a factual description is 'racial profiling'?
Fortune Favours the Klebold
Cops arrested Harvard professor as he tried to get into his locked home
BOSTON - Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking
into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives
there â€" Henry Louis Gates Jr., the pre-eminent African-American
studies scholar.
Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed,
his lawyer said. Colleagues call the arrest last Thursday afternoon a
clear case of racial profiling.
Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story
home 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."
By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he
refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was
investigating a report of a break-in.
"Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Gates said, according to a
police report.
Gates â€" the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for
African and African American Research â€" initially refused to show
the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University
ID card, according to police.
"Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued
to tell me that I had not heard the last of him," the officer wrote.
'Loud and tumultuous behavior'
Gates joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious
"university professors" positions at the school. He also was host of
"African American Lives," a Public Broadcasting Service TV show about
the family histories of prominent U.S. blacks, and was named by Time
magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997.
He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he
"exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." He was released later that day
on his own recognizance. An arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.
Police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.
Gates, 58, also refused to speak publicly Monday, referring calls to his
attorney, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree.
Ogletree said Gates gave the officer his driver's license and Harvard
identification, but became upset when the officer continued to question
him.
"He was shocked to find himself being questioned and shocked that the
conversation continued after he showed his identification," Ogletree
said.
Ogletree declined to say whether he believed the incident was racially
motivated, saying "I think the incident speaks for itself."
Racial profiling?
Some of Gates' African-American colleagues say the arrest is part of a
pattern of racial profiling in Cambridge.
Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years, said
he was stopped on campus by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after
being mistaken for a robbery suspect. They threatened to arrest him when
he could not produce identification.
"We do not believe that this arrest would have happened if professor
Gates was white," Counter said. "It really has been very unsettling for
African-Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge that this
happened."
Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust said he had spoken with Gates about
the incident.
"I was obviously very concerned when I learned on Thursday about the
incident," Faust said in a statement. "He and I spoke directly and I
have asked him to keep me apprised."
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent civil-rights activist, is vowing to
attend Gates' arraignment.
"This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power or at worst
the highest example of racial profiling I have seen," Sharpton said. "I
have heard of driving while black and even shopping while black but now
even going to your own home while black is a new low in police community
affairs."
'Emotionally devastated'
Ogletree said Gates had returned from a trip to China on Thursday with a
driver, when he found his front door jammed. He went through the back
door into the home â€" which he leases from Harvard â€" shut off
an alarm and worked with the driver to get the door open. The driver
left, and Gates was on the phone with the property's management company
when police first arrived.
Ogletree also disputed the claim that Gates, who was wearing slacks and
a polo shirt and carrying a cane, was yelling at the officer.
"He has an infection that has impacted his breathing since he came back
from China, so he's been in a very delicate physical state," Ogletree
said.
Lawrence D. Bobo, the W.E.B Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at
Harvard, said he met with Gates at the police station and described his
colleague as feeling humiliated and "emotionally devastated."
"It's just deeply disappointing but also a pointed reminder that there
are serious problems that we have to wrestle with," he said.
Bobo said he hoped Cambridge police would drop the charges and called on
the department to use the incident to review training and screening
procedures it has in place.
The Middlesex district attorney's office said it could not do so until
after Gates' arraignment. The woman who reported the apparent break-in
did not return a message Monday.
Jeff Hawkins
averts the entire situation
gryphon801
> "Here's my ID Officer, I live here"
>
> averts the entire situation
Apparently he did show his ID. The behavior of the officer[s] was
inappropriate, especially considering the standing of Dr. gates in the
community. As a one-time resident of Cambridge, I am not surprised.
Jeff Hawkins
>
> Apparently he did show his ID. The behavior of the officer[s] was
> inappropriate, especially considering the standing of Dr. gates in the
> community. As a one-time resident of Cambridge, I am not surprised.
Nonsense, he showed the ID only after the police showed they were
serious and he got into the "this is racist" garbage
There's not a report out there that says Gates complied on the first
time to show ID
Police said Gates was arrested after he yelled at an officer, accused
him of racial bias and refused to calm down after the officer demanded
that Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home.
U~N~I~F~A~R~V~A Genuine Shillbilly
gryphon801
Shillbilly) wrote:
> he is nailing himself up on the martyrs cross.
At least the charges have been withdrawn. Now we shall see what
happens. I still suspect that were Dr. Gates not black this would not
have happened.
Guy Namechanger
"gryphon801" <gryph...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:761d9af2-7dfa-4f30...@u16g2000pru.googlegroups.com...
both sides overreacted because they presumed to understand each other's
motives but got it wrong.