"It's easy to dismiss this as a photo-op," said Karen Finney, former Democratic National Committee spokeswoman, "but we can't know what impact the image of these men sitting together may have on someone." Yea right!
This article is from a british publication: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/stephaniegutmann/100004690/henry-louis-gates-professor-of-victimology-heads-for-marthas-vineyard-to-lick-his-wounds/
The teachable moment in this whole foot in mouth affair by Barry is that he is a race baiter at heart. If they think for a second that the American people are going to forget this one polarizing statement by Barry by taking a few photos of the Three Stooges with Officer Crowley they are vastly mistaken.
This is from Crowley's fellow officers: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/26/nr.comrade.in.arms.cnn
Here is another very well written article from Preofessor Thomas Sowell, also an African American scholar. http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell072809.php3
2 comments:
Here is the Cambridge police side of the story as taken from the actual police report.
The officer, Sgt. James Crowley, responded to a police dispatch at 12:44 p.m. and spotted Gates through a window in the door. Speaking through the door, he asked whether Gates would step onto the porch and speak with him. Since others may be in the house, this is a standard police precaution to ensure the safety of the officer.
“No I will not,” the meticulously written report quotes Gates as saying.
Just then, officer Carlos Figueroa, a Latino, walked up. From that point on, his report verifies Gates’ version of events.
Gates demanded to know who the policeman was. “Sergeant Crowley from the Cambridge Police,” the uniformed officer said.
Gates then opened the front door and said, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?”
Crowley asked whether anyone else was in the house. Yelling at Crowley, Gates told him “it was none of my business and accused me of being a racist officer,” Crowley’s report says.
Crowley assured Gates that he was investigating a report by a concerned citizen and that she was outside as they spoke. But Gates picked up a cordless phone, dialed a number, and said into the phone, “Get the chief,” and “What’s the chief’s name?” Gates told the person on the other end that he was dealing with a racist police officer. Gates then turned to Crowley and said that the officer had no idea who he was “messing” with.
Although Crowley said in the report that he was led to believe Gates was the lawful resident of the house, the officer noted that Gates' behavior surprised and confused him. He asked Gates for photo identification to verify that he was indeed the resident of the house so he could radio his findings back to the police.
Since a burglar could lie about being a resident, asking for identification is standard procedure when investigating a possible break in.
Gates refused and asked for Crowley’s identification. He finally produced his Harvard University ID. As Crowley radioed his findings, Gates began to yell over him and “leveled threats that I wasn’t someone to mess with,” wrote Crowley, whom the police union describes as a respected veteran supervisor.
For the third time, Gates asked Crowley for his name. Crowley asked Gates to step outside if he had any further questions. Outside, Gates continued to yell at him, drawing the attention of alarmed passersby, Crowley said.
Pulling out his handcuffs, Crowley warned Gates to calm down. As Gates continued to yell at the officer, Crowley told him he was being disorderly. When Gates refused to subsist, Crowley placed him under arrest, saying in his police report that the professor exhibited “loud and tumultuous behavior in a public place.”
Professor Gates, who is director of Harvard’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African-American Research, later said he brought up race but was not disorderly. He asked for an apology.
He also threatened to sue but has now dropped that. I wonder why?
So we now have a President that makes foolish statements like Al Sharpton without knowing the facts (remember the Tawana Brawley affair). Wouldn't Barry have been much wiser to have just apologized for making a statement without knowing the facts. That Obamamessiah arrogance is starting to get him in trouble. We are also starting to see why Barry sat in Reverend Wright's church for 20 years.
The cop should not have arrested him and brought him in. I agree that Gates was rude and uncooperative, however, once it was established he was in his own home that should have been it. Cops have to deal with a**holes all day - it comes with the territory. The fact that all charges were promptly dropped speaks volumes.
Was it racial profiling? I don't think so. It was a cop with an Alpha male cop 'tude that didn't feel like taking guff from a jet lagged, rude citizen.
The taxpayers were not well served or protected as Gates was handcuffed and brought in. Crowley's time would have been better spent elsewhere.
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