Obama the community agitator in chief

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:02 pm

I kept waiting for the report that would make sense of the Presidents race baiting reaction to his friends arrest but it looks like he was just showing his true self for a change. He has the default position that cops are racists and has no problem being the one to stir the racial tension in America. Funny, I never guessed that what he meant by offering to be the post racial President.

What really sucks for america though is his complete arrogance which is contained in his \"apology\"...apparently the media and everyone else is to blame for the meaning and intent behind his remarks.

We need to turn down the volume since we are the ones who went off half cocked.
He's really getting pathetic.

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:09 pm

Will,

I don't usually respond to any of your posts. It's NOT because I disagree, in fact it's the opposite, I concur wholeheartedly, and for me to just pile on, well, you get my drift.

It's always seemed funny to me that the Libs are the 1st to race bait, and dammit they always catch a keeper. In this case it's you.

Them race baiters can't catch me, cus I'm like the JackaLope, fast as fast can be.

However, that being said did you catch the Boxer V Afford debacle?

Bet51987 · Post by **Bet51987** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:48 pm

I also don't like to respond to this type of thread because it quickly turns into the lame type of Obama bashing trash that's overtaken this forum but in this rare case it has some substance.

Obama is wrong on this issue because it was never about race until the professor made it so. It was about a homeowner who was caught breaking into a home and refused to show his ID to the policemen to verify that he was the owner. He went ballistic instead.

It was only after the situation began spinning out of control did he finally do so. (at least from what's been reported). At that point the police officer had had it and arrested him for disorder. There was no race issue here no matter how much the professor wanted it to be.

Obama needs to apologize, verbally and in writing.

Bee

Pandora · Post by **Pandora** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:46 am

Will Robinson wrote:I kept waiting for the report that would make sense of the Presidents race baiting reaction to his friends arrest but it looks like he was just showing his true self for a change. He has the default position that cops are racists and has no problem being the one to stir the racial tension in America. Funny, I never guessed that what he meant by offering to be the post racial President.

From reading the transcript of his first response to the Gates arrest, I am not sure what you mean with "race baiting". Can you be more specific?

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:21 am

I wondered when someone would post on \"Gates-gate\".

Gates gives his account of the story here
http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks

The Cambridge police report is here
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/ye ... ates1.html

from the Gates interview -

He said ‘I’m here to investigate a 911 call for breaking and entering into this house.’ And I said ‘That’s ridiculous because this happens to be my house. And I’m a Harvard professor.’ He says ‘Can you prove that you’re a Harvard professor?’ I said yes, I turned and closed the front door to the kitchen where I’d left my wallet, and I got out my Harvard ID and my Massachusetts driver’s license which includes my address and I handed them to him. And he’s sitting there looking at them.

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.

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.

But at that point, I realized that I was in danger. And so I said to him that I want your name, and I want your badge number and I said it repeatedly.

TR: How did this escalate? What are the laws in Cambridge that govern this kind of interaction? Did you ever think you were in the wrong?

HLG: The police report says I was engaged in loud and tumultuous behavior. That’s a joke. Because I have a severe bronchial infection which I contracted in China and for which I was treated and have a doctor’s report from the Peninsula hotel in Beijing. So I couldn’t have yelled. I can’t yell even today, I’m not fully cured.

If you look at the Cambridge police report, both officers (Crowley and Figueroa) indicate that Gates WAS yelling. If someone outside the police dept. further corraborates that Gates was yelling, that would be even more evidence that Gates account of the incident is not trustworthy.

\"...a narrative in his head...\"? \"...was in danger...\"?? Based on what's been reported so far, it sounds to me like Gates was the one with the narrative, and it is Gates who has the race problem, not Crowley.

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:49 am

A black professor ,Dr. Boyce Watkins, weighs in.
(watch the video)

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:50 am

Pandora wrote:
Will Robinson wrote:I kept waiting for the report that would make sense of the Presidents race baiting reaction to his friends arrest but it looks like he was just showing his true self for a change. He has the default position that cops are racists and has no problem being the one to stir the racial tension in America. Funny, I never guessed that what he meant by offering to be the post racial President.
From reading the transcript of his first response to the Gates arrest, I am not sure what you mean with "race baiting". Can you be more specific?

