Obama Stirs Racial Passions In Harvard Case

[eagle_eye222001]

[url="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56M5NM20090723"]http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56M5NM20090723[/url]

BOSTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plunged his presidency into a charged racial debate and set off a firestorm in one of America's most liberal bastions by siding with a black Harvard scholar who accuses police of racism.

Saying he was unaware of "all the facts" but that police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "acted stupidly" in their arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Obama whipped up emotions on both sides of an issue that threatens to open old wounds in Massachusetts.

His comments marked his biggest foray into the hot-button issue of race since taking office in January, and underline how racial issues remain very much alive even despite advances embodied by his election as the first black U.S. president.

"Unfortunately the racial divide is still there. It's still very raw. I think he was trying to let the majority of non-minority Americans have a sense of what it is like to a black or Latino," said Boston University professor of politics Thomas Whalen.

But many in Massachusetts said he crossed a line by passing judgment on police while acknowledging he did not have all the facts. Online polls in Massachusetts show strong support for the white arresting officer. A police union also has come to his defense.

"He should steer clear of it if he doesn't know all the facts," said Patricia Lynch, 49, a consultant and graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, as she emerged from a Boston cafe. "For any specific case, you have to go only by the facts of that particular case."

Gates, 58, director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African & African American Research, is a potent cultural force, listed as one of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Americans" in 1997. He is a friend of Obama and other black celebrities such as television talk-show star Oprah Winfrey.

"I don't know -- not having been there and not seeing all the facts -- what role race played in that, but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said when asked about the case. "Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home."

The arrest prompted a moment of national soul-searching, but the facts of the case are far from clear. Gates says the incident underlines the persistence of stereotyping, or racial profiling, even in one of the most liberal U.S. cities.

Police say Gates was arrested last Thursday for disorderly conduct, accusing him of being uncooperative, refusing to initially provide identification and "exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior" by repeatedly shouting at a policeman in front of people gathered on the street in front of his house.

'DEAD WRONG'

The incident began when a woman caller reported a man trying to force open the door of a home. Gates said he was unable to enter his damaged front door after returning from a week in China. Sgt. James Crowley arrived to investigate.

The charge was dropped Tuesday but Gates is demanding an apology from Crowley and has threatened to sue the police. Crowley has refused to apologize, saying he did nothing wrong.

"He is the president of the United States. I support the president to a point. I think it's disappointing that he waded into what should be a local issue," Crowley told WEEI radio.

A lawyer for the Cambridge Superior Officers Association, a union, told ABC News that Obama was "dead wrong to malign this police officer specifically and the department in general."

Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the president was not calling the police officer stupid. "He was denoting that at a certain point the situation got out of hand and I think all sides understand that," he told reporters.

Still, the comments infuriated some local Obama supporters. A story on Obama's speech on The Boston Globe's website sparked nearly 670 comments by midday, many critical of Obama.

"I may have voted for him, but I'm really disappointed he's decided to inject himself into the middle of this BEFORE getting both sides of the story. And to do so by making such an outrageous accusation against the police," wrote one reader in a comment ranked most recommended by fellow Globe readers.

Some questioned whether the issue will mark a setback for a state where only 35 years ago black school children were pelted with rocks and bottles as they were bused into Boston's white neighborhoods in court-ordered school desegregation.

Many felt such issues were finally put to rest when Democrat Deval Patrick made history in a 2006 election by becoming Massachusetts' first black governor and the second black ever elected to the job in the United States.

Patrick has said he was "very upset" about the arrest.

(Additional reporting by Ross Colvin and Erin Kutz)

[Resurrexi]

Harvard has been making the news a lot lately.

[BG45]

Since the President doesn't feel the need to hear both sides, the official police report:
[url="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html"]http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years...3092gates1.html[/url]

Because, you know, refusing to ID yourself to an officer (who happens to be an expert in racial profiling) after breaking into your own home, when the officer tells you he's responding to a neighbor's call about the home being broken into...is a tad not good in the idea department. Doubly so when you start screaming at the officer that he's doing it because you're black.

