybe even someone armed/high!

Gates' own actions and words speak against him. I'm just looking at the evidence and reaching some logical conclusions that he's playing the race card when it suits him. If that's a condemnation, so be it.

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 7:08pm

Apparently Gates WAS hypervigilant or hypersensitive about how police would see him. Not consistently though.

And if you live in a rural community, it's one thing to be whacking at your front door (when no one would be likely to see you and think the worst); and another thing entirely in the city or suburb. I've lived in both settings. Much easier to pry at one's window out in the sticks than to clamber over a fence in a subdivision!

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2009
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 7:42pm

I truly do. Butt, butt, are you going to take the side of someone who shows her backside while pulling weeds outdoors over moi? That's gender bias darnit....:))


LOL!


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 9:37pm

>>Where is the logic, the reason, the wisdom in ANY of that? <<

It is my firm hope, that if there are sufficient people who see the situation this way, that Gates does take it to court and that the officer is subjected to harsher criticism than Gates has been.

It it ridiculous, IMO, that a person should have to call the police because their front door is stuck because they might get arrested.

I'm not too hung up on the witness who called, or the officer for showing up, but the officer assuming that the resident was an intruder - that's wrong - Un-American wrong.

turtle

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 10:20pm

Repeating, one more time. The police were responding to another person's call. She thought the house was being broken into for purposes of a burglary. Context matters.

Gates is probably a product of his past and seemingly unwilling to consider policemen as not being adversaries. He seems deadset on either victimhood or angry black man but just can't quite make up his mind which way to jump.

It doesn't appear to have occurred to you that the officer was trying to verify Gates' claim to be the resident when he asked Gates to open the door and provide proof. Duh.

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2009
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 10:42pm

but the officer assuming that the resident was an intruder - that's wrong - Un-American wrong.


To assume otherwise could lose a cop his life.


zz

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2009
Thu, 07-23-2009 - 12:09am

Re: tempers flaring before submitting his identity, we weren't there to know that.


Re: just being in

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2009
Thu, 07-23-2009 - 5:15am


It wouldn't even occur to me to do that. If I have to break into my own home, what business is it of the law's?


Can you honestly say that you would call the police before forcing entry into YOUR OWN HOME?


I agree with Obama. This was stupid.


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