Don't Crowley me bro!

[Deck Knight]

OK, at first I thought this story about a Harvard Professor breaking into his own house (on the Harvard campus) and then getting arrested for disorderly conduct after berating the Cambridge Police Department was just going to fade away and die. It was fairly amusing at the time but after the charges were dropped I assumed it would go away.

I forgot this was Harvard, capital of The People's Republic of Cambridge.

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.

Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' [DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? -Ed.] the report said.

Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because "I'm a black man in America.''

No sooner than you can spot stink on shit does Al Sharpton appear.

The Rev. Al Sharpton is taking up the banner of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., accusing Cambridge cops of racism for arresting Gates, and vowing to stand by his side at an arraignment next month.

“I’ve heard of driving while black, and I’ve heard of shopping while black. But I’ve never heard of living in a home while black,” said Sharpton, a New York minister who has made a national name for himself by seizing on cases of alleged racism.

Story continues, with relevant details:

A witness, 40-year-old Lucia Whalen of Malden, had alerted the cops that a man was “wedging his shoulder into the front door” at Gates’ house “as to pry the door open,” police reported.

A law enforcement source said Gates apparently had locked himself out. When Sgt. James Crowley arrived, he said Gates already was inside. But when he was asked to provide identification, Gates allegedly snapped, “No, I will not!”

Police said Gates’ front-porch tirade about racism “alarmed” passers-by drawn to the uproar outside his Cambridge home.

As Crowley tried to question him, police said Gates bellowed, “This is what happens to black men in America!”

Crowley claimed in his report he tried to calm Gates, but wrote that Gates “shouted, ‘You don’t know who your (sic) messing with!”

After calling Crowley “a racist,” according to police reports, the professor was charged with disorderly conduct and released for a $40 fee. Gates is scheduled to be arraigned on a single charge of disorderly conduct Aug. 26 at Cambridge District Court in Medford. The maximum penalty Gates faces if convicted is a $150 fine.

Repeated efforts to reach Gates and his lawyer for comment were unsuccessful. Cambridge police declined to respond to the allegations of racism.

So to summarize:

1. Woman sees two men break into Gates' housing, not realizing it was Gates and his driver, calls Cambridge police.

2. Cambridge Police show up, investigate, and ask for ID.

3. Gates pulls a classic "Do you know who I am?" and then reluctantly shows his ID, then goes on to berate the officer (or continues as the case may be).

4. Officer gets fed up with the threatening demeanor, bad attitude, and verbal abuse and arrests him for disorderly conduct. Gates gets let go the same day with a nominal fine and a slap on the wrist, charges are later dropped.

For a Yale-Educated Harvard Professor, he certainly seems unable to understand the concept that the police are doing their job, deal with plenty of cons breaking into homes claiming to be the owners, and more generally, insulting an officer is a stupid thing to do. A Princeton man wouldn't have made this mistake.

One last note on Gates' silliness as reported in this followup:

“Because of the capricious whim of one disturbed person . . . I am now a black man with a prison record,” Gates said. “You can look at my mug shot on the Internet.”

The criminal charges were dropped, therefore Gates has no criminal "record" to speak of, unless "arrested for disorderly conduct and charges dropped" consists of a litany of malevolence.

This story isn't over, Gates could still sue or find some other way to keep this story from blowing over, thus continuing his 15 minutes. He's already made a good go of it accusing Sgt. Crowley of incompetence, malevolence, and racism.

Note: The post title was based on boston.com audio The New Republic claimed was up wherin Gates supposedly uses "Crowleyed", a verb construct meaning "to Crowley" (compare: Borked or "to Bork" for the viciously attacked supreme court nominee of the same name). Boston.com does not make it easy to find audio, and may have edited it out of the one I heard (they control for clarity and content).

 

[Carl]

Going by your summary, 1) and 2) are fine. 3) is where you (Gates) just show your ID, tell the police that you live there as it says on the ID, explain that you locked yourself out and then keep your mouth shut. 4) is the judgement of the officer. If Gates was really making a scene then it's his own fault for even putting himself in a situation where it could be interpreted as disorderly conduct.

I dunno, do we even need a thread about this?

 

[Deck Knight]

Essentially it's a local news story about blowing everything out of proportion on the basis of your own animus.

Then having every hack from every corner of the universe rush to your defense and make it a national incident. Literally.

This story would never have escaped Cambridge if it weren't the kind of story hustlers like Al Sharpton latch onto in order to remain relevant.

So why does anyone focus attention on this crap. It makes a statement about how low the bar for "national news" is set.

 

[Firestorm]

This type of bullshit wordplay goes both ways. Caucasians do not get a label. Minorities do.

