Harvard Professor Jailed; Officer Is Accused of Bias

[manifold]

Interesting story: Warning this NY Times article may contain traces of bias.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Colleagues of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s most prominent scholar of African-American history, are accusing the police here of racism after he was arrested at his home last week by an officer investigating a report of a robbery in progress.

Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home on Thursday from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, said Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing him.

He forced the door open with the help of his cab driver, Professor Ogletree said, and had been inside for a few minutes when Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department appeared at his door and asked him to step outside.

Professor Gates, 58, refused to do so, Professor Ogletree said. From that point, the account of the professor and the police began to differ.

According to his lawyer, Professor Gates told the sergeant that he lived there and showed his Massachusetts driver’s license and his Harvard identification card, but Sergeant Crowley still did not seem to believe that Professor Gates lived in the home, a few blocks from Harvard Square. At that point, his lawyer said, Professor Gates grew frustrated and asked for the officer’s name and badge number.

According to the police report, Professor Gates initially refused to show identification.

In the report, Sergeant Crowley said a white female caller had notified the police around 12:45 p.m. of seeing two black men on the porch of the home, at 17 Ware Street. The caller, who met the police at the house, was suspicious after seeing one of the men “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry,” according to the report.

A spokesman for the Police Department did not return a call seeking comment. But in the report, Sergeant Crowley said that as he told Professor Gates he was investigating a possible break-in, Professor Gates exclaimed, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” and accused the sergeant of racism.

“While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence,” Sergeant Crowley wrote in the report, “I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me.”

Professor Gates followed him outside, the report said, and yelled at him despite the sergeant’s warning “that he was becoming disorderly.” Sergeant Crowley then arrested and handcuffed him. Professor Gates was held at police headquarters for hours before being released on his recognizance.

“He is cooperating now with the city to resolve this matter as soon as possible,” Professor Ogletree said, adding that Professor Gates wanted the charges against him dismissed.

Professor Ogletree said that Professor Gates had “never touched” Sergeant Crowley, but did “express his frustration at being subjected to the threat of arrest in his own home.”

 

[manifold]

The more I read about this incident the more I think Gates was trying to get arrested. Nothing like a little street cred to boost enrollment in his African-American history course(s). What a douche.

 

[AllieBaba]

I think so too.

 

[Ravi]

If it were Texas the neighbors could have shot him dead without any real danger of being arrested.

 

[Coloradomtnman]

From the AP:

The Associated Press: Black scholar's arrest raises profiling questions

BOSTON — Supporters of a prominent Harvard University black scholar who was arrested at his own home by police responding to a report of a break-in say he is the victim of racial profiling.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. had forced his way through the front door of his home because it was jammed, his lawyer said Monday.

Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home near campus after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry."

Yep, racism is over in America, especially institutionalized racism. Time to get rid of Affirmative Action...

 

[PoliticalChic]

The more I read about this incident the more I think Gates was trying to get arrested. Nothing like a little street cred to boost enrollment in his African-American history course(s). What a douche.

Yes and yes.

Several points here.

1) Your perception may be right on. Seems like it could have been handled by the professor in a more subtle manner. But it is very possible that getting arrested is almost as good as getting an article published.

2) If you read the article in the Boston Globe, I didn't notice the reporting that the police state that he wouldn't identify himself. But if you read the article in the Seattle Times, :
" According to the police report, Gates initially refused to show identification." Education | Was arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. an act of racism? | Seattle Times Newspaper) (The NYTimes did include this as "He showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card,")

3) Also, it is entirely possible that the professor was simply having an 'Al Sharpton' moment, as he does not have a history, no pun intended, of shouting 'racism.' In fact, this professor was one of those who insists that it is not the total province of blacks to teach and research black history.

4) In summary, the racism aspect appears to be more the direction sought by the paper than the professor.

 

[manifold]

Don't forget that he was ultimately arrested for disorderly conduct. The officer was leaving. Yes, LEAVING. Gates followed him to his cruiser berating him and accusing him of racism. The officer warned him that he was becoming disorderly and that he would arrest him if he didn't calm down. He didn't, the officer followed through on his warning. All signs point to Gates wanting to be arrested.

