As a student many years ago in one of Prof. Gates' classes, I can only say that I too am very glad he was arrested. Knowing his personality makes it very easy for me to see how he reacted to the situation.

I don't exactly see how he was treated like a criminal - at least the press isn't reporting such. It sounds to me like he wasn't being overly cooperative. I guess if the cops showed up at my house I'd be going out of my way to explain to them what happened. If they asked me to step outside and I had nothing to hide, I think I would step outside.

But Prof. Gates has always had a HUGE chip on his shoulder, ever since I was in his class 20 years ago.

sp. arrested

What can one say to this sort of pap? Could you miss the point in more dramatic fashion? Doubtful.

Dear Middle Class Bill: Why might that be?

Not everybody is Martin Luther King. I've thought about what it would be like to put up with all the crap that blacks in our society have had to contend with and just what I would have felt about a society that did that to me. Mostly, I am amazed and impressed how small the chip on the shoulder is that people like Professor Gates have.

Your lack of empathy is showing.

Actually I have tested it repeatedly with cops, probably 50-60 times in the past 7 years and always in defense of young black people who were my students. I came very close to be arrested numerous times, but my skin color saved me AND my African-American students far more often than not. Had one of my African American colleagues done just as I did they would have been arrested, cuffed and jailed. I agree with your overall assertion that the creeping police state is destroying whatever rights we had,however, the only way to maintain our natural rights is to assert them. I intend to continue doing so. I recommend it to everyone. There are worse things than getting arrested.

"Ever since I went to Harvard and took his course 20 years ago" MiddleClassBill
Unless you were a legacy applicant or your Dad was a former President you don't expect us to believe that baloney do you?

Which African American studies course did you take MCB, he teaches two??? Give me a break. You weren't in Harvard 20 years ago and you never took this man's course.

I saw this in huffpo and daily beast this morning.

If you asked Bill Cosby or Professor Dyer they would both say:

soooooooooooooooooooo

what else is new?

I can laugh because nobody was hurt in this scene. Except the cops of course.

And they will reexamine their 'procedures'

Dick, I hope the Cambridge cops do actually learn something from this publicity, at the very least. How messages are couched is important, apparently. But perhaps the professor will reflect and learn as well; we'll see. There is a point to maintaining dignity in our public behaviour -or in our public service- just as there is a point to peaceful resistance- something perhaps foreign to the cafe. :)

I'm not sure what the "test" situation is you're describing, oleeb. If someone called the cops on you as you were literally trying to break into your house, then yes, you yourself have tested a cop who is trained to encounter a potentially life-threatening situation to apprehend a criminal in the act. If that's not the scenario you have tested, then you are not sharing some crucial mitigating factors.

In these times, no, it's not a good idea to get arrested. You need to know what the laws are and how to protect yourself, and even when you are educated about your limited rights, you need to be prepared to have those rights denied. If you end up with a record, you will face repercussions in the future. Guaranteed. That's life in America now, for everyone.

Very, very few of us have the resources that Dr. Gates has to retain legal cousel. He thinks he can yell at the cops because he can hire the best lawyers in the country. But he won't press charges against the officer because he doesn't have a case. Watch how this unfolds. If the cop is guilty of racial profiling, then Gates will have a case.

But for the rest of us? Do what you like, oleeb, but advocating yelling at cops is insane advice.

The general locale around Boston is historically racist. This most probably has lessened over the years but I feel confident in stating it is still an issue for black residents.

I'm guessing one of the first things the professor conveyed was the idea that this was his home and the cops probably dismissed this claim entirely. From there it was all down hill.

This story has many levels, doesn't it?

On one hand, it is manifestly unfair and unjust that any black person, for the simple reason of his or her color, is automatically considered "suspect".

On the other hand it is kind of fun that this particular black person, (professor Gates), who has made a very nice academic career by solely playing the race card, got busted like this. From all reliable accounts he is a terrible jerk.

So I have to laugh, all the while disapproving of myself for doing so.

Duke. No he wasn't the only arrogant one. But that doesn't change my opinion that I can see him calling the cop a racist for investigating the alleged break-in.

That's a pretty sad tale. I think these days cops have 2 responses in their toolkit - tase or arrest/drag downtown and let someone else sort out. They are not the trained actors as seen on TV consoling and working out subtleties. They're more like Mr. FixIt, come in to clean up and don't talk back.

I must say, Gates is a bit of an idiot. From what he's describing, he and his driver were messing with the door trying to jimmy it open, he got in the back, the door was still stuck and the driver used his shoulder to pop the door open. So to an observer, it might look one helluva lot like a break-in.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/oleeb/2009/07/im-glad-prof-gates-got-arreste.php

Now it’s clear that he had a narrative in his head: A black man was inside someone’s house, probably a white person’s house, and this black man had broken and entered, and this black man was me.

