I agree with this:
The conversation we ought to be having in response to the July 16 incident and its heated aftermath isn’t about race, it’s about police arrest powers, and the right to criticize armed agents of the government.
By any account of what happened—Gates’, Crowleys’, or some version in between—Gates should never have been arrested. “Contempt of cop,” as it’s sometimes called, isn’t a crime. Or at least it shouldn’t be. It may be impolite, but mouthing off to police is protected speech, all the more so if your anger and insults are related to a perceived violation of your rights. The “disorderly conduct” charge for which Gates was arrested was intended to prevent riots, not to prevent cops from enduring insults. Crowley is owed an apology for being portrayed as a racist, but he ought to be disciplined for making a wrongful arrest.
He won’t be, of course. And that’s ultimately the scandal that will endure long after the political furor dies down. The power to forcibly detain a citizen is an extraordinary one. It’s taken far too lightly, and is too often abused. And that abuse certainly occurs against black people, but not only against black people. American cops seem to have increasingly little tolerance for people who talk back, even merely to inquire about their rights.
Once Crowley knew Gates owned the house, he should have been on his merry way. But he wasn’t, was he? Instead, he arrested Gates for no real reason other than being a jerk, and then caused his department a whole mess of issues and had the charges promptly thrown out, as much of a rebuke as one can get for one’s policework. Someone might even say he “stupidly” arrested Gates.
Xenos
A quibble – it was Gate’s home not because he owned it, but because he held a leasehold. A factual distinction without legal consequence in this situation.
Common Sense
OT Cannibal Corpse’s lead singer loves WoW, but he’s no fucking gnome.
Sister Machine Gun of Mild Harmony
Absolutely. Police abuse of power is the story, here.
Richard Stanczak
There is a You Tube video called “Patient Cop” which deals with a state trooper issuing a speeding ticket to an irate motorist. I have seen this video on TV and am always haunted by the voice over, who at the end of the video, opines that most cops would have “kicked the crap outta the guy”, and that the motorist was fortunate to have run into this particular trooper.
Really? Is that the expectation of most Americans of their police officers?
DougJ
I’m not sure cops have “increasingly little tolerance for people who talk back”. I’m not sure how much they had before. And I don’t know how much they have now.
As far as I’m concerned, Crowley acted like an asshole, and as a bad cop, and he should be reprimanded.
But I’m not ready to say this is typical of cops. Sure, the cops groups are all standing by him, but that’s part of the cops ethos, to stand by their own. But I don’t know how many cops actually think this wasn’t bullshit.
The thing that does bother me is that there are actually people out there (not cops) who think an arrest like this is normal and okay.
Betsy
I think that the incident raised two issues that overlap so much they are frequently discussed as if they are a single problem.
1. Police authoritarianism.
2. Racial discrimination/oppression by law enforcement and the state more generally.
Both of these are huge problems. It makes sense that we frequently talk about them as if they are the same thing, because the authoritarianism of many police officers (or their departments) is directed hugely disproportionately at minorities. But even though it’s understandable that they’re talked about as the same thing, I think it’s useful to disentangle them.
So ultimately, I think both need to be talked about. But it is clearly true that the first issue has not been discussed nearly enough wrt this incident. I wrote a post about it this morning that may be of interest. (If this is inappropriate to link here, my apologies – I’m not totally sure what the etiquette is on this.)
Bulworth
Amen.
RSA
I agree almost entirely. We have way too many people saying, “Gates should have known better,” (which is probably true) without adding, “but we don’t want a country in which being an asshole is an arrestable offense.” I think this is more than an oversight–a lot of authoritarians seem to think that the arrest was justified both practically and theoretically. That’s crap.
The point of disagreement I have is that we can’t tell for certain whether it’s about race or not. Basically, we have a situation that by all accounts happens far more often to blacks than to whites, but that doesn’t mean every such situation has a racial component. Nevertheless the Gates situation should call our attention to the racial angle, because it’s a continuing injustice we shouldn’t just let pass.
Betsy
@DougJ:
I can’t say that’s it’s typical of “most cops.” But it is far, far too common, and it IS typical of a police culture that protects its own, even when “its own” have committed egregious crimes in the course of their jobs.
ETA: I also think it’s incredibly important to listen to what black men are saying about this. From President Obama to Ta-Nehisi Coates to the conservative cited here the other day whose name escapes me to my friends, every one of them seems to get that there is a dangerous history with the police and that a black man can never assume a cop is there to protect him. So I think saying “most cops aren’t like this” might miss the point a little.
ria forsyth
Crowle
As more information tricles out this will be seen for what it was. Police Power. Crowley (who has three or four brothers) who are all cops!!!!! why is that? the group think is frightening to me. Review that Cambridge Police Union President who took a swipe at the President of the United States demading an Apoligy from him. Holy jumping jackhammers the nerve at that “proud to be a third generation cop” guy. Do these guys ever want to be anything but “public servants”?
Sunday Dinner is like the “godfather” grab the cannoli’s. when will america wake up
Review the history its not difficut they don’t just profile, its all about the public”dole”. crowley”teaches” specal classes? how much extra pay to his “pension”?
Stooleo
If only Gates had shown Crowley his ‘real’ birth certificate, proving that he was a natural born citizen, then none of this would have happened.
kay
Crowley didn’t “call for back-up” because Gates was belligerent. He didn’t respond to his own radio, so SIX patrol cars arrived, which probably sent Gates into a frenzy, as it would anyone. I bet Gates was “surprised”. He must have been panicked.
“As the encounter between the two men escalated, the Cambridge police tried to reach Sergeant Crowley on his radio at least three times, but he did not respond, police officials said, revealing previously unreported details. Because of his worrisome silence, they said, six more police cars soon clogged the one-way street, surprising Professor Gates. By 12:51 p.m., he was in handcuffs, charged with disorderly conduct.
Xenos
@DougJ: The thing that does bother me is that there are actually people out there (not cops) who think an arrest like this is normal and okay.
Most people I know who take the side of the cop know he should not have arrested Gates, but they sympathize for him making an understandable error in judgment under a stressful situation. They do not sympathize for Gates because when they imagine the events happening to them they do not imagine having cause to start yelling at the cop.
It is not ill will, it is not racism, but just a cultural blind spot from the experience of never having to look down the barrel of state authority. Nice middle class white people, not having been pushed around by the fuzz, just don’t realize how demeaning and outrageous it can be.
Ajay
I agree. But watch the media in coming days once they release 911 call. Its going to portray Gates as the bad guy and Crowley as the victim. Gates is going to portrayed as a bad to dangerous black guy.
zmulls
People do sometimes talk back to cops.
That’s why police carry tasers.
h/t Digby
Jeezum Crow
Gates is lucky that he lives in the People’s Republic of Cambridge. The Boston cops probably would have killed him for mouthing off.
JenJen
And also, this, I think:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gatesgate-by-digby-i-have-been.html
Digby and I part ways almost daily, but she’s spot on with that post. Her writings about the troubling increase in taser gun usage and abuse don’t get near the attention they deserve.
DougJ
So I think saying “most cops aren’t like this” might miss the point a little.