 

[strollingbones]

o hold the fuck up..when is the last time a cop came to your house and ask you for id....well? i would not have been hostile as this but i would have refused to show my id in my own fucking home without a warrent...and i would have told the cop to get the fuck off my land...unless it was one of them i know...but i have a right to my damn privacy...if they got a warrent ....serve the fucker...if not..get the fuck out of my face and off my land.

 

[manifold]

o hold the fuck up..when is the last time a cop came to your house and ask you for id....well? i would not have been hostile as this but i would have refused to show my id in my own fucking home without a warrent...and i would have told the cop to get the fuck off my land...unless it was one of them i know...but i have a right to my damn privacy...if they got a warrent ....serve the fucker...if not..get the fuck out of my face and off my land.

So you don't believe in the concept of probable cause?

 

[strollingbones]

no...you come on my land you best have a fucking warrent..simple as that....if i follow you out to a public road..then the game changes...but on my land....i am the mistress...

 

[RetiredGySgt]

o hold the fuck up..when is the last time a cop came to your house and ask you for id....well? i would not have been hostile as this but i would have refused to show my id in my own fucking home without a warrent...and i would have told the cop to get the fuck off my land...unless it was one of them i know...but i have a right to my damn privacy...if they got a warrent ....serve the fucker...if not..get the fuck out of my face and off my land.

And as the situation is presented your refusal would lead to your arrest. Why? because the cop had no way to know you lived there unless you showed him ID. A Neighbor called it in when she saw 2 men obviously breaking in through the door.

Personally I would be glad my neighbor gave a fuck and called it in. And I would be appreciative that the cops came out to investigate a possible break in at my home.

 

[Shogun]

indeed. because it's a rarity to bust a black man breaking into a house. Second comings of the messiah happens more often.


i've read Gates's memoir "Colored People". It's a good read. I recommend it.




but, that doesn't belay that officers seeing anyone appear to break into a house should just drive away on the offchance that it's a professor thather than a burglar.

 

[strollingbones]

no one can see my house...and i first thought is not calling the cops...if we thought someone was forcing their way into a home....we would go there first....we know our neighbors....seems these people didnt know their own neighbors.....things are different in the city....i still would not show id...i have lived in the same house for 28 years...police have been here one time.

 

[strollingbones]

they were called by the neighbors fighting now on manie's thread on this

 

[Againsheila]

o hold the fuck up..when is the last time a cop came to your house and ask you for id....well? i would not have been hostile as this but i would have refused to show my id in my own fucking home without a warrent...and i would have told the cop to get the fuck off my land...unless it was one of them i know...but i have a right to my damn privacy...if they got a warrent ....serve the fucker...if not..get the fuck out of my face and off my land.

Several years ago, a young lady was murdered at our local highschool. We had a car that was the type that was reported as leaving the scene. The cops showed up an our door. I showed them my driver's license, and anything else they asked for. I wanted that murderer caught probably more than they did.

You have a right to your privacy, but if someone says they saw you break into your own home, the cops have a right to investigate and make sure you are who you say you are.

The wonder here is that the first article I read said it was a "neighbor" that reported the break in. Why doesn't the professor get out and meet his neighbors so that this doesn't happen? Or perhaps, he just doesn't associate with whites?

 

[William Joyce]

Yep, racism is over in America, especially institutionalized racism. Time to get rid of Affirmative Action...

Wouldn't a black professor at Harvard and a white working-class cop making barely enough to survive...

BE affirmative action incarnate?

 

[AkronGuy]

Sounds like another bs cry of racism.

 

[manifold]

they were called by the neighbors fighting now on manie's thread on this

 

[Ravi]

o hold the fuck up..when is the last time a cop came to your house and ask you for id....well? i would not have been hostile as this but i would have refused to show my id in my own fucking home without a warrent...and i would have told the cop to get the fuck off my land...unless it was one of them i know...but i have a right to my damn privacy...if they got a warrent ....serve the fucker...if not..get the fuck out of my face and off my land.

I would have been pretty angry if this happened to me as well. But then again, I'm not black so I guess I'd have a right to be angry.

It's kind of weird that neighbors don't recognize each other.

 

[Neser Boha]

Let's not forget he was just returning from a long-as-fuck trip from China and had a hard time opening his apartment door... and then a dick of a cop shows up and asks him to prove that he really lives there... Another issue was that according to the Professor, the cop refused to identify himself... I know how dickish cops can be, I myself had a bit of an argument with one about his attitude towards me...

So let's not all just take the cop's side... hm?