Well, Mr. Harvard Professor, this part of the narrative I'm sure was true: "A house was just reported broken into, the front door is broken in, and the guy inside I just ran into would likely be the one who did it."

So what was the cop's first big sin - he asked Gates to come outside ("would you step outside on the porch", instead of asking if there's a problem. Sorry, I think cops try to get anyone out of the house to be safer in finding out if anything's going on. Black or white. (I don't recall any cop ever being very polite on introduction, "how's the weather? you live here?") And the front door seemed to look like a front door broken open because it was.

So he does show him his ID, refuses to answer another question by the cop, doesn't say what it was. And then he asks for the cop's name and identification, that he wanted to file a complaint:

So he’s looking at my ID, he asked me another question, which I refused to answer. And I said I want your name and your badge number because I want to file a complaint because of the way he had treated me at the front door. He didn’t say, ‘Excuse me, sir, is there a disturbance here, is this your house?’—he demanded that I step out on the porch, and I don’t think he would have done that if I was a white person.

Yes, he would have done it if you were a white person. Cops are pretty good at distrusting and disliking anybody.

I don't approve of taking Gates in - even if he were yelling at them - and I don't approve of the officer not identifying himself or the other officer not identifying him - *ONCE* the danger of potential break-in has been defused. I don't think a police officer has an obligation to identify in the middle of an emergency. However, asking should not bring tasing or arrest.

I'm white. Many years ago, I was building a studio on my rural property. One moonlit evening, while it was in it's beginning phase, I went out to get my mail and stood for awhile inthe framed structure happily contemplating the project. As I perched on a windowsill, two state cop cars screeched to a stop outside my gate, then swung rapidly into my drive, coming to a halt with their lights trained on me. WTF? They ordered me, in my pjs and flip flops to remain still, and bring my hands out from behind my back where I was holding my mail. They asked me forcefully who I was, and I calmly, and slightly amusedly, informed them I was the owner of the property they were on. Soon my neighbor and friend showed up, (turns he had called them when he saw someone moving around the construction site after dark), and confirmed that I was in fact the owner. They continued with harsh questioning, long after my identity had been established. Eventually I became annoyed that they were continuing their machine-like treatment of me as a suspect. I got the distinct feeling, that they didn't like my attitude, which was fueled by my feeling of unjustified injury, as I was on my property, causing no public disturbance.

In my opinion of the events, I hadn't paid these officers of the law with the requisite respect, (fear?), they felt was their due. My thoughts are akin to what some others have expressed here, regarding our general surrender of civil rights across the board in our post 911 police state, as well as the police having in their toolbox an unnecessarily limited range of responses: taser & incapacitate, ask questions later if the suspect isn't sh#tting his/her pants. That said, had I been black, I would rate my chances of escaping such a situation unharmed as being less than they turned out to be. My experience that night did nothing to induce a feeling on my part, that the police operate in an objective manner when faced with a 'perp', and that when denied the automatic respect often afforded their uniforms, may act in an attempt to instruct the recalcitrant party, long after any possibility of danger has disappeared. Latent and overt racism only compounds this problem.

Crap, I pasted the wrong link.

Here's Gates on his arrest:
http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,1

Policemen are tasering grandmothers these days. What makes Gates think they're reasonable towards anyone?

I don't think the police did anything wrong. And knowing Prof. Gates, his reaction did not surprise me.

Of course the gentleman entering his apartment in NYC last thoughts were likely, there are some guys with guns rushing me yelling some nonsense, I have done nothing wrong and I need to get to a place of safety. But since cops are unreasonable and even tasting grandmothers (your words), we will never know his last thoughts.

Additionally, seeing how Scarborough behaves on his show, I could believe Scarborough would be arrogant with a police officer if Joe were in his own home.

Handcuffed, arrested and booked, sounds like they treated him as a criminal to me.

They asked him to leave his home with the apparent intent of arresting him for "public disorderly"! Maybe, when he wins a huge settlement and receives an apology, you will see what the police did was wrong.

I will buy that Loosey. The professor 'knew' deep down he would be all right....he knew that no charges would be brought against someone attempting to get into his or her own residence.

The level of resistance is a big factor here, but under certain circumstances the emotions take over...if that had happened to me right after paying a 3000 dollar property tax as well as my mortgage payment......i might be in a bad mood..hahaha

jonnie:

Cupcake - if a police officer catches you breaking into a home - even YOUR OWN - you MUST comply if he asks you to step outside and verify your identity.

And if you fail to do so, they have the right to forcibly detain you.

Please don;t comment on subjects about which you know little or nothing.