Maybe, but I’m not sure. My big problem is with the people saying “this happens all the time, Gates should have known he was going to be arrested and shut up.”
It would be great if this opened up a dialog about police power and race and so on. But I don’t see that happening until people at least admit that this arrest was wrong. Once that is established, we can move on to whether or not it is typical.
Betsy
@JenJen:
That is a really important post. I’ve been following Pam Spaulding’s reporting on taser use as well, and it is terrifying. It scares the hell out of me that most Americans think all of this is ok.
Incertus
@Ajay: And it won’t matter how ridiculous that it–they’ll gloss over the fact that he’s 58 and needs a cane. They’ll side with the authority figure and that will be that.
My reaction, when I heard the blowup over Obama’s remarks was “have none of these people ever had a cop hassle them for no reason before?” Apparently not. Cops are human. Humans sometimes do stupid things. Ergo, cops sometimes do stupid things. This is controversial?
Punchy
Ficksed.
Bush ran a government almost devoid of rules and responsibilities for 8 years. That this attitude trickled down to the FBI, then to state, and later local law enforcement surprises no one.
flounder
I know a number of (white) people who have been arrested on their front lawns for not being nice to a cop.
I myself was semi-arrested for skateboarding when I was 15. This cop was trying to give me a ticket for skateboarding in the no skateboarding zone. I had went to about 10 city council meetings the year before when they enacted the law, so I knew I was a block away from the zone. I wouldn’t accept the ticket, and the cop wouldn’t call in and check the law because he was the authority figure and he wasn’t going to have some snot nosed punk telling him what the law was. He took me to the station and made my mom pick me up.
She called the mayor and that cop showed up at 9 PM to ask for the ticket back and apologize for not taking my advice and checking what the boundary was. I could see he was pissed about it.
Like any cross-section of the population, some cops are just jerks and get off on hassling people.
aimai
Xenos,
I disagree completely with your analysis. Nice middle class people “don’t know what its like?” A) I’m a nice middle class white lady and the cops always treat me nicely but I can still imagine what it would be like if they didn’t–because I’ve been a nice little five foot girl in this world and men have been threatening and hostile to me plenty of times. Just add a gun and you’ve got cop.
B) I’ve had plenty of police hostility directed at me when I was, for example, protesting various wars.
C) a personal experience of something is not the only thing that is required to “get it.” Reading, paying attention, having some historical memory might also enable you to see past your own experience.
So, no, white people aren’t off the hook in general for not being able to see gates’ side of the story. And more than that, I think this whole incident has shown that its not whiteness thats at issue in forming the viewer’s perspective, its politics and class.
Here in Cambridge white people, middle class, people “get it” because we are all homeowners and renters and we identify with Gates’ bewilderment that he should have been harrassed after showing his ID. We are all mighty pissed off that Gates, and we, could seemingly be arrested for being rude to a police officer whose salary we are paying. Whether because we are elitists who imagine we are of higher class than the police, or anarchists and revolutionaries at heart who feel we owe no blind allegiance to random authority.
aimai
Incertus
@Punchy: This kind of crap has been going on for as long as I’ve been required to deal with law enforcement, which way predates the Bush administration. The real problem is that probably a third of the people who want to be cops should never, under any circumstances, be given the job. They’re the kind of guys who pistol whip someone to get a hardon.
ironranger
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard media describe Prof Gates at 59 as elderly. I’m younger than him but not by much. I am wondering if I should consider getting stool softeners, trading my jeans for polyester pants and spending all my free time playing dime slots at the casinos.
Brick Oven Bill
Xenos says:
“It is not ill will, it is not racism, but just a cultural blind spot from the experience of never having to look down the barrel of state authority. Nice middle class white people, not having been pushed around by the fuzz, just don’t realize how demeaning and outrageous it can be.”
This is wrong in my opinion, speaking as a middle class person. I have looked down the barrel of state authority twice, and a jilted love interest once. There was also the guy who pulled a knife on me at a gig. This makes an impression on a man, and probably explains why I am very polite to policemen when pulled over these days.
Gates’ attitude most likely comes from a feeling of being a protected member of the Harvard community of Prominent Scholars, immune from criticism or oversight. Datapoints supporting my position include:
“No, I will not.”
“What is your name.”
“Get the Chief.”
“What is the Chief’s name?”
“Why, because I am a black man in America?”
“This is what happens to black men in America!”
“You have no idea who you are messing with.”
“Ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside.”
I think Gates is just a pampered Harvard pinhead. The cop, by most accounts, handled things at least reasonably well.
Betsy
@Xenos:
@aimai:
Part of what I wrote in the post I mentioned above:
The lack of empathy shown by so many white people, as well as their willingness to ignore the fact that Gates was arrested for sassing the officer, (to use Ta-Nehisi’s phrasing), has me truly appalled. I know it’s my privilege showing here, but I never imagined that *so many* white people would rush to condemn Gates and defend the cop. I knew there was lots of racism, but so much of this is coming from people I would have thought would know better. It’s depressing.
Xenos, why should it matter if Gates was being a pinhead?! That is not an arrestable offense, last I checked.
chopper
+1 on balko.
the fact that we hear a story of a guy smartmouthing a cop and think ‘dang he’s lucky he didn’t get the crap kicked out of him’ is a sad indictment of the state of our society.
Bill
Sgt Crowley just had to arrest Gates to preserve the peace…and wound up with an international incident.Let’s give a round of applause to the not at all stupid Cambridge police.
I just mentioned at Sady No! that the first place Crowley went to defend himself was local wingnut/sport radio show Dennis & Callahan-a duo that was suspended for comparing black school kids to a photo of an escaped gorilla standing at a bus stop.Nice to see that all that training in racial sensitivity that Crowley was taught/teaches (and is used to cow his critics) is really paying off for him.
liberal
Another example of abusive cops (much worse than the Gates case, actually), via UggaBugga.
vacuumslayer
I would have to say he assholishly arrested Gates.
Betsy
@DougJ:
I think you are probably right about this.
Betsy
@Brick Oven Bill:
I also wouldn’t take the police report at face value. One thing in it has already been acknowledged to be false – the woman calling did not state the race of the men she thought were trying to break in. Gates maintains he did not say the “your mama” quote. It a situation as touchy as this one, I don’t really trust anyone’s version completely.
RandomChick
Here’s my story:
Some guy had his motorcycle stolen last summer. A person called the dealership asking to get a new *key/ignition using the *serial number for said motorcycle.
*I know nothing about motorcycles, but this is as much as I could understand of the story.
The folks at the dealership knew the guy who’d been ripped off, so they called and told him. Based on the dealership’s caller ID and his own investigative skills, this owner Google’d the number and came up with our address.
He called the cops with this information, then came to our house himself, following the cops.
That was the phone number for the house 2 years before. We had gone to cell phones only since then.
The cops show up, tell me what’s going on, I tell them I have no idea who called. We don’t have a home phone. I give permission for them to search the property and walk them through the yard and garage.
