Black Harvard Professor arrested after breaking into his own home?

Normally, yelling at a cop is disorderly conduct and gets you arrested - but the only difference here is that it was in his home - which we don't even know if the cop knew with 100% certainty IT WAS HIS HOME.

In that situation, Gates should appreciate that a police officer is checking things out and making sure he is the owner - I know i would appreciate it that the police cared if someone was entering my home in a suspicious manner.

But put that aside...we are talking about a cop who performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Reggie Lewis - a black basketball player - and is being defended by both black and white cops. We are talking about a cop who was selected to led training on how NOT TO RACIALLY PROFILE!!!!

This guy is a great cop. He didn't do anything wrong here - Gates behaved terribly for someone who should be an example to Black America. he let a lot of people down i think. Like a paranoid old man. And if he can't respect a cop trying to do the right thing, and responds by berating the guy and like he's going to go mental - I think a cop has a right to arrest him to prevent him from going mental.

 

Yes I do.
You come to MY HOUSE
Knock on MY DOOR
Demand Identification . . . which I provided
Then REFUSE TO IDENTIFY YOURSELF [i.e. give me you badge number]

yea. . I would be a lil Pissed

Rocket River

 

but is that a racial issue - the black officer there said the white officer acted 100% correctly - so how is this about race?

 

and if a college ID isn't suppose to get you a beer in a bar, how is it proper identification in this situation?

 

A cop was called for a suspected break in. The guy liked like he was breaking into his house. He was doing his job. Was the cop supposed just ignore the call from neighbors? He did what he was supposed to do. The teacher was just pissy

 

I think this is working out the way it should. It's too bad Obama passed judgment about this without knowing the facts. I'm glad he's backtracked on that.

I haven't read the thread but my feeling is that the professor was probably a little too defensive/sensitive (which I find totally understandable) and probably got out of control. I wish the officer hadn't arrested him, but I can easily imagine a scenario where he may have left him no choice. After being pissed off by being harassed in his own home, I can imagine wanting to go to jail to prove a point.

I have a bias against cops because so many of them abuse their authority, even if it's only to be a jerk - which so many of them are, especially in Texas. But not all cops are bad and quite a few of them are really great. And, of course, I appreciate that they all put their lives on the line to keep the rest of us safe.

 

Look, I'm going to shoot straight with you guys. This might be controversial, but at least I'm not afraid to speak the truth. Buckle up.

1. Gates is very sensitive on the topic of race and gets very emotional/angry when he thinks he has been wronged.
2. Gates welcomes racial arguments and enjoys entering into them.
3. Racial arguments feed his existence and make him relevant
4. Universities have these racial 'scholars' on payroll mainly to prevent lawsuits and the negative publicity from not having one. Basically this is the result of Sharpton/Jackson-style racial extortion and white guilt.
5. These guys think they can get away with anything b/c a black person talking about race is 'always right'. You can't argue with them. You can't criticize them. Most of this is due to white guilt and feelings associated with historical/ancient wrongs. Because of this, very few people feel comfortable openly criticizing them and the bar is very low in terms of behavioral expectations.
6. A lot of the black community has a chip on their shoulder when it comes to dealing with police and it leads to a lot of disrespect towards police. This is not healthy or productive.

Most true scholars don't tell a policeman that they want to 'talk to their momma' on the front porch, as Gates did.

 

^
I agree with #6.

 

but thats entrapment which means Gates didn't violate any law

 

The cop asked for a photo ID, Gates provided him with his University ID with photo, and cop was satisfied with it.

Gates kept on yelling at the officer when Gates demanded his badge number and the officer never gave it to him.

It looks like the officer did not give his badge number on purpose and led the yelling Gates outside then arrested him.

 

From what I loosely remember reading Gates's autobiography ten years ago (and have't re-verified), he doesn't get around with a cane because he's old. He does it because he severely injured his hip when he was a child, growing up in West Virginia.

The reason he injured his hip is because his doctor improperly diagnosed Gates's leg pain, saying it was due to stress.

The way the white doctor found out young Gates was stressed? He asked the black boy a few general knowledge questions, arithmetic, history and the like.

Gates got them all right, and the doctor said to his Mom that there wasn't anything wrong with him, but stress. See, the black kid could answer all those tough questions, so obviously he was studying too hard, which caused stress.

A little while after that first visit, Gates severly broke his hip.

So, possibly touchy and understandably paranoid about racial discrimination.

 

When authority and especially police have a documented history of discriminating and racially profiling against minorities and there is no doubt that Gates has dealt with it before, it is silly to call his stance paranoia.

I do think he over reacted, and was probably even hysterical. However yelling at a police officer is not disorderly conduct, and not a crime. I'm not saying the police officer was a racist.

As Eric Dyson said earlier if this had been Harvard Professor Henry Kissinger and instead of Gates and the police had gone to his home and questioned that he actually was the owner, there most likely wouldn't have been an arrest made, and if there was, people wouldn't be jumping down Kissinger's throat if he was upset over the matter.

Either way I don't think the police officer is a bad guy, but he still shouldn't have arrested Gates. He should have left after he found out it was Gates' home.

 

dude you should be a para-lawyer! Are you?

 

you know the charges got dropped right?

 

there is huge doubt he has dealt with it before. This is a dude who was once ON A BOAT! Freaking balla

 

seriously? your knowledge blows me away man!

 

so did he violate the law?

learn how to read

 

We agree to disagree.....

 

So he had a history of inciting riots. Nice.

 

whatever you say grand wiz