Agree rmrd0000, Seaton said:

..who has made a very nice academic career by solely playing the race card, got busted like this. From all reliable accounts he is a terrible jerk.

I suppose only a person of Samoan, Scottish or Japanese background could teach African American History and not be 'playing the race card'. The only reliable account on this man that is not hearsay is that he has been an educator for over 20 years.

In making the 'race card' comment Seaton proves that he is the jerk.

You said you were 'in his class', he teaches his class at Harvard. A seminar is not a class of semester length but a short conference, often of one day or a few hours.

Students are in no position to determine anything but the teaching ability of instructors, which varies widely.

Frankly, MCB, few here care what you thought of this man when you heard him briefly speak 20 years ago, it is totally irrelevant. Anyway, I am sure your opinion on the case would be the same whether or not you attended that conference.

AMEN

.....they have the real fear of being labeled racist, which is the worst thing you can be labeled

Rapist, murderer, and pedophile are lesser offenses than racist?

I think the bottom line here is hat many including the person who demeans Gates' scholarship and the person who called Gates an idiot do not think that the arrest was warranted. The question then becomes why was Gates arrested? The DA dropped the charges.

It wasn't an alleed break-in. It was an alleged break-in in progress: Gates was essentially trying to break into his own home because he misplaced his key. He was PRESUMED to be a burglar because African-American.

His statement that it was his house made no difference. Had he been white, there wouldn't have been cops called in the first place. (Well, maybe in Cambridge, which is not so "Liberal" under the surface.)

You DO have to comply with police instructions.

No, innocence is definitely NOT a complete defense in every case! Not anymore. Not in this country. In post-9/11 America, we are all guilty until proven innocent.

Not only have I personally witnessed and experienced the truth of this new reality myself in several real-life courtrooms, but I could cite thousands of court cases big and small to prove it.

If you don't have the resources to defend yourself in court with a lawyer at your side, then you WILL lose in court. End of story. That's because judges deal with lawyers, not with pro se litigants.

Believe me, I'm all for fighting for one's rights, but that fight must take a different form than it did in the 1960s, when people could afford to get arrested for causes and not have it ruin their lives.

But struggling against or even raising your voice with cops can get you killed. What about "Don't Tase me, bro!" have you forgotten?!

You are either missing or not acknowledging a serious point about Gates's ability to manipulate the press and the system to his advantage. Those of us who are not Gates have no business following his (dishonest) example, especially if you're African American, although I've seen with my own eyes how it doesn't matter what color your skin is.

in this day and age in this country it can destroy a life faster and more publicly than any other label. Requires absolutely no validity than the willingness of someone to throw the charge out there. Rapists, murderers and pedophiles all get their day in court and have an appeals process. Some even get defended in the press depending on their personal history and/or prominence.
As regards Professor gates the only quote or action attributed to the officer is "thank your for accomadating my earlier request." Yet everyone seems to see racism or race baiting when it is most likely that as in any disagreement both sides became heated and behaved in a manner neither liked without actual racial bias.
Be careful which prism you use to view the world, you will see exactly what you expect to see, and if you leave no room to acknowledge you do not know another's motivation, you ARE part of the problem.
It is interesting that out of an entire letter that was sent to Professor Gates you ignore the meat of the issues it raised and the challenges it extends and are only willing to discuss semantics. Sadly adding more validity to my premise.
By the way, does anyone think the professor will reply to my request for a dialogue, even after things quiet down? I hope so.

It's wrong to arrest someone who isn't cooperating, refusing to answer questions and shouting racist at the police?

I think Prof Gates is an intelligent man with a chip on his shoulders. It seems to me the officer responded to a call by a concerned nieghbor, when arriving he asks for ID and Gates right away assumes that the man is a racist. So now both sides lose thier cool as niether thinks they are being shown respect. This escalated because Mr Gates prejudges the officers intentions instead of cooperationg.

Well, except what you just describe sounds harsher than what happened to Gates. It's not like the police were any nicer to you, contrary to what Joe Scarborough thinks happens to whites, and after you established your identity they were still nasty, which didn't seem to be the case with Gates.

So I still don't see this as compounded by racism. Police always try to drag people in if they yell back, whatever color. They're kings on the street. If you want to complain about police, complain about police.

There's no way to know that the cop presumed he was the burglar based on the color of his skin. The woman who called the cops in the first place reported seeing two black men on the porch and one of them wedging his shoulder into the door trying to force it open.

So clearly based on the caller, the police were looking for a black suspect. That's very different than just seeing a black person at the scene and pre-judging that he is guilty of a crime based on his skin color.

I think Prof Gates is an intelligent man with a chip on his shoulders. It seems to me the officer responded to a call by a concerned nieghbor, when arriving he asks for ID and Gates right away assumes that the man is a racist. So now both sides lose thier cool as neither thinks they are being shown respect. This escalated because Mr Gates prejudges the officers intentions instead of cooperationg.