I thought we were done. I was home alone, and didn’t think I seemed like a motorcycle thief. But, the cops and owner didn’t buy it and the cop kept coming back and ringing the bell. I cooperated – went outside and called my husband to ask when the phone was disconnected. He does not like cops and did not like them hanging around our house. He told me to tell them to leave and figure out who had the phone number now – not using Google.
The 4th time they rang the bell, they asked if they could search my house for a home phone. I was stupid and let them in, but my husband got home about that time.
I have never seen such a toungue lashing – including
“Get the fuck out of my house!”
“What do you think you are doing? My wife is home alone and two men decide to come in my house and investigate a phone that doesn’t exist?”
“I don’t give a shit – explain outside”
He followed them outside and continued to yell at them for 10 minutes. After they left, he filed a complaint with the chief.
The moral of the story? He is white.
smiley
@aimai:
You talkin’ empathy? That’s not good at all. /snark
Betsy
@Betsy:
Oh shit, Xenos, I’m sorry, I suggested you were saying something that was actually BOB. I’m terribly sorry!!! I confused his “Xenos says” with it actually being you writing that post.
Tonal Crow
Exactly. While it might be dangerous to criticize a cop, our right to do so is foundational to controlling our governments. That’s why the 1st Amendment protects it. And we cede that right at our peril.
BTW, we need to amend the statutes governing police to require dismissal of any officer who arrests a person solely for exercising her 1st Amendment rights. A cop who can’t take verbal abuse must not remain a cop.
John
I think the time for giving police the benefit of the doubt on the “most cops aren’t like that” issue has long since passed. It doesn’t matter one bit whether they are or not – they always stick up for those who are, no matter what they’ve done or how wrong they were.
Maybe one day some of these good cops will stand up and say “enough is enough.” Until I see an actual attempt by some group to REFORM police behavior and standards, it doesn’t matter how nice or friendly or generous they may personally be. I’ve seen too many examples of police misbehavior to believe it is isolated or even uncommon. If they don’t like being viewed that way, it is incumbent upon them to do something to change their own reputation.
Just Some Fuckhead
@DougJ:
I doubt this is true. The urge for our side to grandstand on race is too powerful.
Stefan
In Judith Warner’s op-ed today in the Times, she notes that “Crowley demanded that the small, slight, cane-carrying professor come outside, he said, because he feared not living to make it home to his wife and children. ”
If this cop is so timid that he’s frightened of a Harvard professor in his own kitchen, then how does he ever function on the street? By Crowley’s own admission he has no business being a police officer.
steve s
I recall from a few years ago one cop saying that when the department wants to form a SWAT team, the first thing you do is have a big meeting and ask the cops “Who wants to be on the SWAT team?” and then you write down which cops raised their hands, and then you make sure that those cops never, ever get on the SWAT team.
Comrade Jake
This morning on CNN, they had a segment about Gates in response to the “new questions” that were being raised over Obama’s remarks. They had two black reporters on, one from the WaTimes and someone else to rehash what was discussed last week. Of course, there were absolutely no “new questions”, but I guess that’s what passes for journalism these days.
Once the narratives are set with things like this, the media pretty much locks on and chews away, like some kind of rabid dog. So the odds of them elevating the discussions or turning it to police authoritarianism are about a zillion to one against.
Turgidson
In my limited experience, cops run the gamut from perfectly nice and reasonable to total douchebags. The nature of the job attracts people with tendencies towards authoritarianism and power trips, but I don’t know what can be done about that, really, besides coming down hard on the idiot cops who arrest people in their own homes for no reason other than the fact that they’re pissed they’re being arrested in their own home.
And considering that there is a vocal (to put it mildly) minority who have a media megaphone who seem to think that MORE people should be arrested in their own homes for no reason (and some in this crowd would target…”others”…for this treatment, no doubt), I don’t think we’ll see much progress.
I respect the fact that cops have an inherently dangerous job and it’s understandable that cops would feel the need to project strength, sometimes to the point of hostility, so that no one gets the idea they can be fucked with, but I’ve found that a decent number of cops simply can’t turn that switch off. They act that way towards EVERYONE, even old men with canes who are in their own homes. When I was a lily-white, skinny suburban kid with a self-esteem problem, I had a cop SCREAM at me for parking my car somewhere he thought I shouldn’t, even though it was perfectly legal. I was about as dangerous and disrespectful as a potted plant, and he still acted that way (though I was a teenager, which was a crime in and of itself according to some of the cops in that town).
In this case, it’s perfectly plausible that Crowley is a decent fellow and a generally good cop who for some reason allowed his buttons to get pushed that night and overreacted in a way that he normally wouldn’t. I don’t know the guy or his methods, so can’t say. It’s pretty shocking that there’s any controversy over whether what he did was wrong in the first place, though.
Stefan
I give permission for them to search the property and walk them through the yard and garage.
Never, never, never give the police permission to search you, your property or your house. Let them get a warrant. Why would you ever give the police permission?
DougJ
You know, one other thing that may not be completely typical is that people in Boston are assholes in a way that they may not be elsewhere.
John forbade me to frontpage this, but I did my own dramatic reenactment of what I think happened during the arrest. I didn’t know the cop’s name at the time, so I guessed “Patrick O’Leary”. Enjoy
Gates arrest
RandomChick
@Stefan:
I let them in because I was stupid and thought the fact that I was innocent counted for something. Which is probably the same reason why Gates (wrongly) thought he would be allowed to express his opinion.
ETA: I have learned my lesson, however, and would never give permission again. Apparently, innocence is immaterial to some cops.
JGabriel
Beer Gates (CNN):
Budweiser? Jesus, whatever happened to Obama being cool? Bud is about the least hip beer imaginable (unless it’s the original Czech brand).
Why the hell would Obama drink something as weak and piss-tasting as Budweiser?
.
Incertus
@steve s: Unfortunately, I doubt that’s standard practice and even where it is, it doesn’t take much for adrenalin hounds to figure it out and game the system.
InflatableCommenter
Great post, John.
eric
On the 911 tape, Crowley says keep the cars coming AFTER he learns that Gates has a right to be there. That should douse the racial angle to this story. On what planet did Crowley need more cops at the site??
All Crowley had to say was: “look, asshole, i am leaving now and you can yell at my back as i walk to my squad car laughing at your stupid highly paid ass that had to break into his own house.” Anything else was an inviation to a confrontation that Gates could not win. Unbeknowst to officer “keep em coming,” this arrestee knew the POTUS.
Now, the Cambridge police department is gonna have to explain why this armed young officer needed more backup at the point in time that he did.
Good times.
eric
vacuumslayer
@Betsy:
Martin
Why the hell didn’t they go to the phone company and ask them if that number was connected to your residence?
Even if you had no physical handset in the house, the number could still be assigned to you and the call originated from your house. The search would prove nothing. Only the phone company could sort that out.
And FYI, in many homes, the phone connection to the trunk is on the outside of the home and accessible with a standard screwdriver. It’s trivial for someone to walk up to the outside of my house with a handset and make a call from our number.
eric
@JGabriel: Missouri’s electoral votes! He has the Sam Adams demo locked up.