Obama is friends with the professor and the arresting officer is white. By saying the police (i.e the white police officer) acted "stupidly" infers that the officer did not follow proper procedures and thus race was a factor in the arrest.
Obama would of been much better off if he would of simply acknowledged he did not have enough info to make a comment on the incident.
I and others repeatedly said during the presidential campaign, that Obama lacks any leadership experience and that lack has reared up any number of times. When Obama understands he is now in a leadership position, he has to be very careful on what he says and how he acts.
In time, hopefully, Obama will come to realize that the Office of President of the United States is more than being a community agitator...er organizer and is certainly more than being a absent non voting Senator.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:59 am

dissent wrote:
If someone outside the police dept. further corraborates that Gates was yelling, that would be even more evidence that Gates account of the incident is not trustworthy.

I believe neighbors have also made comments on Gate's behavior.

There is a reason why the officer wanted Gates to step outside. If indeed there were burglars, the officer has no way of knowing if they have a gun pointed at Gates and Gates is saying what he did in fear of his life. By refusing, Gates potentially puts the officer's life in danger and the officer can only rightly now call for backup.

By verbally assaulting the officer, Gates now entered the realm of being disorderly and thus subject to arrest.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:03 am

woodchip wrote:Obama is friends with the professor. By saying the police acted "stupidly" infers that the officer did not follow proper procedures.

There, I fixed it for ya.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:21 am

Obama was playing the race card because he had four things to say on the issue when asked. The first thing he said, which should have been the only thing he said, was, 'I don't know all the facts'...
Yet admitting he doesn't know what happened he offered three additional thoughts on the topic:

1-'I'd be mad too if someone arrested me in my own house'
2-'The policeman acted stupidly by arresting the Gates'
3-'We have a long history in America of Blacks and Latinos being stopped by police disproportionately to whites.'

So what our President has disclosed about himself is he is prejudiced against white policemen because he thinks of them as racists or else he simply wanted to play the race card to defend his black friend.

Obama is a champion of the victims of white America, it is how he got elected/hired to every job he has had and it is the cornerstone of the ideology that his mentors have raised him with so it's no surprise that when he's challenged to react to a situation like this without the benefit of a scripted response proofread by his political advisers his own personal instincts are exposed.

His initial reaction and thought process was no different than Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton...race baiters all three of them.

His so called 'apology' that really was deflecting the blame on to everyone else further displays his true mindset.
He is not a leader he is a player.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:32 pm

Dedman wrote:
woodchip wrote:Obama is friends with the professor. By saying the police acted "stupidly" infers that the officer did not follow proper procedures.
There, I fixed it for ya.

And some of us can read between the lines better than others....

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:50 pm

Obama knew in advance that question was going to be asked of him, so his answer was not 'off the cuff'. I think he started this little ruckus because he wanted to divert attention from the health care fight going on in Congress right now and the missed deadline. He's a savvy politician and knows when to game a situation.

However, don't be so quick to throw all the blame on Obama and the black professor. Sure the professor reacted vehemently and inappropriately in this situation, but the white police officer should have been more professional and thicker skinned in his conduct and handling of the situation.

How quickly history is forgotten on the racism in this country. My husband lived in Louisiana as a child during the heyday of racial segregation and outright racial hatred and saw first hand the bias and treatment of blacks. If a white man perceived that a black man was being 'uppity' (first and third definition in the link below apply here) towards him, the black man was always forced back into his proper place, usually with anger and an epitaph. Maybe the professor was reacting to the old racial stereotype by perceiving that he was being called 'uppity' by the white police officer confronting him in his own home!. Bitterness runs long and deep when someone has been a victim of bias so long.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=uppity

Insurrectionist · Post by **Insurrectionist** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:29 pm

Ok I'm not buying that argument because of the area I grew up in. I lived on the other side of town where my skin color got me an ass whopping every time I step out of my house. I was also in a school where I was the wrong skin color and got my ass handed to me on a number of times. Guess what color I am. White.

I for one never oppressed another person ever in my life.

So to say this guy just

tunnelcat wrote:reacting to the old racial stereotype by perceiving that he was being called 'uppity'

is and that

tunnelcat wrote:the black man was always forced back into his proper place, usually with anger and an epitaph.

is just a load of BS.

No one ever wants to believe that a black man can be a racist. It's only a spot held dear to the white man. I found over my life time that the first one to say the words "you're a racist" they themselves are the racist.

The only reason Obama made an attempt at a sorry for the words he said is because he doesn't want all the police in america to be pissed at him. That's it piss all the people of who are going to hold the crowds of his adoring fans back.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:47 pm

tunnelcat wrote:Obama knew in advance that question was going to be asked of him, so his answer was not 'off the cuff'. I think he started this little ruckus because he wanted to divert attention from the health care fight going on in Congress right now and the missed deadline. He's a savvy politician and knows when to game a situation.