I agree with you until your last sentence. Playing it up as a race issue will bring it more attention. The media love's racism; decrying systemic abuse will not get the headlines. We would have never heard of the Busby incident were she not a noted politico.

"in this day and age in this country it can destroy a life faster and more publicly than any other label. Requires absolutely no validity than the willingness of someone to throw the charge out there. Rapists, murderers and pedophiles all get their day in court and have an appeals process."

Accusations are accusations, I can call you a (insert any of the above) and I can maliciously spread these accusations as fact. Will YOU get a day in court to clear these charges; maybe, maybe not. You cannot put the cork back in the bottle, even if it did go to court your reputation would be ruined. There would always be doubters.

Only where the idea is completely explicit is it not implicit that both overt and subtle racism is widespread in the USA. If racism in America is the subject then the underlying assumption is that the talk is about white racism directed towards minorities.
The point I wish to make is that every racially identifiable group I know of or have heard of is racist, as a group and to some extent, towards other minority groups. The reason for this is that they are human and racism is an unfortunate result of evolved human instinct. Racism is not just a fault of white people which is suffered by black people but a human fault which is inflicted on anyone of any racial group living in circumstances where a different racial group holds the power.
Our human nature makes us 'tend' towards a preference towards our own race. I maintain that virtually all people are born with that tendency. "Right" nurture can override this nature in most cases but "bad" nurture can more easily strengthen and pervert that nature which then manifests itself as overt racism which the racist feels is right and justifiable.
America, on the whole, has made and is continuing to make progress towards a less racially divided country because we have realized that "All men are created equall" and we white Americans, most of us, teach our children that concept by both our words and our deeds. The instinct all of us have towards tribal cohesiveness and support is, ideally, not perverted into racial bias and hatred. We are consciously trying to become better than our "natural" nature would have us, but it is a problem that all generations for all time and in every place will have to deal with. It will never be solved "once and for all". Regression towards hostility to, or fear of, the "other" is the more common norm, the easier change.
One problem I see is that white America has evolved a culture which is overtly trying to deal with being racially biased and is trying to overcome this fault while minority races have suffered and continue to suffer from the bias and so their inborn human nature is reinforced in the direction of resentment which reinforces their own bias and often, if not usually, pushes them towards becoming racists themselves. But, if a black man sees me as a white devil because I am a white man it will likely not hurt me one bit because he likely has no power over me. I will very likely not even know his feelings because his reaction will probably not affect my life in the ways that his life can and has been affected by white men's anti-black racism. Having lived in a place where white was the minority and black men ran the government and were the cops, I have seen it from the other side. It is nor pleasant.
Because we understand how a minority man came to feel the way he feels and we are sympathetic towards his plight we do not call his attitudes racist. We do not call him a racist. We excuse what, in reverse circumstances, would be called racist beliefs.
There is not a cultural movement in this country that tells a minority man to get over his racism and I don't have any idea how to try to tell a victim of racism to not develop racist attitudes towards those who victimize him. It will always be a problem but we should recognize that it isn't always the white guy who acted out in a racist way.
The authoritative, reactionary way many cops act in the performance of their duties has often pissed me off at the cops. I have been a victim, though not in an extremely bad way, of jerk cops. I think the exact situation would also piss off a minority man but his reaction would include a feeling that race played a role whether it did or not. The beat goes on. It is a part of our human predicament.

LOL, wrong place for me too. This was supposed to be at the end.

Race certainly helps. But you have one right. The right to remain silent. Never tell a cop anything. He or She can and will distort and use your words against you to get you arraigned.
Stay the hell away from police. They resent you complicating their cop activities. They are above the law they enforce. Any time you interact with cops you run the risk of meeting one who can make a bad call. Once the bad call is made, he and his partner will lie to support the bad call. He or She will walk in to the Grand Jury and cheerfully commit perjury to help make the case for the prosecution. Civics pop quiz: Who will prosecute the cop for perjury if that perjury helps the case of the prosecutor? That's right, the prosecutor who perpetrates a raise by getting a 90% conviction rate (including plea bargains that are never proven at trial).
The difference between Blacks, and Hispanics, and middleclass true believers who get their information from endless cop shows on TeeVee, is that more than likely the minorities have experienced the cop system firsthand.

I didn't realize that you actually sent your post to Gates. Will Gates respond to an individual request? Unlikely, but possible. Have you looked at the sections dealing with the slave trade in "Africana"? Your concern about overlooking the Africans involved in the slave trade is unwarranted. You may also learn that the form of slavery practiced in many places included the ability to purchase one's freedom. In addition some African slaves rose to positions of leadership among the tribes. The situation may have been closer to indentured servitude. Obviously the loss of freedom is not a small thing. I don't think you can make a one to one correlation with the situation of slavery in the United States.