J.D. Rhoades
According to the copy of police report reprinted at The Smoking Gun, this is the statute under which Gates was charged:
G.L. c.272, §53 Penalty for certain offenses
Section 53. Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female, common railers and brawlers, persons who with offensive and disorderly acts or language accost or annoy persons of the opposite sex, lewd, wanton and lascivious persons in speech or behavior, idle and disorderly persons, disturbers of the peace, keepers of noisy and disorderly houses, and persons guilty of indecent exposure may be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Make of that what you will. I’m beginning to see why they dropped the charge.
geg6
All I can say is that all the cops I know have been canvassed. FTR, they include county detectives, municipal cops, a chief of police, campus cops, a couple state troopers, and an FBI agent. To a man/woman, they have said this was “contempt of cop,” something they have been tempted with themselves but have never done. And about 90% said that though they have not done it, they know plenty of fellow LEOs who have or would.
The Raven
Norman Stamper in Breaking Rank.
flounder
Budweiser? Sounds like someone is overcompensating for the fact they were born in Kenya, just like the Coneheads.
Tonal Crow
@J.D. Rhoades: Fortunately, the 1st Amendment — and not that statute — is the supreme law of the land.
Martin
Jesus, and to think I voted for him. Can we find a primary challenger in 2012?
J.D. Rhoades
Budweiser? Jesus, whatever happened to Obama being cool? Bud is about the least hip beer imaginable (unless it’s the original Czech brand).Why the hell would Obama drink something as weak and piss-tasting as Budweiser?
Remember, this is a guy who got raked over the coals for asking for brown mustard. Can you imagine the outcry if he’d ordered a furren beer?
Turgidson
@JGabriel:
and Blue Moon for Crowley? Hopefully his fellow cops give him an atomic wedgie for that. Only girlie men drink that crap. Tee hee.
Molly
@Betsy: “Gates maintains he did not say the “your mama” quote. ”
Thank God, because that sounded WAY off to me. The guy is a beyond-educated man…and “your mama” went out of the lingo about, oh, 1980 or so.
That one rang totally false. It was jarring.
RandomChick
@Martin:
That’s what really pissed us both off once we’d had time to think it over. They relied on this citizen’s investigation using Google to harass us instead of actually doing police work. Even something as simple as making a phone call or checking a database.
The next day they did arrest the real thief and recover the motorcycle. They found him exactly the way you said, they checked with the phone company.
ETA Again: We did not receive an apology.
BDeevDad
@JGabriel:
uh, Politics. Can you imagine the uproar of elitism if he picked a microbrew or foreign beer?
Countervail
I think this is all bullshit. When you look at the specific facts of what happened, why Crowley happened to be called and his initial inquiry, it’s clear it wasn’t a matter of racial profiling. A university employee happened to be passing and saw two guys with backpacks attempting to force open the front door of a private residence. Black or white it was suspicious behavior.
There are no third-party witnesses to the initial interaction between Crowley and Gates but a second officer that arrived later in the house corroborates Crowley’s story. Witnesses outside could hear the ensuing argument and that Gates berated Crowley for racism several times. Crowley was obligated to confirm Gates’ identity and that he had legal right to be in the home. There obviously was a major disagreement eventually but again it’s all moot to Gates’ arrest.
When Crowley was attempting to leave the house, Gates continued to rail at the officer in front of police and citizen witnesses for several minutes accusing Crowley of racism. By all accounts he was out of control, the reason cited for arresting him for disorderly conduct. It was his continued behavior at fault for the arrest. He had a choice of remaining calm and trying to resolve the conflict reasonably. Does anyone question why Gates behavior was so out of proportion to why the police were called to investigate and what Crowley was attempting to do?
J.D. Rhoades
That one rang totally false. It was jarring.
That, and the “I had to ask him outside because of the bad acoustics inside.” I mean, please.
Da Bomb
This story is such a mess. There are more and more bits of info pointing to the idea that Crowley should have walked away.
What would he need back-up for? This is just crazy!
J.D. Rhoades
He had a choice of remaining calm and trying to resolve the conflict reasonably.
If I’m in my own house, on my own porch, or even in my own yard, I shall be as unreasonable as it pleases me to be, thank you.
Zifnab
@DougJ:
The lesson I learned in public school was that you always got on good terms with your local school officers. Say hi as you come in the door, chat them up at lunch, smile and be friendly, and generally give off the appearance of being a good guy. Then, when you get busted for smoking behind the T-shacks or walking the halls without a pass or whatever, the cops wave you off rather than dragging you in.
All that said, cops have also been giving a lot more tools and a lot more leeway over the years. They used to walk around with night sticks and uniforms. Now they’ve got bullet proof vests and semi-automatic weapons. They used to just investigate the victims, but now they’ve got a host of victimless vice-crimes to go after. There was a time when you had the cop and the robber and the everyone else. Now everyone is a suspect. We’re all in one big game of Clue.
I mean, the entire atmosphere of policing has gone up since we entered our “War on Crime”, and it’s been getting progressively worse. We aren’t “innocent civilians” anymore. Everyone is just a criminal waiting to be incarcerated.
Neo
Gates on a better day
slag
I still say that if Gates were a white dude dealing in sawed-off shotguns rather than an uppity black dude just trying to get into his home, conservatives would have been all up in arms (so to speak) over this arrest.
vacuumslayer
The call for back-up makes me think he was out to humiliate and intimidate Gates. Swell fella.
vacuumslayer
@J.D. Rhoades: A to the men!
steve s
Old people never use outdated slang?
Turgidson
@Countervail: Does anyone question why Gates behavior was so out of proportion to why the police were called to investigate and what Crowley was attempting to do?,
There’s these things called the 1st and 4th amendments…?
cbear
@JGabriel: “Why the hell would Obama drink something as weak and piss-tasting as Budweiser?”
Because the Arabic translation of “Budweiser” is “Kill Whitey”?
flounder
If he was running a death cult out of a compound in Waco Texas and stockpiling machine guns and grenades they would be demanding, a la Gordon Liddy, that you shoot government employees in the face so as to not waste good bullets by accidentally hitting any body armor.
Martin
Maybe Obama chose Bud to not show up Crowley? That’s an honorable sacrifice to make.
Yes, that will be the reality of my choosing.
wilfred
There are always good cops and bad cops. But ever since 9/11, cops have occupied that space in the public mind once exclusive to the gluuuurious troops protecting Homeland from the Muslim hordes.
‘Protect and Serve’ always sounded a bit ominous to my ears. But once they came to be seen as a para-military front line, Homelanders have given cops a relatively free pass.
Incidentally, it’s worth considering how many Arabs and Pakistanis have been subjected to racial profiling, no-fly lists and all around hassling because of the color of their skin, something cops are NEVER criticized for.
Brick Oven Bill
Zifnab says:
“Now they’ve got bullet proof vests and semi-automatic weapons. They used to just investigate the victims, but now they’ve got a host of victimless vice-crimes to go after. There was a time when you had the cop and the robber and the everyone else. Now everyone is a suspect. We’re all in one big game of Clue.”
Just wait until they get your medical records and set up the smart meters.
steve s
Would it be smarter to use that against them? I’d get a popular import, like Guiness, Newcastle, or Corona.