I can’t understand that reasoning, considering it was during a press conference to “promote” his health care program, and get the public excited, and writing their representatives with support.

I thought it was a big mistake to take any questions off the subject, and that one at the end was a big mistake.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:32 pm

Why is this issue about race in the first place? The two individuals involved had different skin color. So what?

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:19 pm

Dedman wrote:Why is this issue about race in the first place? The two individuals involved had different skin color. So what?

tell that to the man that screamed race first.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:26 pm

CUDA wrote:Tell that to the man that screamed race first.

That would be Darwin.

flip · Post by **flip** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:27 pm

1-'I'd be mad too if someone arrested me in my own house'
2-'The policeman acted stupidly by arresting the Gates'

Ok I'm not stupid, I think everybodys a little racist at heart. Even Obama

. As an American citizen though, I agree wholeheartedly with the 2 above statements. Everyone wants to make this a race issue and obscure the real issue at hand. An American citizen got arrested for trying to get into his own house, his only crime? Disputing with an officer of the law.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:32 pm

Dedman wrote:Why is this issue about race in the first place? The two individuals involved had different skin color. So what?

Damn good question. And the president blew a golden opportunity.

BTW Did anybody read the comments in that link Dissent posted…WoW I mean just WoW!

I’m just curious, how would some of you react if a cop showed up while you were breaking into your own house?

I would be grateful in the first place that a neighbor actually cared enuf to call the cops…not much chance of that around here. And I would thank the officers that responded and offer a cup of coffee or something.

When I came up, I learned to respect police, and I have never gotten anything else in return.

..................

“An American citizen got arrested for trying to get into his own house”

Wrong

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:23 pm

tunnelcat wrote:Obama knew in advance that question was going to be asked of him, so his answer was not 'off the cuff'. I think he started this little ruckus because he wanted to divert attention from the health care fight going on in Congress right now and the missed deadline. He's a savvy politician and knows when to game a situation....

Assuming your theory is correct he was willing to accuse an innocent man of being a racist, and being the most powerful man in the world, the most prominent black man in the world and the chief law enforcement officer in the world his accusation will be a bit difficult to ward off. And the momentum, from someone of his stature, jumping on the race baiting bandwagon adds to the racial tension in the country in a substantial way!

But he's willing to do all this to someone just to create a little political cover for himself?!?!

If you are right then I like him even less now than a few minutes ago! I'd have to change my assessment from player to pimp!!

Here is something to consider.
White people gain nothing from racism. Black people can't say the same thing...and until people like Obama, Jackson and Sharpton stop cashing in on the white guilt/black victim game there will be no end to "racial problems" in this country! There will always be racism to some degree because people just do that naturally but our society doesn't naturally support and fuel a race industry...only certain selfish people do that.

When I see a black person I don't think 'Oh hell here comes a damn ★■◆●' I was raised better than that. But I honestly do think, 'Is this guy going to be one of those militant, chip on his shoulder/race baiting black people?' and now I can add ..you know, like our President is?

Bet51987 · Post by **Bet51987** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:50 am

Will Robinson wrote:When I see a black person I don't think 'Oh hell here comes a damn ★■◆●'

Will Robinson wrote:But I honestly do think, 'Is this guy going to be one of those militant, chip on his shoulder/race baiting black people?

Forgive me, but these sound very similar.

Bee

flip · Post by **flip** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:13 am

Well why was he arrested then? I'm not saying he wasn't being a racist himself, but the guy got arrested. To all you goody 2 shoes out there that never got in trouble and don't know what arrested is. It's when they forcibly restrain you and cart you off to a jail cell. Nothing that guy did warranted that, on his own property no less. I have the right to say whatever I want to in anyway I want to as long as I don't physically harm anyone and guys like you are pissing that away by your unquestioning compliance.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:33 am

Bet51987 wrote:
Will Robinson wrote:When I see a black person I don't think 'Oh hell here comes a damn ★■◆●'

Will Robinson wrote:But I honestly do think, 'Is this guy going to be one of those militant, chip on his shoulder/race baiting black people?
Forgive me, but these sound very similar.

Bee

There is a world of difference between the two.