I recall Jon Bennett Ramsay's parents carrying the taint of an accusation of murder. I don't think the Ramsay's fared that well. Michael Jackson was that odd little pedophile until his transformation at the time of his death. Even then, NY Representative Peter King called Jackson a pervert and pedophile.

Lou Dobbs has been accused of racism against Latinos. Pat Buchanan has had the same charge leveled by Blacks and Latinos. both remain gainfully employed by their respective networks and bring in a large audience in part due to their positions on race.

Given the history of race in the US, I don't see how you are going to avoid charges such as that made against Gate's body of work as playing the race card or Al Sharpton being called a race pimp.
Welcome to the US of A.

It's probably a mixed bag. some Black officer adapt to the environment and treat Black citizens like the worst of their cohorts. Others have filed suit against police departments for institutional racism. This has even happened at the FBI. Still other Black officers have formed separate Black Fraternal Orders of Police because certain issues were not being addressed by the mostly White FOPs. This has even happened at the FBI.

What was the basis of your charge that Gates has made his career by playing the race card? MCB is certain that he "knows" Gates because of seminars 20 years ago. MCB does not cite any incident, he just makes accusations. What is the basis for your statement?

Let me try this one last time. The point is not to debate or compare other forms of slavery or racism. The point is that it has always sadly been part of humanity since the dawn of time. The final point is that until we are willing to admit that despite the persecution and racism that has existed in america to many groups, this is the place where persecuted groups are able to persevere and move to a higher place than anywhere else in history. Without that acknowledgement and without recoginizing that many of the people in the supposed opressor group want ALL of us to prosper your dialogue becomes what i read here today. Using pseudointellectual
props to bolster your self righteous anger. Thankfully we are getting there with or without your help. So many people on both sides of the issue on this blog throw around references to
learned treatises and higher learning but underneath it all it is the same base rhetoric
exchanged between the Klan and the new panthers.
Moving on in search of a more enlightened and tolerant conversation. They are there if you are
willing to take your prejudices from the front of your mind and put them in the back.

Imagine that, a black man in American with some griveances. Shocking.

Oh, I forgot. Why wouldn't the professor take
the time to discuss this? You seem surprised I sent it to him. I am trying to really do something here not just pontificate and show off
my writing and wit. If he really cared he would be willing to discuss this with anyone. I guess being a media martyr is too time consuming
to try and win the minds of lesser mortals.
Pseudointellectual dishonesty abounds. Just because you use educated words does not mean
you have an elevated argument.

I would hope the police would question me if someone called them after watching somebody break into my house.

Racisim is everywhere. It is a universal constant, kinda like radiation. It is nature (law of preservation) to be a little skeptical of anyone or anything that is not like yourself.

Now, acting upon racist tendencies is a different story. I for one believe that you should be judged on the content of your character, not the color of your skin. But I have to get to know you before I can judge your character. Not personally, but based on your actions. I can suppress any natural or instinctive feeling because I can use thought and reason to do so, thereby treating you as an equal. That doesn't mean I want to live with you or become part of the family, but peaceful co-existence should be easily achievable.

In talks with Jewish friends, I understand why remembering the Holocaust is important. In fact, films depicting different aspects of the Holocaust are Oscar nominees. From Irish friends, I learn about the potato famine and the sad fact that the Irish poor could have survived on potatoes assumed to be inedible. From female friends I learn about gender bias that they have faced and so on etc. I think the discussions you desire are already taking place, if not in MSM then on the internet. All these discussions are enlightening. In no case did I tell my friends to "get over it".

You brought up the African participation in slavery in your letter addressed to Gates. i thought that I was providing a source of information in reffering you to the "Africana" encyclopedia. Gates also has a link on the PBS website in which Ghanaian talk about their role in the slave trade. Again your letter says that we have to address that issue.

http://www.pbs.org/wonders/fr_e3.htm

Many Whites feel that the aggressive nature of modern police forces is part of a post 911 dynamic. Many Blacks wonder how many unarmed Whites have been shot by police. People with different perspectives are having a discussion in this very blog. You responded to my posts. What format of discussion are you requesting?

Thanks cupcake.

He didn't break in. He entered through the back door, unlatched the front door and had the driver push to enter the front door which was stuck.

Tjc's letter to Gates and his last comment do not show a lack of bias. He may feel he is a neutral observer but his words are inflammatory.

lol

How am I being a bigot?

my comment on another blog:

I had a similar incident in Los Angeles neighborhood. But before I explain this we all know the Los Angeles Police department has a reputation.