RandomChick
@Turgidson: Also, its an insult to be accused when you are innocent, which spikes the adrenaline.
1 part adrenaline + 2 parts testosterone = pissing match
Incertus
@wilfred: ‘Protect and Serve’ always sounded a bit ominous to my ears. But once they came to be seen as a para-military front line, Homelanders have given cops a relatively free pass.
The problem is that too few cops remember the second half of that construction. They’re servants–they work for us, at least in theory. They’re not occupying soldiers, but they often act as though they are–the shitty cops, I mean.
J.D. Rhoades
It is possible to reasonably believe both of the following propositions:
1) Gates acted unreasonably.
2) Gates committed no crime.
I’m not saying that the first one is true, BTW, but even if you assume that it is, it doesn’t rule out the second. That’s what Countervail and like-minded people don’t seem to get.
Xenos
@aimai: You are obviously not a very nice middle class white person! ;-)
There is a distinction between Cantabridgians like you the people I was talking about, who are from places like Dedham, Chelmsford, and Quincy (the nicer areas thereof). Solidly middle class, one generation from lower-middle class, mostly ethnic/Catholic. Their kids are doing well and headed for upper-middle class/professional status. While racial hangups exist among these folks, they are definitely not ideological racists. Like most Americans, they are a bit fucked up when it comes to sorting out race and class issues.
And I am not excusing them in any case. I am arguing that is pointless to accuse them of racism – they disagree with racism and will do anything to distinguish their thinking and actions from racism. A serious lack of empathy for people who have not enjoyed class mobility out of rough urban neighborhoods over the last two generations is what is going on. This is perhaps overly simplistic class analysis, but there are some very interesting cultural shifts going on right now and this case brings some strange and disturbing things to focus.
Betsy- how was the LeWitt exhibit at MassMOCA?
Mnemosyne
@JGabriel:
Though I hate to say such a thing about my people, we Illinois natives have REALLY bad taste in beer. Budweiser is actually one of the better ones people drink. My people still drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Style un-ironically.
Having been a resident of Chicago for so long, I’m sorry to say that Obama has probably been infected by the same bug.
RandomChick
@J.D. Rhoades:
This.
PS – damn formatting!
gex
@Countervail: Oh dear. Are you one of those people who refuse to read the police report wherein Crowley noted that he asked Gates to go outside? You claim that Gates followed him to keep railing on him in front of everyone. Do you wonder at all why Crowley invited him out instead of just leaving? Why did the cop incite disorderly conduct?
Molly
@Brick Oven Bill: “Just wait until they get your medical records and set up the smart meters.”
OK, Bob, story for you, and if you don’t see the absurdity of it, I hereby consider you beyond any kind of redemption.
Some of my more right-wing, tinfoil-helmeted relatives got off on the subject one night about how the Obama government wants to put microchips in everyone’s hands, so they could track us. You know, the hand would be used like a GPS chip. Also, we would use it for all purchases at the store. So, if someone stole the chip, it could be used to ruin your credit, you know.
Then followed a long discussion about how something could be designed that would shut down the microchip should the temperature drop to a certain level, thus indicating it had been removed from the owner’s body.
I couldn’t stand it. I said, very sarcastically, “Well, you’d think someone throwing a severed hand across the scanner might clue them in.”
They then earnestly explained to me that I was sadly mistaken if I didn’t think people would soon be chopping off hands for the chips and my scenario became routine.
It all makes me so tired.
Mnemosyne
@Countervail:
Crowley was also obligated under Massachusetts law to provide Gates with a business card that had his name and badge number on it. Crowley admits in his police report that he did not do so and only tried to give Gates that information verbally.
Of the two people in the house, Crowley is the one who committed an actual crime under Massachusetts law, but no one ever mentions that somehow.
Turgidson
@Mnemosyne:
I grew up near Chicago and still return sometimes. I’ve never understood why Goose Island never became a bigger deal than it is. It’s certainly not a world-class beer, but it’s so much better than Old Style and the like, and it’s local (albeit a little more expensive, which partly explains it). For a city that seems like it drinks so much beer per capita, I agree that it’s perplexing which beers are consumed in massive quantities.
Taylor
Given where this happened, surely his political advisors could have told him to get Sammy Adams…
Tonal Crow
@Brick Oven Bill:
And the government can’t issue a bogus “national security letter” to obtain your medical records now. Oh, wait….
You authoritarians and authoritarian spoof-trolls are the funniest thing Goddess ever didn’t create.
J.D. Rhoades
Then followed a long discussion about how something could be designed that would shut down the microchip should the temperature drop to a certain level, thus indicating it had been removed from the owner’s body.I couldn’t stand it. I said, very sarcastically, “Well, you’d think someone throwing a severed hand across the scanner might clue them in.” They then earnestly explained to me that I was sadly mistaken if I didn’t think people would soon be chopping off hands for the chips.
Which sci-fi and/or thriller writers were you hanging out with?
gex
@wilfred: Speaking of which, an acquaintance of mine works for the TSA. They are told by their bosses that they are heroes every day they go to work confiscating saline solution and baby formula. I kid you not.
steve s
You got a little error there, John. You’re not supposed to write a little sentence that makes sense. You’re supposed to just write “This.” and then expect people to guess what the rest of the sentence is. That’s the really intelligent way to do it.
Incertus
@Mnemosyne: My people still drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Style un-ironically.
There’s too much good tasting beer out there to drink weak stuff, even if you’re doing it ironically–especially if you’re doing it ironically.
Ash Can
@JGabriel: “Why the hell would Obama drink something as weak and piss-tasting as Budweiser?”
He roots for the White Sox too. Nobody ever said he was perfect.
Xenos
@wilfred: here are always good cops and bad cops. But ever since 9/11, cops have occupied that space in the public mind once exclusive to the gluuuurious troops protecting Homeland from the Muslim hordes.
There is definitely some political correctness involved here. Just as Palin would smear her critics as being ‘anti-the troops’, brusquely dismissing the actions of Sgt Crowley as ‘stupid’ is taken as a personal insult by those who bask in the reflected glory of our men in blue.
JGabriel
steve s:
Guiness (although I personally prefer amber beers) would have been an excellent choice – I’m pretty sure Obama, Gates, and Crowley all have some Irish ancestry. They could have toasted both their diversity and their common roots.
.
jenniebee
My dad was law enforcement for the National Park Service before he retired. The first traffic stop he ever made, he was being especially careful because, for one reason or another, none of the other Rangers was on duty, so he had no backup (this was not uncommon – at one of his postings there wasn’t even a dispatcher. The night shift’s radio communications – patrolling an area where there are a lot of drug deals going on and which has a very high murder rate – were all going to an answering machine). Dad did everything by the book on this traffic stop right up to the point where he was supposed to put his car in “park” before getting out of it to go ask for the guy’s license and registration (in all fairness, putting the car in park wasn’t technically mentioned in the book, as the book assumes that you’re not a total loon. In Dad’s defense, the cop car was his first automatic transmission, and he is half loon, on his mother’s side). Dad had the guy’s license and registration in hand when he noticed his car slowly rolling forward.