"Man arrested trying to break into his own home"
"Black man arrested trying to break into his own home"
"Muslim man arrested trying to break into own home"

"Man arrested robbing bank"
"Black man arrested robbing bank"
"Muslim man arrested robbing bank"

Yay journalism.

 

[Thorns]

Yes, let's waste money reporting a story that no one except the racists care about. Honestly, watching paint dry would be more profitable and exciting.

 

[Yaoman]

Apparently some people care, they just asked obama about it at his press conference

 

[Force Majeure]

I don't think this matters at all. Just another "let's troll Al Sharpton" type of deal.

If the guy was being a douche to the cops, he had it coming. Pulling the "do you know who I am?" thing rarely works.

 

[JabbaTheGriffin]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_harvard_scholar

obama has spoken and so it has been decided

 

[DM]

Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn't know all the facts of the case.

I stopped reading the article immediately. This is one of the most sickening stories I've ever had the displeasure to know about... when it first happened I talked about it in #smogon with Jump, and I was pretty upset about what had happened as well. But once more facts started to pour out I'm INCREDIBLY upset about this whole media shitstorm.

1. Man gets reasonably questioned by police.
2. Man flips out and berates and taunts the policeman, even going so far as to FOLLOW him still screaming and complaining.
3. After ignoring two warnings, man is arrested for his conduct.

Someone explain to me where racism fits into this equation. If you noticed, I left out the word "black" before "man" and the outcome of this story still feels pretty fucking good to me.

 

[Glen]

agreeing with deck knight on this one. it's absolutely absurd. i will agree that racism is a huge issue, especially in regards to altercations with police, but this isn't an example of racism. crying wolf like this does nothing but make it more difficult to conquer actual racism in our society.

 

[Wishy]

It's funny, people try to end racism and find global equality yet if the moment arises they will use their minority status to their advantage. Because if a black man is arrested, we all know the whole world is full of racist assholes. If you don't want racism, stop flipping every situation involving a colored and a white man into 'racism'.

Coming from a ivy league professor is pretty embarrassing, and for Obama to back him up? Oh brother.

 

[Polis4rule]

For a Yale-Educated Harvard Professor, he certainly seems unable to understand the concept that the police are doing their job, deal with plenty of cons breaking into homes claiming to be the owners, and more generally, insulting an officer is a stupid thing to do. A Princeton man wouldn't have made this mistake.

While whole-heartedly agreeing with pretty much everyone in this thread, I personally found this tidbit of DK's writing particularly amusing

 

[Mentlegen]

Yes, let's waste money reporting a story that no one except the racists care about. Honestly, watching paint dry would be more profitable and exciting.

Actually, watching paint dry would be less profitable. And the whole situation is stupid. He should have just complied with the officer and been quiet, he wasn't doing anything wrong, so it's not like he could have gone to jail. Seriously =/

 

[Slice]

This is called marketing and business.

Bring news out to those that love gossip and crazy stories.
Although pointless, they help some people pass time.

 

[Lexite]

Yeah this is just stupid. Race has absolutely nothing to do with this at all. This man is promoting his own racism. If this happened to a white man we wouldnt hear anything about it because there is nothing significant about it. He badgered the police, Im sorry but that is all there is too it. In your own home or not, you do not threaten the police.

 

[cyberzero]

This does seem racist, but as Polis mentioned, it does seem like just an advantage that minority groups can use in times of need.

Anyone watch Harold and Kumar 2? For those who haven't, there is a scene where Kumar wants to go on an airplane, but when he is about to be scanned, he pleads racist and can go by free. Of course, he gets through. This story is similar but they're both complete bull, because the disorderly conduct Gates displayed is definitely a reasonable reason for an arrest. Using the minority group advantage to get away with it is hitting below the belt, but a "high respected" man such as this will get away with such things. Talk about class, huh?

 

[Bran]

It's been all over the news for the last couple days, and it is so irritating, because this is more like a local story than a national one. But thanks to the facts that it was a Harvard professor and Obama spoke about it in his healthcare press conference and didn't deflect the report's question about it before all the facts came in, it will be in the news for the next several weeks. Swell...........

 

[Sand Man]

it's amazing how eager people are to believe white american police when they talk about having to take action against a black guy for acting uppity

 

[The Plant]

I don't give Gates the respect I would give a professor of a real subject. The man heads an institute dedicated to keeping up the fight against the white opressors. I don't find it suprising that all he wants to do is cause trouble.

 

[Luduan]

I don't give Gates the respect I would give a professor of a real subject. The man heads an institute dedicated to keeping up the fight against the white opressors. I don't find it suprising that all he wants to do is cause trouble.