It was the election of 1988. Poppy Bush was on the ballot for president. I was so excited to be voting--not for Poppy Bush. The ballot box was in my mostly black neighborhood. I cast my vote successfully and started my way to the bus stop. I was young and I couldn't afford a car , the RTD--Rough Tough and Dangerous (as it was called at that time) was my only escape.

It was a rather cool November evening. I can't remember if I was wearing a jacket or night but I had to move around to keep my circulation going to keep warm.

I noticed that unmarked Los Angeles police cars started circling the block. On one of their circles they headed toward me. I was standing on the corner near the front of 7-Eleven. Somewhere in their heads they came up with I was trying to rob the store. That wasn't good enough. They stopped the car, jumped with weapons drawn, and my face was smashed into the hard cement. All I remember was get down or we'll shoot.

I was suspected of robbing the 7-Eleven. As I was on the ground, they said, we watched you and you looked like you were about to rob that store. After finding no gun (not even a weapon), the story changed. I looked like I was high and or selling drugs. Wrong on both accounts. I was livid. I got up off the ground and confronted the LAPD who had made such a stupid mistake. I asked for this badge number. I told him he better get his commanding office out there, NOW! I made sure that I let him know that I worked with a law firm and they would here from me.

I, like Mr.Gates, was in my own neighborhood. It was simple. The police could have avoided the whole situation by asking me for id and after seeing the id ask me what I was doing on that corner. I would have told them I just finished voting. I would have shown them proof of my claims. Instead they leap to conclusions based in racist assumptions.

I almost got shot that night.

Oh the police and their infinite wisdom!

I digress

I was browsing this website (as I often do) and came across this interest text about race in America.

I agree that we can't get passed this issue unless we are clear about our history in this country.

We can't seem to agree on the impact slavery (the the three-fifths clause) had on the national government when it came to representation or over-representation of the south. I have read two books which say that slavery had a direct impact on elections and representations. Those to books are Dark Bargain by Lawrence Goldstone and Negro Presidentby Gary Wills. Negro President Mr.Wills (who by the way is a fierce acolyte of Jefferson) insist that Jefferson won the 1800 election because of over-representation of slaves in the south. Hence the phrase and title of his book.

I also don't think some people are ready to hear that there were a fair number of families that had black and white lineage. That is/was too much for some to deal with. As Americans start out to trace there family with genealogy, many surprises greet the researcher; DNA analysis are giving people the scientific proof that there was more going on than what is reported in the U.S. census schedules.

This is a fascinating comment thread but it seems to me the narrative about the incident has become a projective test for folks and has been reduced to a simplistic media-inflamed story with lots of missing pieces.

I know Gates only to say hello to but I'll concede that race was in there somewhere and the police (black and white) have racist impulses and sometimes act on them but I'd rather this story ends up fostering something more thought provoking than a piling on about race and racial profiling. Perhaps when everyone calms down a bit we'll see some of the layers of complexity. I have some questions about the missing pieces in the narrative.

Why, if you were able to enter the house from the back, would you go to the front and try to force the door open from the outside? Gates is about 5'7", slightly built--he is not young and he does sometimes use a cane. Was it Gates or the driver who tried to force the door with his shoulder? Was he already ticked off because someone had locked him out--I might be if I just got off plane from China. Did the cops go inside and startle or threaten Gates as though he were a suspect? If so might that be SOP? They did not know he belonged there, and might they not be concerned about what/who they would confront inside. Cops do run into bad situations. Maybe this thing was an instance of the mutual escalation of tempers but both sides would have to reflect on that. I'm not convinced this was simply a good guy/bad guy standoff.

What kind of fool burglar tries to barge open the front door in broad daylight? What did the cops think about the relative urgency of the call and how credible did they think the report was? This part really makes me wonder if we might be talking about some town-gown dynamic as much as race. Low paid cops and a high maintenance Harvard neighborhood suggests something more was going on. How long did it take them to arrive--were they on a neighborhood watch duty because of all the complaints that are made in the area? Do the cops have orders to show up hard and fast when that neighborhood calls? Do they resent that? Only some sensitive talking with cops who patrol that neighborhood can allow that to come out.

I wonder about the nosy/helpful/vigilant neighbor report--I cannot picture Gates with a backpack or in any clothes that suggest thug--he dresses elegantly and even if he were in sweats with the hood up they would be the finest. How long were he and the car service driver going at the door? The longer they were at it the less it would look furtive.

Maybe this story is just as stone simple as Gates tells it but for someone of his considerable intellect and story telling gifts I hope he gives it a lot of thought and gives us all a better insight into all of the layers of feelings and actions, and not reduce it to a blame game.

Oh, and BTW judging a highly ambitious academic by his behavior and attitudes 20 years ago is kind of iffy but I do know that intimidating professorial behavior can leave lasting scars.