To be devil's advocate, I know and trust a number of black friends who have been racially profiled. I was behind one once by a bit because I was going the speed limit and he (and everyone else) were speeding. He was the only one pulled over for speeding, and he definitely wasn't going near as fast as a lot of white guys.

Edit: [url="http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/07/23/bill-cosby-shocked-at-obamas-statement-on-harvard-profs-arrest/"]http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/200...d-profs-arrest/[/url]

From Bill Cosby:
[quote]“I’ve heard about five different reports [on the details of the arrest],” Cosby said on Boston’s WZLX. “If I’m the president of the United States, I don’t care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I’m keeping my mouth shut.”[/quote]

Edited July 23, 2009 by BG45

[tinytherese]

If Obama didn't know all of the details then why did he go out of his way to comment?

[jeffpugh]

He's trying to play the hero.

[Winchester]

[quote name='BG45' post='1929779' date='Jul 23 2009, 05:39 PM']To be devil's advocate, I know and trust a number of black friends who have been racially profiled. I was behind one once by a bit because I was going the speed limit and he (and everyone else) were speeding. He was the only one pulled over for speeding, and he definitely wasn't going near as fast as a lot of white guys.[/quote]
I'm impressed that you assessed how many other drivers were white. Newsflash--when the cop makes the decision to nail a speeder, they're usually far enough out that race isn't marked. You're making an assumption based on very little information and zero experience. Maybe your buddy wavered in his lane, maybe he was following someone too closely. Or maybe, just maybe, he was unlucky.

I've been picked out of groups of like speeders. I guess they were profiling white people that day.

[BG45]

[quote name='Winchester' post='1929798' date='Jul 23 2009, 06:06 PM']I'm impressed that you assessed how many other drivers were white. Newsflash--when the cop makes the decision to nail a speeder, they're usually far enough out that race isn't marked. You're making an assumption based on very little information and zero experience. Maybe your buddy wavered in his lane, maybe he was following someone too closely. Or maybe, just maybe, he was unlucky.

I've been picked out of groups of like speeders. I guess they were profiling white people that day.[/quote]

Hardly white profiling I would imagine, but funny as you yourself make assumptions there. I live in an area where being a minority is truly a minority. I went to the equivalent of an inner city school for my area, we had less than 30 black students and people would always be amazed from other schools and towns how many that was. To pick out what is statistically going to be most likely the only black man( by accident) out of a highway stretching across four lanes on each side of the median is very improbable.

Maybe he did waver in his lane, maybe he did follow someone too closely, or most likely, yes, he was unlucky. However, your assumptions about everything from race relations to people's driving skills in the area where I live and my amount of experience is saddening to me that you would make such gross generalizations and personal attacks.

[jmjtina]

Obama just wants to make other headlines so we won't focus on his socialist health care plan.

[iheartjp2]

[quote name='jmjtina' post='1930470' date='Jul 24 2009, 06:16 AM']Obama just wants to make other headlines so we won't focus on his socialist health care plan.[/quote]

[saintwannabe 777]

[quote name='BG45' post='1929779' date='Jul 23 2009, 06:39 PM']Since the President doesn't feel the need to hear both sides, the official police report:
[url="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html"]http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years...3092gates1.html[/url]

Because, you know, refusing to ID yourself to an officer (who happens to be an expert in racial profiling) after breaking into your own home, when the officer tells you he's responding to a neighbor's call about the home being broken into...is a tad not good in the idea department. Doubly so when you start screaming at the officer that he's doing it because you're black.

To be devil's advocate, I know and trust a number of black friends who have been racially profiled. I was behind one once by a bit because I was going the speed limit and he (and everyone else) were speeding. He was the only one pulled over for speeding, and he definitely wasn't going near as fast as a lot of white guys.

Edit: [url="http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/07/23/bill-cosby-shocked-at-obamas-statement-on-harvard-profs-arrest/"]http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/200...d-profs-arrest/[/url]

From Bill Cosby:[/quote]

Yeah, however, there were pictures of the professor right on the walls of the house.

