Professor Gates vs. Officer Crowley

[nibhaz]

From the AP:

"A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.

Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."

Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley "100 percent.""


Take it for whats its worth.

 

[Rickster71]

The "brilliant Harvard scholar" and the "honest hardworking officer of the law" could have been and probably were two completely different people standing there, and only they know what really happened. Anyone else just offers their own biased opinions and baseless conjecture.

What do I think? I think we're paying entirely too much attention to the whole situation.

If common folk such as us are paying too much attention, me thinks The POTUS is off the charts with his comments based on opinions and baseless conjecture. I'll bet Obama threatened to take back TARP monies if the charges weren't dropped. But that just me...

 

[Rickster71]

I encourage any inclined to do a little research on this guy Gates.
Race is his bread and butter.
He's nothing but, Al Sharpton with a diet and a diploma.

 

[Nemo128]

If common folk such as us are paying too much attention, me thinks The POTUS is off the charts with his comments based on opinions and baseless conjecture. I'll bet Obama threatened to take back TARP monies if the charges weren't dropped. But that just me...

First, thanks for the baseless conjecture.

Second, POTUS shouldn't have opened his fool mouth, period. He didn't have all the facts either and he never will. No one ever will.

But thanks for fueling the debate, just like he did and everyone is doing, based on nothing. It's very productive.

 

[Adam]

Maybe I'm the only one, but I now have the hankering for some bread and butter.

As it so happens, I have both in the kitchen.

 

[highfigh]

I'm tired of everybody playing victim. Grow a pair. I understand racial profiling happens, but he didn't have to say anything. He could have and should have used his constitutional right to remain silent. He's a harvard professor, but lacked judgement int his situation. If he weren't a professor he probably would have been given far worse.

I understand and support Obama to a point. He's wanting to help with the race issues in this nation. It's very clear that the whitehouse has divided this nation between blacks and progressive thinkers and those whites that even McCain supporters can't stand. I'm deeply concerned about the treatment of minorities in our country. And despite this incident they are still treated like second class citizens in many places.

The underlying problems in race relations are still there and at least locally, I see no leaders in the minority communities who have even 1/10 the character of the ones in the '60s. The main organization that was charged with helping people in the inner city move ahead was shut down after all of the corruption was revealed. Apparently, they thought that having parties, giving each other gifts and paying for the County Board President's landscaping were more important. BTW- the people running this defunct organization are all Black.

I'm actually more concerned with what minorities are doing to each other. They're wiping out each other. I probably feel safer going into a bad neighborhood than someone who's Black, but doesn't live there. We have very little violent crime in Milwaukee concerning Black on White people.

 

[Rickster71]

First, thanks for the baseless conjecture.

Second, POTUS shouldn't have opened his fool mouth, period. He didn't have all the facts either and he never will. No one ever will.

But thanks for fueling the debate, just like he did and everyone is doing, based on nothing. It's very productive.

That's my point; when a nobody like me speculates, (no one cares, and of course they shouldn't)
When The POTUS uses baseless conjecture, and fuels the debate, it's certainly very telling.

 

[Sheep]

That's my point; when a nobody like me speculates, (no one cares, and of course they shouldn't)
When The POTUS uses baseless conjecture, and fuels the debate, it's certainly very telling.

Debate is fueled by people with no self control. Want the debate to stop? Be quiet. Stop over analyzing every aspect of what you see. Leave well enough alone. What you do here, is going to make no difference.

SheepStar

 

[majorloser]

But I don't want the debate to stop. So I'll just keep adding fuel.

I come from a family full of cops; father, uncle, grandfather, great-great grandfather. Obviously I broke the chain (I'd shoot first). But I can just imagine how this same event would have gone down in their day.

 

[markw]

As long as we're pondering alternative possibilities...

But I don't want the debate to stop. So I'll just keep adding fuel.

I come from a family full of cops; father, uncle, grandfather, great-great grandfather. Obviously I broke the chain (I'd shoot first). But I can just imagine how this same event would have gone down in their day.

I wonder what the good professor's actions would have been had a back officer arrived first and had the same tasks to perform.

Somehow, think it would have been somewhat different.

 

[highfigh]

But I don't want the debate to stop. So I'll just keep adding fuel.

I come from a family full of cops; father, uncle, grandfather, great-great grandfather. Obviously I broke the chain (I'd shoot first). But I can just imagine how this same event would have gone down in their day.

Google Ernest Lacy if you want to see how Milwaukee used to do things. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925014-2,00.html

 

[markw]

Google Ernest Lacy if you want to see how Milwaukee used to do things. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925014-2,00.html

1981? Don't you think it's possible that things have changed a bit since then?

As long as we're going crazy off topic, here's a more recent occurance here. In fact, it happened earlier the same day that professor Gates had his incident.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6917952

Coincidence? We'll never know.

 

[highfigh]

1981? Don't you think it's possible that things have changed a bit since then?

As long as we're going crazy off topic, here's a more recent occurance here. In fact, it happened earlier the same day that professor Gates had his incident.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6917952

Coincidence? We'll never know.

Things have changed a lot here. First, Harold Breier retired, then we had a change in that job so it's not a lifetime position, then we got his chief of staff as chief, then we got the last mayor's bodyguard as chief (Black, generally pissed off and belligerent) and he pissed off so many officers that in the time he was chief (not long), 56% either quit or retired. Then, we had Phillip Arreola for a while and he basically did some nice PR work, using the position here as a stepping stone to get the same job in Detroit. Our last chief was Nanette Haggerty, who was the assistant chief before being named chief. She was basically useless. Now, we have Edward Flynn, supposedly a tough cop from Boston, but he's not so tough that he couldn't bang the reporter who wrote a glowing series of articles about him. He's more or less taking credit for the drop in murders last year, but it's more from the Black community getting sick of the killing.

The social experiments didn't work and we need someone who just knows how to get the job done, regardless of race or gender. We still have the occasional excessive force rap, some people still think they should treat minorities with hugs, rather than force (even when the cops are being targeted by shooters and people trying to run them down). We had an incident where a guy was pulled over and when he turned around, he shot both cops in the face, then rode away on his bicycle. We have lots of cases where someone holds up one or more people and when they run away, the dirtbag starts blasting. Some die, some don't. It's always in a certain area and nothing changes there.

The longer I live here, the less reason I have for staying.

 

[suemay]

they are going to sit down and have a beer with the President.

 

[vizionut]

fyi... professor gates is from wv!! i found that out the other day

 

[rnatalli]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/27/gates.arrest/index.html

The tapes are out. What the caller indicated and what Crowley said in his report don't vibe. The plot thickens.

 

[markw]

Why would she need an attorney if she's on the up and up? It's not like there are any charges pending for her, is there?

But, this kind of he said/she said stuff makes me believe that police should always have a tape recorder on the job at all times when dealing with the public, or anyone for that matter.

 

[rnatalli]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/cambridge_polic_4.html

Some more info...

 

[markw]

Remember, the officer on the beat doesn't get to hear the 911 call.

Were the suitcases on the porch when the police arrived?

Did she share her concerns that it "might not" be a break-in with the officer on the scene?

I tend to think that she's changing her story to cover her ***.

Aso, it it interesting that, as she says she was just driving by, that she stuck it out for the entire show.

 

[gmichael]

I'm no big fan of the police. I've had my own problems with them and their attitudes. But if I had locked myself out of my own home, and a policeman came by and asked me for ID, I'd sure as h.ll show it to him. Then I'd thank him for keeping my home safe. Duh.....