So the guy Dad’s pulled over says “would you mind backing your car up so I can see if there’s any damage done to mine?” and Dad complies and backs up and puts the car in park this time (yay, Dad!) and this is when he notices the William & Mary Law School bumper sticker on the other guy’s car. The guy says “well, it doesn’t look like there’s any real damage done” and looks at Dad who just then realizes that he’s still holding this guy’s license and registration.
So in his best Mickey Mouse voice, Dad says “don’t let it happen again!” hands the license back, gets in his car, heads back to the Ranger station and spends the rest of the week at his desk doing every bit of paperwork he can find.
So you see, not all cops are jerks. Some of them are klutzy half-loons. Also.
J.D. Rhoades
I’ve never understood why Goose Island never became a bigger deal than it is. It’s certainly not a world-class beer, but it’s so much better than Old Style and the like, and it’s local (albeit a little more expensive, which partly explains it).
Their Bourbon County Stout is one of the best beers I’ve ever had.
But dude…”better than Old Style?” Talk about damning with faint praise. That stuff’s ghastly.
JGabriel
Mnemosyne:
So you’re saying that Obama’s choice of Budweiser is more to be pitied than scorned?
.
Persia
@Martin: Back then, they would’ve needed a warrant, that’s why.
vacuumslayer
I don’t think all cops are jerks. Not by a long shot. But we do need to get rid of the incompetent jerky ones.
Mnemosyne
@JGabriel:
I’m saying be grateful it isn’t Mickey’s Big Mouth, the choice of North Shore high schoolers everywhere.
Turgidson
@Mnemosyne: I’m saying be grateful it isn’t Mickey’s Big Mouth, the choice of North Shore high schoolers everywhere.
:::hangs head in shame:::
I was more of an Icehouse guy myself. Not sure if that stuff still exists.
gex
OT: Sully today regarding the birfers: “Still, I see no reason why Obama should not produce the original copy of his birth certificate. ”
WTF? Good God, that man can be such a tool sometimes.
J.D. Rhoades
I’m saying be grateful it isn’t Mickey’s Big Mouth, the choice of North Shore high schoolers everywhere.
Heh. my buddies and I went through a Mickey’s phase back in high school.
“GRENADE!”
R-Jud
@Molly:
In my experience, for those under the age of 11 or thereabouts, “your mama” still qualifies as fightin’ words.
geg6
Chicagoans have nothing on Yinzers when it comes to drinking crappy beer. The fact that the Iron City Brewery is still in business proves that. Hell, Bud is like Veve Cliquot next to that. Just sayin’.
JGabriel
Mnemosyne:
No matter how bad Mickey’s Big Mouth tastes – and it’s difficult to believe that it could actually taste worse than Budweiser – it would still be cooler than Bud, thereby maintaining Obama’s hipness factor, because, let’s face it:
Mickey’s Big Mouth is great fucking name for a beer.
.
wilfred
@gex:
They also serve who go through freight
Incertus
@gex: Sully is always a tool. Sometimes he strays out of the shed for a few moments, but he never loses his essential toolishness.
JGabriel
I wish Gates would announce, “I would never say ‘Your mama’. What I actually said was, ‘Yo, motherfucker!'”
And you know what? Even if Gates did do that, he still wouldn’t have deserved arrest, as calling someone a motherfucker in your own home is still not against the law.
.
jenniebee
@Countervail:
When Crowley was attempting to leave the house, Gates continued to rail at the officer in front of police and citizen witnesses for several minutes accusing Crowley of racism. By all accounts he was out of control, the reason cited for arresting him for disorderly conduct. It was his continued behavior at fault for the arrest. He had a choice of remaining calm and trying to resolve the conflict reasonably. Does anyone question why Gates behavior was so out of proportion to why the police were called to investigate and what Crowley was attempting to do?
Nope, I’m too busy wondering why after “several minutes” Crowley wasn’t out of earshot already.
Mike P
@gex:
Yep. I just posted a link to that in the birther thread from earlier. Awful.
Turgidson
@gex:
I try very hard to be really nice to the TSA people. It’s hard, but I try. I got them to give me back my bottle of Absinthe a few years ago, mostly because I kept saying how they did such an important job, and it’s no trouble to me at all that they’re rooting through my personal belongings despite having no reason to suspect me of anything but being a guy in his 20s whose flight came in from Amsterdam (I didn’t say that part). I can’t remember if I had my fingers crossed behind my back or not.
But heroes? heh. That might explain why so many of them are dicks.
BenA
@JGabriel:
Yeah Obama’s taste in beer leaves something to be desired. He should at least have Budwieser American Ale… suprisingly good stuff for a macro.
Brick Oven Bill
The difference between the State abusing its power to obtain a series of phone calls on targeted suspects and the State owning every Citizen’s prescription drug history, medical treatment history, and electrical use patterns is pretty significant Tonal Crow. The State will abuse this information in ways that Officer Crowley would likely not comprehend.
The ACLU is a goofy organization. They complain about the wrong things. Good for Sully on the birth certificate issue. It is irresponsible for the President to not produce it as the legitimate question is giving rise to radical groups and has contributed to the death of the security guard per the account of the shooter, who is the one directly responsible for the motivations and the trigger-pulling and is in a position to know. The ACLU should care more about Joe the Plumber’s privacy, all of our privacy, and the health of Holocaust museum guards, staff, and visitors.
Pabst Blue Ribbon used to suck. It is now pretty good. Also Schlitz. They must have some talented guys who drank this stuff back in high school reminising and running the brewery now.
Fern
@Betsy:
Would not be at all surprised if the “your mama” quote turned out to be pure fabrication.
It does not strike me that this is how Harvard professors of mature years would talk.
dmsilev
@Ash Can:
It’s written into the city ordinances that all South Siders must root for the White Sox. Barack Obama may be President, but he ain’t gonna cross Mayor Daley on something important like that.
-dms
JGabriel
I’m not sure, but if that’s the amber stuff that Anheuser sells to various bars to market under the bar’s name, then yeah, it’s ok. Not great, but not half-bad either.
If it’s not that stuff, then I’ll have to take your word for it, because I don’t think I’ve ever tried it otherwise.
.
gex
@Turgidson: And thus the citizenry is reduced to bootlicking and groveling to prevent the security apparatus from putting a beat down on us for no reason at all. I don’t mean to criticize you, certainly. But as a Bruce Schneier fan, I can tell you that this tale scares the crap out of me. If all it takes is a little bootlicking to get the TSA to return something they originally considered to be a dangerous substance, don’t they think that an innocent looking terrorist could do the same? If the shit is dangerous, it is dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed on the plane. Instead, it’s dangerous only if you don’t show a sufficient amount of deference to their godlike status.
hidflect
Professor Henry Louis Gates is not the victim of racism. Professor Henry Louis Gates is the member of the “frou-frou-blancmange” elite and untouchable class unfortunate and mistaken enough due to an unlikely incident to be the recipient of the long arm of law enforcement’s “standard practice” (intimidate and take no sh1t) as it is applied to the plebeian and/or common citizenry.