[Winchester]

[quote name='BG45' post='1930141' date='Jul 23 2009, 10:53 PM']To pick out what is statistically going to be most likely the only black man( by accident) out of a highway stretching across four lanes on each side of the median is very improbable.[/quote]
But picking out a particular race amongst more than one lawbreaker is probable. Done much work on a highway from eye level, have you?
Improbability is what you base your accusation of profiling on. Your friend was speeding, he's not a victim.

[quote]Maybe he did waver in his lane, maybe he did follow someone too closely, or most likely, yes, he was unlucky. However, your assumptions about everything from race relations to people's driving skills in the area where I live and my amount of experience is saddening to me that you would make such gross generalizations and personal attacks.[/quote]
I didn't make assumptions, I provided alternatives and gave you more information about a subject that you judged outright, implying bad behavoir on the cop's part. Since you didn't include any biographical details about the cop, I can safely assume you knew little, if anything about him. I mentioned nothing about race relations in your area, nothing about his driving habits and your words spoke to your experience.
And there weren't personal attacks. There was an assessment that didn't involve an insult.
[quote]Newsflash--when the cop makes the decision to nail a speeder, they're usually far enough out that race isn't marked[/quote]
This isn't about race relations, it's about the reality of nailing speeders. What type of radar was the cop using? How fast was your friend going? Speeding on a highway. That's probably a speed limit of at least 55 unless it's in a town, so I'm supposed to believe that whilst monitoring speeds, the cop also picked out amongst a group of speeders the sole black driver.

[quote]I was behind one once by a bit because I was going the speed limit and he (and everyone else) were speeding. He was the only one pulled over for speeding, and he definitely wasn't going near as fast as a lot of white guys.[/quote]
When did the cop set up? Was he looking at his radar when the first group of white guys (let's just assume you can tell the race of speeding drivers from behind on the highway) passed? Was there a single cop? How many speeders was the cop equipped to pull over? You decided to cite an incident, why don't you defend it without whining?

[CatherineM]

Had a person tell me once at a speech that to white people, it never seems to be about race, but to colored people, it is always about race. Meaning that when an issue comes up like this, someone like me tends to say that the cop didn't care about the race of the professor, just that he was responding to a call about a break in. To the professor, all he can focus on is that if he hadn't have been black, the cop wouldn't have arrested him. These cases come up every so often where it is a black cop or politician or newspaper reporter who gets aggressive with the police who have pulled them over, stopped them, whatever, and it is because their first impulse is that it is only because of their race, it gets them disproportionately agitated, and the cops are reacting to that. The race issue almost becomes like a self fulfilling prophecy, and the cop can't figure out why everyone thinks it was racial motivated.

[Didacus]

Looks like the police is profiled just as much as the crooks these days.

[Dan]

Obviously, hopenchange got confused and thought it was Wm Ayers.

[Sojourner]

I don't know whether this particular case was racial profiling or not. Clearly police were right to respond to the situation, and Gates should actually count himself lucky to have neighbors who are proactive enough to watch out for each others' property. Unfortunately, he's not lucky enough to have neighbors who know him well enough to recognize him trying to get into his own house.

Police were right to ask him for his identification. The cop had no idea whether Gates was a burglar or the owner of the home, and a burglar caught red-handed might well claim that he was in his own home. Whether the situation went down as described in the police report is open to debate. I've known cops to suffer memory lapses when writing their reports, so the fact that there is an "official police report" is not convincing, in my mind.

Nevertheless, Obama picking sides on this and calling out the Cambridge cops is completely out of line, and I would even say it is an abuse of his office. At the very least it is completely irresponsible. Is he trying to ignite race riots in MA?

[quote name='saintwannabe 777' post='1930480' date='Jul 24 2009, 06:57 AM']Yeah, however, there were pictures of the professor right on the walls of the house.[/quote]
In my mind, this makes no difference. My guess is that the cop responding was not taking time to look around at pictures but was instead trying to deal with verifying the information on the identity of the man in the house.