It is the difference between someone who has blind hatred of someone simply because they are of a different race and someone who is sick and tired of being stereotyped as a bigot simply because of my race.
And having a President who's instincts are to exploit and perpetuate the racial tensions between whites and blacks is a very bad thing for all people in America.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:43 am

flip wrote:Well why was he arrested then? I'm not saying he wasn't being a racist himself, but the guy got arrested. To all you goody 2 shoes out there that never got in trouble and don't know what arrested is. It's when they forcibly restrain you and cart you off to a jail cell. Nothing that guy did warranted that, on his own property no less. I have the right to say whatever I want to in anyway I want to as long as I don't physically harm anyone and guys like you are pissing that away by your unquestioning compliance.

flip, I've been arrested in my own home. I didn't, however, go emotionally ballistic on the cop who was in my house to arrest me so when the charges were later dropped I was not facing additional charges of disorderly conduct.
The professor was on the brink of having the cop say 'have a nice night' and leave him safely in his house but he wanted to elevate the confrontation into something more....he got what he wanted. He wanted to be a belligerent ★■◆●. There is a law against that and he was arrested for it.

The notion that white people need to bend the rules for black people if the black person plays the race card is wrong on many levels, it is unjust as well as counterproductive to normal race relations. Our President should know better. Obama is an embarrassment to me as an American.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:43 am

Spidey wrote:I’m just curious, how would some of you react if a cop showed up while you were breaking into your own house?

That has happened to me. I figured they were comming and had my ID ready. A bit different circumstance than the one in question but still. Be respectful, show your ID, go back to enjoying your evening.

It really is that simple.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 11:32 am

flip…he was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Sorry, your post sounded like Patriotic Fervor, so I had a knee jerk reaction.

LOL @ “Goody Two Shoes” you got the wrong person there buddy.

flip · Post by **flip** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:11 pm

After reading the report it seems as if the officer did try to leave and Gates wanted to push the issue. Now why the police couldn't just say the guy's an ass and keep walking, (he was at his own house) is an issue too maybe. It does appear Gates wanted to push the issue. I still feel like the home is off-limits to anyone's rule but my own, so these things set me off a little

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 2:06 pm

flip wrote:I still feel like the home is off-limits to anyone's rule but my own, so these things set me off a little

and why would your home be off limits??? there are MANY illegal activities that you could be doing in your own home that would warrant the Police to intervene. and several of them that could have pertained to the Gates case. the Officer had a job to do, it was to investigate a possible burglary FULLY. he followed protocol and did just that. Gate was in the wrong pure and simple. all he needed to do was politely show the officer his ID and politely wish the office a nice day at it would have been over with. but instead he interfered with an officer in the line of duty by being belligerent and interfering with a Burglary investigation, then he goes all jerk on top of that. and to add to it the President makes the situation even worse by commenting on something that by his own admission knew nothing about.

So what is the President?
A racist? think Reverend Wright
Short sighted?
Just stupid for even commenting?
None of the above?
All of the above?

it appears even Gates may have started to see his error and just wants this to go away.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:28 pm

A great football coach once told his players, regarding spontaneous celebrations on the field \"Act like you've been there before\".
The point he made was you worked hard to have the expectation to be there so when you get there don't act like it's unexpected.

Well the same line of reasoning can be applied in this case. Gates should have acted like he owned the house instead of acting like someone above the law....some sort of special citizen the cop had no right to question when following up on a report that the house was broken into...especially when he knows he just broke in to the house himself.

He was much more concerned with sticking it to the cop than showing the cop he belonged there.

My guess is the cop took as much abuse as he was willing to take and decided he would go outside and if the bully wanted to follow him outside where his antics would be in violation of the law he would arrest him for it...the bully couldn't leave well enough alone and instead snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by going outside to try and continue dishing out his abuse and so the cop got to educate the bully on proper behavior toward a police officer engaged in his duty.

I'm happy the cop didn't bend over backwards for the guy just because he's black. I'm sick and tired of people who think policy should be shaped to accommodate someone who tries to exploit the whole white guilt/race card play.
you are either equal or you are not. Equality means you have an equal responsibility as well as opportunity.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:08 am

So now I'm kinda wondering how the good professor would have acted if the police officer was black.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:14 am

woodchip wrote:So now I'm kinda wondering how the good professor would have acted if the police officer was black.

My guess is no different except he would have been making Uncle Tom insults instead of doing the your mother routine....

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:46 am

Also, if we want to be stereotypical, Bostontonians can be real jerks at times.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:42 pm

Spidey wrote:I can’t understand that reasoning, considering it was during a press conference to “promote” his health care program, and get the public excited, and writing their representatives with support.

I thought it was a big mistake to take any questions off the subject, and that one at the end was a big mistake.