I can imagine well enough that the newly-capped, highly-placed, intellectual class ensconced in Boston, the Hamptons and other fine areas would be outraged (OUTRAGED) at this handling. They long ago sold their souls to the ruling elite in return for some exclusive shelf space on the gated community compound’s trophy display wing. Now they’re being man-handled by these common centurions? Outrageous!
To give you today’s anecdote as enlightenment:
When I worked in CitiGroup it became abundantly clear that every single trader was a member of the upper class (the “jet set” as they are now known as). I supposed this was a necessary component to speaking both Japanese and English fluently. The requirement that they’d lived in both California (or other parts U.S.) and Japan (e.g.) pre-supposed some form of mobile, disposable wealth.
After a year and a half CitiGroup’s FOREX floor finally got its first Indian Trader employee. Long overdue in my opinion since (everyone will agree) their agility at mental maths is like a magician’s trick compared to everyone else. Inventors of the “0” and all that. Well… you should have heard the cheer that went up amongst my colleagues in the IT department. Every single one of them (excluding me) recent hires from Mumbai by CitiGroup as a new cost-control measure. I was conflicted about the process but I liked all of them. Each one was a variegated individual with his own dreams and quirks, I genuinely felt happy in their company despite the implied job threat they represented (I was axed a 1/2 year later).
I turned to them in Pyrrhic triumph and noted the following:
“You don’t get it do you? This guy is no more a representative of you lot than Sonia Gandhi. You and I have more in common than you do with him. Haven’t you listened to his conversation? Holidays as a child in Hawaii, Skiing in St. Moritz… He’S just another member of the elite. The fact he Indian is just a happy coincidence. He looks down on us the same as the rest of them.”
True to my description and to the chagrin of the other IT staff, our new hire made a point of asking for me (the only white person) exclusively on every PC troubleshooting call, avoiding the Indian staff like the plague. Why? Who knows. Maybe he preferred the English intonation. Maybe he was embarrassed to be mingling with his own kith and kin in that prestigious environment. But it served the lesson to these guys well. The issue is not race but class.
To return to Professor Henry Louis Gates. He will be the recipient of much “you Poor Dear” shoulder massaging amongst his community and I imagine he will write the odd polemic or two on how hard it is to be a “black man” in the USA. But the fact is, he got a shock introduction into what life is like for ordinary people even though he got kid gloves treatment (due to his address) compared to what would’ve happened to “normal” citizens. Haven’t we read enough about 72 year old women getting tasered at speeding checks to know what the real issue is?
I have zero sympathy for this pampered elitist, skin colour be damned.
RandomChick
Sullivan has been informed that the original certificate was destroyed when Hawaii went digital and has apologized for the gaffe. That should clear everything up.
liberal
@Countervail:
But he’s not the one whose profession duty it was to do so. Crowley was.
Given that he’s black and AFAIK has personally dealt with bigotry, it’s understandable he was touchy.
RememberNovember
He acted stupidly. Used his state- enabled powers to bend the law to his own ends rather than enforce the code. If he were a better cop he would have been able to diffuse the situation. Best weapon a cop has is his brain.
Keith G
@Zifnab: @70: Excellent!
matoko_chan
I hate to dispappoint people, but Palin is not going to come out as a birfer. Neither will Romney or Huck.
She wants to be president…….she challenged Obama to a flat race last month, and offered him an olive branch and her “help” in her post election reroll.
She is likely a birfer, but she can’t say it.
Because she is running.
cj
In the 911 call that the woman made she never said what color the men were(well later in the call she did say one could be Hispanic, but wasn’t sure). She actually couldn’t tell because of the distance. She also said when she got closer she noticed suitcases and that maybe it WAS someone who lived there trying to get in, but wasn’t sure. And she wasn’t a neighbor, but in fact a person passing by who was stopped by a neighbor whom was worried that a break in was happening.
She makes it very clear that she didn’t know if a break in was happening or just someone trying to get into their home. She points out that there are SUITCASES on the porch. On the phone she doesn’t sound too worried of what is going on, and only called in case of caution because the elderly neighbor was worried(that stopped her).
What I want to know is where did the “two big black men with backpacks” come from in Crowley’s report?
RememberNovember
@ 121 Bob your taste buds are dead , sorry. PBR still sucks.
gwangung
And I have zero sympathy for idiots who blame the victim, pampered or not.
Chris Zerhusen
The problem isn’t that this type of action will go unpunished. It’s expected that giving people power like the police have will result in abuses. The fact that it’s almost impossible to prosecute police and that the police don’t “police their own” is the real issue.
matoko_chan
hidflect…..so what?
When Gates showed his ID and proved it was his house, the cop should have apolo’d and left……or even, just left.
It doesn’t matter what color Gates is, or what he called Crowley.
Our public servants don’t get to arrest people in their own homes just because the arrestee got pissy with them.
It was stupid.
Buggy Ding Dong
Google “Mindy Montford” to get another example. Young, which woman, former candidate for Travis County (that’s Austin, Texas) DA was arrested for “public intoxication.”
Her crime was being the passenger in a car pulled over in the enterainment district for suspicion of DUI. The driver asks Ms. Montford for legal advice and as she steps forward to talk to him, she is diverted by officers and then arrested.
Liberal Austin, liberal Cambridge.
The only reason we know of either of these cases is the ability of the victim to make a media case of it and get some sense of justice. Unforunately, every day there are thousands and thousands of similar cases, with jobs lost and money out of pocket for the same lack of a crime.
J.D. Rhoades
Sullivan has been informed that the original certificate was destroyed when Hawaii went digital and has apologized for the gaffe. That should clear everything up.
You seem to be assuming that we’re dealing with sane people here.
gex
@Chris Zerhusen: Well, your first sentence and third sentence seem at odds with one another, but I think I get what your meaning is, and I think you are spot on.
Turgidson
@gex:
I only know this because I’m taking the bar exam tomorrow (and for some reason feel oddly serene about it right now, hence taking a break to post a bunch of comments), but the citizenry’s right to privacy is drastically less strong for border crossings than it is otherwise. So the TSA’s bullshit is pretty much considered constitutional right now. I agree with everything you said, though. Whether you’re nice to them or not shouldn’t affect their judgment as to whether to confiscate something or not.
FWIW, absinthe is just a strong liquor that used to have hallucinogenic properties due to wormwood being in it, but no longer does (the myth lives on, though). I think it’s subject to confiscation, but for all intents and purposes, it’s just liquor, so I’m not too surprised the TSA guy gave it back. It seemed like he only flagged me in the first place because I was an unshaven 20-something and he was bored. I would hope, if confronted with actual dangerous stuff, they wouldn’t be so easy to schmooze.
JGabriel
matoko_chan:
Oh, sure, Buzzkill.
Seriously, I was hoping Palin would have come out as a birfer already. That twitter, tweet, twat, whatever they’re called where Palin said that she’d more “politically incorrect” after leaving office looked like a strong hint in that direction.
.
Comrade Darkness
@Martin: Simpler than that. Say to them: call the freaking number and we’ll all stand here in the entry way. Tell me if you here anything ringing in this house. No? Goodbye.
gex
@Turgidson: Sigh. And so what we end up with is a TSA that gets to steal stuff from people they don’t like the looks of. I need to stop talking about the TSA now. The current implementation is just rife with stupidity, security theater, and abuse of authority.