A friend of mine grew up in Lebanon. Yes, the Lebanon. He would say to me, "I always cooperate with the police for two reasons. They have a badge and a gun." Later, he would meet them in court or write their precinct about the behavior, but in that moment, he gave the cops what they wanted. When the cops are irritated is a bad time to negotiate a reasonable outcome. But their misdeed should not be forgotten.

I post the officer's version and Gates' over here:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/desidero/2009/07/two-stories-henry-louis-gates.php

Good blog, it is important for people to hear about this sort of incident. There are a couple of elements to this story that need to be understood widely.

First is the element of the neighbor who should mind their own business. The second is that cops are dirtbags, especially to minorities, but to all people.

The powers have been very successful at scaring the shit out of everybody in this country. The news, TV shows, movies are all filled with terrists, robbers, murders, rapes. Leading bleeding is the market standard for TV news, you mostly see black folks on TV as criminals, or suspected criminals if it is not sports. The media is very very powerful, and has succeeded in scaring everybody.

Then you have the cops, who pretty much all have the small-dick syndrome. They are petty, vindictive, armed to the teeth, and have mental problems. They have been victims their whole lives, scared of the black guy who would kick their ass, not good with women, etc. They become cops because they need to finally have some type of power in their lives. They don't care about protecting and serving, they want to shoot people, taze them, chase them in cars, and feel adequate about their manhood. They are swollen with pride, arrogance, and weaponry. Above all they know they are not just the law, but above it. They can do whatever they want 99.999% of the time, and they do.

So you have this scared neighbor, who couldn't be man enough to walk over a little closer and ask what was going on, and they would have recognized the Prof, or otherwise been informed there wasn't a robbery going on. Instead, they decided to hide in thier house, and waste our tax dollars.

This exact scenario happened to me, and I'm white. My neighbor called the cops on me for trespassing in our shared driveway at 3 am, and a cop came and stuck a gun in my face. The scariest shit ever. I tried to explain that I lived there, and my mom was inside if they would knock on the door. They told me I didn't live there, and handcuffed me and threw me in the car. My neighbor wasn't around to clear up the misunderstanding. 15 minutes later, my dad came outside and cleared things up - but I almost got shot in the face by some rookie cop younger than I was.

I live in a nice area, and this was at night, so maybe a little more understandable than the Prof's scenario, but the same reasons. The neighbor is scared - irrationally - that the enemy is at the doorstep coming for them next. So instead of taking a close enough look to recognize the neighbor - or scare away the robber they call the bigbad coppers.

Then you have the cops, who are in a super nice area, low crime zone, and they just go all out. Most of them probably have dreams of being on the SWAT team, so it is their wet dream to shoot somebody. So they go into these nice areas ready to be gunz blazin at a moments notice.

Maybe after a few more of the incidents like this, or the bartender getting WWF'ed by an off duty cop in Chicago behind her own bar, people will start to understand why (black and other) people were happy when OJ was not guilty.

The system beats the shit out of folks all the time. Cops beat up and rob kids all the time, steal money and drugs, lie in police reports, and abuse their authority. They do this with impunity 99.999% of the time, even getting away with attempted murder on camera (see Chicago piece of shit Anthony Abbate).

This is all part of the legal system that is used to hold people down in their proper places, just like our educational system. The judges, lawyers, cops, and prison system all take money from the poor and minorities all the time. That is their racket. That is why you hear about the songs about Cop Killers, and 187 on a muther-f'n cop. People who are abused over and over want their revenge (see Iraq/torture, etc, etc).

Sure there are some good cops, but they will never rid their departments of the bad ones, so they don't get my respect in general. It is an us vs. them thing, especially after seeing what Anthony Abbatte got away with in my city.

It is sad how effectively powerful images and portrayals in the media are, they have affected me too. I grew up in a college town, with a very diverse group of friends, and I still catch myself being racist in my thoughts sometimes. It is sad, but it is almost like I trust the black guys that I know, or a friend knows, but I am suspicious of some of the others. It is embarrassing, but I am man enough to admit when I've been brainwashed into fearing people who look just like all those criminals and gangsters on the TV. Even though my best friend is black, and I am real good friends with 8 other black guys in our social group, I can't even think straight about race sometimes. It is very strongly ingrained in all of us by the media our whole lives.

I have written a little about trying to overcome prejudices before, and I believe the answer is personal experiences that refute your faulty assumptions. The more you interact with, and get to know people, the more you see they are just like you, and everybody else.

It will take a very, very long time to undo the tradition of prejudices in this country, humans are very tribal to begin with, even without the media reinforcing those prejudices. The idea that we are post-racial because we've had one half-black president is laughable.