Think about it Spidey. Obama has everything planned out in his press conferences. He even uses the teleprompter all the time so that his speeches don't have all the "ummmms" and "aaaaaaahs" peppered throughout. It was becoming clear that his health care deadline push wasn't going to make the proposed deadline in Congress. And just look how the press ate up this race discussion ALL weekend, totally dropping all mention of the health care debate. Come Monday, Obama magically comes out and says that the deadline isn't going to be met by the August recess. Convenient?

Will Robinson wrote:When I see a black person I don't think 'Oh hell here comes a damn ★■◆●' I was raised better than that. But I honestly do think, 'Is this guy going to be one of those militant, chip on his shoulder/race baiting black people?' and now I can add ..you know, like our President is?

Racism doesn't have to be overt, it can be just a gut reaction. Here's a question for you. If you're walking down a dark street and you see a Black or Hispanic male approaching you, what's your gut reaction? Would it be the same if the male was white? Would you have any subliminal fear aroused by the Black or Hispanic male that wouldn't be present with a White male? I'll have to confess that as a woman, I've had a more visceral fear reaction upon being approached by Black or Hispanic unfamiliar males than White ones, even though there's no rational basis for this fear. Now If I'm in unfamiliar territory, that fear and bias is greatly magnified. I don't consider myself racist and I should have the same reactions with all unfamiliar males, but it just seems to be more pronounced with males of different races. I'm not proud of it, but it's there.

You can bet that Black males have an especially visceral reaction to White police officers, especially an officer that orders them out of their own home to 'just talk' about the situation. It's not right or rational, but it's present. Once that officer found out that Gates WAS the homeowner, he should have been professional and dropped it.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:54 pm

Well…I guess it makes sense if Obama is just a typical political hack.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:57 pm

tunnelcat wrote:...
Racism doesn't have to be overt, it can be just a gut reaction. Here's a question for you. If you're walking down a dark street and you see a Black or Hispanic male approaching you, what's your gut reaction? Would it be the same if the male was white?

It depends on the environment not the skin color. Sometimes I carry a pistol when I'm in bad places so I'm watching peoples faces and hands...any color.
Most of the criminals and dangerous people I've encountered were white so I have no illusions of black bogie men.

tunnelcat wrote:Once that officer found out that Gates WAS the homeowner, he should have been professional and dropped it.

No, to be a professional he would also need to know the guy wasn't staging a break in, murdering his wife then leaving....
Or a thousand other things that might explain why he and some undiscovered, unexplained person was seen breaking into the house.

All the professor had to do was be a decent person and the cop would have been his ally! That is the reason the cop was there in the first place!!
He didn't go looking for some black man to harass, he went to investigate a breaking and entering to protect the owner of the house and the owners property!! Too bad Gates wasn't interested in being the owner and was instead obsessed with turning the cop into Klansman so he could play MalcomX in his foyer. apparently we don't just need the last dregs of white bigots to die off to get beyond the race war, we also need a bunch of black militant wannabe victims to die off too and that is why the Presidents reaction is the worst part of this story by far.
Gates isn't a role model, the cop isn't a role model, Obama is...unfortunately so in this case.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:03 pm

“That is the reason the cop was there in the first place!!”

A point a lot of people seem to miss.

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:16 pm

Spidey wrote:Well…I guess it makes sense if Obama is just a typical political hack.

Naw. C'mon. Couldn't be .... Obama's the smart guy .....!

Reasons why Gates-gate matters.

Steve Chapman wrote:Barack Obama got to be president because he supposedly had qualities Americans were yearning for after the bitter tumult of the Bush years. He supposedly was calm, sober, fair-minded, and guided by facts rather than emotions. He supposedly didn’t jump to conclusions, he supposedly didn’t ignore inconvenient evidence and he supposedly didn’t blunder into messes. That was the guy we elected last year, and right now, a lot of people miss him.

fixed 'em for ya, Steve - dissent

I said last year that I didn't get what people thought was so special about Obama, -

and I still don't (says this Illinois resident).

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:28 am

There were those that thought if a black man was elected president, racism would end. How wrong they were.

After listening to the 911 tapes, the question entered my mind...how long has Gates lived in the house? If for a number of years, then why wouldn't his neighbors recognize him?

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:44 am

Apparently this call came from a woman driving by who was flagged down by some older woman who had walked by the house. They haven't said if this older woman was a neighbor or not.