Right, because African Americans are less worthy of study than other ethnic groups, and therefore all professors of African American Studies are actually antiwhite racists. (Incidentally, Gates is Professor of English literature, which leads me to wonder how this is relevant to his heading the WEB Dubois Institute, and why it isn't a 'real subject'.) Thanks to you, their nefarious black nationalist machinations have now come to light. I am sure other Africana scholars will eagerly switch to a 'real subject' after being subjected to this devastating critique.

 

[akuchi]

Right, because African Americans are less worthy of study than other ethnic groups, and therefore all professors of African American Studies are actually antiwhite racists. Thanks to you, their nefarious black nationalist machinations have now come to light. I am sure other Africana scholars will eagerly switch to a 'real subject' after being subjected to this devastating critique.

It's much the same as me seeking to return society to Hellenistic ideals by studying Classical Civilisation, right? Electricity. Who needs it..

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Reverend Al Sharpton can go fuck himself. He's commits a crime that I like to call "reverse racism," which is also known as blatant racism against white people or behavior that favors races other than white people. Here in Indy we have a festival called "black expo." I get the feeling that if I held one called white expo, it would be shut the fuck down and I would be labeled a racist by Revered Al Sharpton. The Black Coaches Association also seems fairly racist to me. Every time that a black coach gets fired or quits they bitch about it and try to get a new black coach hired. Plus, laws that force you to hire a certain amount of minorities don't include white people. Isn't that racist? Right now the lawn industry is being dominated by Mexicans, but if they were hiring white people instead it would be illegal. College also comes to mind, but I'm sure you get my point.

Civil Rights have been taken to a new level where politicians try to look the least racist by promoting racism with laws that favor minorities. Frankly, it's BULLSHIT.

(by reverse racism, I mean the opposite of what is typically considered racism, DK)

 

[Wishy]

Reverend Al Sharpton can go fuck himself. He's commits a crime that I like to call "reverse racism," which is also known as blatant racism against white people or behavior that favors races other than white people. Here in Indy we have a festival called "black expo." I get the feeling that if I held one called white expo, it would be shut the fuck down and I would be labeled a racist by Revered Al Sharpton. The Black Coaches Association also seems fairly racist to me. Every time that a black coach gets fired or quits they bitch about it and try to get a new black coach hired. Plus, laws that force you to hire a certain amount of minorities don't include white people. Isn't that racist? Right now the lawn industry is being dominated by Mexicans, but if they were hiring white people instead it would be illegal. College also comes to mind, but I'm sure you get my point.

Civil Rights have been taken to a new level where politicians try to look the least racist by promoting racism with laws that favor minorities. Frankly, it's BULLSHIT.

Because white is the majority. The reason there are black-culture festivals, hispanic-pride festivals, etc., is because they are celebrating the few achievements their people have done. I'm not trying to say this in a bad way, but there are soooo many famous white people it's nice to celebrate the minorities too so they are given special time to do that. We don't get our own 'white festival' because everyday is basically 'white festival day'.

 

[Deck Knight]

There is no such thing as "reverse racism."

Racial preferences are racial preferences regardless of which particular race they favor or impede. Just call it what it is lit, racism proper.

Just the same as there isn't "reverse sexism" for whenever a woman engages in misandry. Sexism is actually more ironic given that in most of the places it is given any attention (ie women are not inherently inferior or private property like in China or the Middle East), women are the majority of the population. However, they tend to be too busy backbiting each other to get anything done, and are usually subservient to some other cause before the sisterhood. Usually it involves being a physical extension of a white male democrat politician's trousers, with predictable impact on credibility.

I hate collectivism based on immutable (or supposedly immutable) characteristics to begin with. I have absolutely no legitimate claim to the greatness of the Founding Father's, Plato, Gallileo, or Albert Einstein just because I was born with a comparable skin pigmentation.

If people want to celebrate achievements by racial or cultural proxy, fine by me. It's ultimately a productive economic activity.

I think the greatest unintended consequence, at least on the national scale, is that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly" is going to be on Obama's epitaph, just like "I am not a crook," "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," and "Read my lips. No new taxes." Never mind it sets up its own attack ad campaign in the formula "President Obama did x, President Obama acted stupidly."

 

[Carl]

I think the greatest unintended consequence, at least on the national scale, is that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly" is going to be on Obama's epitaph, just like "I am not a crook," "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," and "Read my lips. No new taxes." Never mind it sets up its own attack ad campaign in the formula "President Obama did x, President Obama acted stupidly."

I never even thought of that but I think it's very possible unless he says something even more outlandish/absurd/whatever. Obama still has at least three more years to top it after all.