It wouldn't surprise me at all but I suspect Middleclass is a cop or just an insensitive person. You can't judge the man based on takinga few classes from him 20 years ago (If you ever did which i doubt highly).
Most professors try to be standoffish to command respect so you would not knwo much about the man just because of 1 mini class.

He was screaming at the cop, calling him a racist.

Every response to my posts has tried to either
find factual errors in my statement or look
for bias and prejudice. Uppity? My aren't we looking for bias? Academia? referenced here many times before my post. Still looking for someone willing to hear the premise in my letter.
Inflammatory? Anyone not willing to adhere to your world view or has the audacity to challenge it is biased and inflammatory? You prove my point. Do you hear yourself? This country is built on people who
overcame injustice and persecution by using their
anger as the energy to persevere and succeed for themselves and their children. I only wonder why we feel non african americans must accept OUR
perspective on racism andfully unwilling to
entertain ANY of theirs. It appears that
failing to agree to ALL of your views is racism.
Once again proving my point.
Enjoy your moment in the spotlight. History
shows that with every passing generation, more
minorities succeed and share values with an increaingly accepting majority. It is happening without you, it would happen quicker with your
participation. Is that not what you all profess
to want to see?

PS--it not necessarily unhealthy to inflame
the sensitivities of people who are rigidly entrenched in their beliefs and can only see groups of people thru a single prism.

wrong about what?

1. There were four cops.

2. There was Gates and another man.

3. He was in his house, and he was arrested AFTER he had proven his identity and that he belonged there.

Is there a law against being "disorderly" in one's own house? What next, loitering?

The cop
1. Did not tell Prof Gates he was there to investigate a crime in progress.
2. Asked a law abiding resident to step out of his own home, without a warrant
3. Asked the resident how many people were in the home, a-la Gestapo

Since Prof. Gates DID NOT know that a crime was reported, nor, was told of the 911 call...
his reactions of
- surprise at being 'singled out'
- anger at being questioned
- refusal to answer questions
- denial to come out of the home
- assumption and protest of this being racially motivated

ARE PERFECTLY FAIR.

Prof. Gates was arrested IN HIS OWN HOME without a Warrant without just cause ... ONLY because he "dared" to be 'uncooperative' with a police officer.

Once Prof Gates showed his ID, uncooperative or not, the cop should have left. Plain and simple.

What have we become? Nazi Germany or Gestapo? That you can expect a cop to come to your home and have you answer ALL questions without asking who he/she is?

C'mon folks. This freedom is TOO PRECIOUS to give up on the altar of the Cambridge Police' ego trip.

Frankly, MCB, few here care what you thought of this man when you heard him briefly speak 20 years ago, it is totally irrelevant. Anyway, I am sure your opinion on the case would be the same whether or not you attended that conference.Thanks
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They asked him to leave his home with the apparent intent of arresting him for "public disorderly"! Maybe, when he wins a huge settlement and receives an apology, you will see what the police did was wrong.
Thanks
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I think Prof Gates is an intelligent man with a chip on his shoulders. It seems to me the officer responded to a call by a concerned nieghbor, when arriving he asks for ID and Gates right away assumes that the man is a racist. So now both sides lose thier cool as neither thinks they are being shown respect. This escalated because Mr Gates prejudges the officers intentions instead of cooperationg. Thanks
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What kind of fool burglar tries to barge open the front door in broad daylight? What did the cops think about the relative urgency of the call and how credible did they think the report was? This part really makes me wonder if we might be talking about some town-gown dynamic as much as race. Low paid cops and a high maintenance Harvard neighborhood suggests something more was going on. How long did it take them to arrive--were they on a neighborhood watch duty because of all the complaints that are made in the area? Do the cops have orders to show up hard and fast when that neighborhood calls? Do they resent that? Only some sensitive talking with cops who patrol that neighborhood can allow that to come out.
Thanks
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Now, the conversation might have gone a little different, but then Gates had time to write this account, and still doesn't see why a reasonable person might suspect the house had just been broken into. If I'm a cop and I see a broken door and someone says, "that's ridiculous, I'm just sitting here fixing tea"
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I think Prof Gates is an intelligent man with a chip on his shoulders. It seems to me the officer responded to a call by a concerned nieghbor, when arriving he asks for ID and Gates right away assumes that the man is a racist. So now both sides lose thier cool as neither thinks they are being shown respect. This escalated because Mr Gates prejudges the officers intentions instead of cooperationg.
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Let's say this was a white guy returning home from a few fun-filled hours at the firing range with his .357 magnum in hand. Let's say that everything else happened basically the same way--cops entered his home uninvited, demanding i.d., not believing i.d., getting pissed off when homeowner started spouting the NRA/teabagger line and arresting the guy. Thanks
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