After listening to the 911 audio tapes, you'll notice that there's not much yelling in the background, yet. One or two times another voice is heard, probably Gates. You'll also notice that Crowley repeats back to dispatch that he has the ID of Gates BEFORE he tries to arrest him. Now why then did this officer call Gates out onto his front porch to talk AFTER he knew Gates was the homeowner? I'm guessing at this point things spiraled out of control. I still say the officer SHOULD have dropped the \"You Will Respect My Authoritah\" (ah la South Park/Cartman and LEFT THE HOUSE!

Also, nowhere in the transcripts did the caller say the people breaking in were black. She mentioned maybe Hispanic? The dispatcher asks the question first of her.

911 Transcript

Dispach Transcript

Will, you're either lying or denying it if you think you don't react differently to Black/Hispanic/Arabic men on the street than White men, even in your own neighborhood. Anybody that denies this is lying to themselves and to others. Xenophobia is a low-level basal emotional reaction humans have to those who appear different from themselves and it's hard-wired into all of us, whether we like it or not. And yes, Gates overreacted, but getting angry at the cops is NOT a violation of the law. They're supposed to be professionals and defuse the situation, not inflame it.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:10 am

this might be a bit of a de-railment, but I'd like to express some of my thoughts about racism.

I have a hard time with the racism card.

Here's why: I think it has a lot more to do with our diversity of culture, and our class gaps, than it does with race. The problem is we make it about race.

First, let me tell a couple stories about my life.

I lived in central Mexico for 5 years. I was in jr. high at the time, and just wanted to fit in. the fact that I am blonde and blue eyed meant I stood out like a sore thumb. I got good & bad reactions as a result. On the good side, people sorta held you in a bit of awe, and the girls liked the blue eyes. On the bad side, I felt like a target... which made me all the much more nervous in the more dangerous parts of town. I've experienced being a minority. I don't know what it's like in the states, but at least I have a clue what it's like to be singled out all the time.

I went to high school, here in the states, in a school that had a decent mix of races. I learned stereotypes there that I hadn't had a chance to learn in jr. high b/c I wasn't in the states. Here's the biggest thing that I learned: Every day, I'd be standing in the lunch line, waiting for my turn to buy lunch. Every day, while I was standing there the black kids in front of me would let their black friends (and wanna-be black white friends) cut in line to join them... making me wait longer b/c they were all cutting in line. I rarely saw black kids wait in line properly by joining the back, and I rarely saw white kids cutting in line, other than the wanna-be's.

What did I learn? The black people have no respect for others or the rules (albiet unspoken) that you wait in line like everyone else. Is it a hard-and-fast rule that applies to every black? Certainly not. Was it a major trend in my high school? Yes.

Now, who were the exceptions? The exceptions were the \"wanna-be\" white kids that dressed up like thugs, and tried to assimilate the \"inner-city black thug\" cultural aura, and the scholarly black kids that dressed more preppy and cared more about studying than their sports team. The scholarly black kids also happened to fit in better with the scholarly white kids than the ones of their own race.

What's my point?

It's more about culture, and the way we choose to act, dress, and carry ourselves than it is about race. If I see a \"thugishly\" dressed person, white, black, latino, or otherwise, I automatically become more wary and kinda try to avoid them. If I see a person in a sharp business suit, white, black, latino, or otherwise, I automatically look at the person with a certain amount of respect, assuming them to be successful business people.

Likewise, when I hear someone speaking \"ghetto-speak\"... not enunciating, not forming proper sentences, and using lots of slang terms, I automatically lose a lot of respect for them. When I hear someone being eloquent & using proper english, I gain respect for them.

So why does it end up being a \"race\" issue? Because we choose to live different cultures, and because we tend to make those cultural choices based on what other people of our race are doing. As a result, you end up with a large portion of black people in America speaking, acting, and dressing like thugs... so people learn to associate black skin color with thugs. Likewise, we have a large portion of white people speaking, dressing, and acting like preps, and as a result we associate \"preppy\" behavior with white skin color.

Now, how do I apply this to this specific situation? Well, if I'm dealing with someone who is polite, cooperative, and understanding I'll investigate until I'm satisfied (subjectively, that probably would be beyond simply getting ID... I'd need at least a good, believable story as to why the guy had to break into his own house.) that nothing is amiss and the guy just locked himself out. The more the story doesn't make sense, the person gets agitated, or is uncooperative, the more I'm going to dig. As a cop, if you want me to leave you alone, don't give me any reason to be suspicious. I don't blame the guy.

That's my 2c. I probably have more, but I don't have it all developed up there yet.

Obama the community agitator in chief

Obama the community agitator in chief

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