Best wishes on the bar. Hope it goes well!
JGabriel
J.D. Rhoades:
Snark detector need a new battery?
.
Chris Zerhusen
@ gex #139
Yes that’s because the third word of my first sentence should be “is” rather than “isn’t.” I started typing something else and changed mid-thought.
jwb
@gex
Yeah, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what document precisely Sully wanted Obama to release. The birfers claims are so confusing, I no longer can keep track of what it is they want to see. (Not that releasing any document would make any difference—every additional document just serves as further proof of the thoroughness of the conspiracy.)
RandomChick
@Comrade Darkness:
Funny, I never even thought of that. I was flummoxed at the time, wondering how I was supposed to prove a negative.
burnspbesq
@gex:
And they will always get by with it. Why? Because if your career requires you to travel by air, you can’t afford to get put on a watch list. So you stand there and you take outrageous shit from someone who is too fucking stupid to get a job at a fast food restaurant.
Jeezum Crow
@liberal:
Also, he’d just returned from a ~20 hour flight from China (which must be even more fun when you’ve got a bum hip) to find his door jammed shut, had to enlist his cab driver to get into his house, and then the cop shows up demanding multiple forms of ID to prove that he hadn’t broken into someone else’s house to use the phone.
Heaven forfend that the guy’s manners should slip.
Betsy
@Xenos:
It was great! In fact it’s the only one I particularly liked. I *love* all that color. A lot of what we saw didn’t do much for me, which was surprising, since I generally like contemporary art. Some of it just felt too…I don’t know. Cerebral isn’t quite the right word. Bland, maybe? Not engaging, either intellectually or emotionally.
But the LeWitt retrospective was wonderful, I loved all the Mass MoCA buildings, and it was an incredibly gorgeous day. :)
Comrade Darkness
@hidflect: Yeah, that pampered elitist who uses a cane because when he was 14 a white doctor thought he had a mental uppity problem rather than a cracked hip. I’m sure all of red state dreams of living such an elite and pampered life. I know I do.
geg6
hidflect: Oh, you’re so right! Because everybody knows that poor black children born and bred in the hills of Appalachia in West Virginia are spoiled elitists who never have to face life’s realities. No wonder the redneck movers who were moving his stuff into his home when he was hired at Duke insisted on calling him “Boy” and asking where his massa…oops, I mean boss wanted the couches. I don’t blame them. Gotta take those elitist pointyheaded academics down a peg or two, right?
Brachiator
Can’t it be about both race and civil liberties?
And can’t it also be about social conformity, and the weird insistence by some people — not all of them conservative or wingnuts — that people have an absolute duty to meekly submit to the police?
This is odd because no one, certainly not the president, ever claimed that Crowley was a racist. No one has to be a rabid Klansman for racial profiling to be part of a situation.
I know a woman who’s a Goth girl with lots of tattoos. She often gets hassled by cops and stupid security people in malls and shops even though she is a total sweetheart. I doubt that any of the cops or security people hate women, but they lazily and stupidly make assumptions about her based on her looks and ignore the fact that her actual behavior is absolutely fine, normal and unremarkable.
There is also a strange bit of nonsense coming from hosts I’ve recently heard on talk radio, that people should never criticize the cops and always give them the benefit of the doubt.
Whether it’s because a cop’s job is tough, or they have to deal with “lowlifes,” or because they put their lives at risk, for some to hear any kind of criticism of a particular cop is the same as ripping apart the very fabric of society.
Ironically, some of the worst racial profiling about this incident has come from insecure white people, especially men. Maybe they are still nursing grudges from the Sotomayor hearings.
Obama clearly noted in his remarks that Gates was a personal friend. Some of his remarks were probably rooted in their personal relationship. But some pundits instead immediately see this as some form of black solidarity and insist that the only reason that the president involved himself in the faux controversy in any way is because he hates white people and only cares about black people, or worse, that Obama is at best only the president of nonwhites, while someone else, perhaps Ice Queen Sarah Palin, is the last hope for white folk.
George Will, for example, was pushing this crap on the ABC Sunday pundit show, claiming that the president was the one doing the racial profiling in criticizing the cop’s actions.
You can see a clip of it here:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/07/roundtable-obama-sparks-race-debate.html
And of course the civil liberties aspect of the incident gets downplayed.
liberal
@Chris Zerhusen:
This is true. But it seems true of other professional groups, like doctors and lawyers.
Yes, the former can lose their licenses, and the latter can be disbarred, but it seems like the usual punishment is far weaker than merited.
Recall that case in the Western US (N. California, I think) of a couple doctors in a cardiac clinic who would treat people who had no problems, in order to earn $$ fraudulently. (IIRC defrauding Medicare or Medicaid.) So that means they sliced up people with nothing wrong.
In a just world, they’d get life imprisonment for that sh*t. But in our world, they got off easy.
liberal
@gwangung:
Not to mention that the idiot doesn’t even really know whether Gates has been pampered most of his life.
Mary
@Turgidson:
I feel like Goose Island has become pretty widely known and liked. At least, I have no problems finding 312 here in DC (I think – it’s been awhile since I bought beer).
Maybe it’s true what they say about midwesterners and beer. I only lived in Chicago for 3 years, but I do really enjoy PBR (although I seem to recall drinking it before moving to the midwest, too). Also, the ice cold Miller products that they serve at the end of the brewery tour are shockingly delicious. Maybe it’s not midwesterners – maybe it’s just me.
Mary
@dmsilev:
I dunno. I’ve (unfortunately) come across some long time Hyde Parkers that were Cubs fans. Although I guess 80 year old law professors are slightly different than your typical Wrigleyville Chads.
Comrade Darkness
@RandomChick: And the icing would be when some random guy actually answered the phone and there is just you standing there, home all alone.
I think on the second visit I’d have asked nicely for the phone number of the cop’s supervisor. On second thought, maybe that would be a bad idea, but that’s probably what I would have done.
Xenos
@hidflect: You obviously don’t know anything about Gates, and you obviously don’t know much about French culture.
What are you adding to the conversation, then?
Tonal Crow
As I already noted, the State currently can obtain whatever medical records it wishes, from whomever it wishes, even for no valid reason, and we know that it has done so on numerous occasions. (Presumably there are many more occasions that we don’t yet know about). I do, though, agree with your implicit criticism of the idea that the State should be able to do so. But vesting medical records in “private” hands does little to prevent the State from mining them (unless they’re all on paper; ha!), and, additionally, permits the private hands to mine them pretty much at will. That said, we need to walk back the many infringments of the 4th Amendment that have been perpetrated to date, and do our best to prevent future ones.
Whatta laugh. The ACLU does more to protect privacy every day than the entire worldwide wingnut corps has done in its entire history. Indeed, wingnuts spend much of their time _undermining_ privacy and concocting liarly GOPaganda like “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”.
Ash
Now that the 911 tape has been released I think it’s fair to say that Crowley is a giant fucking liar and a disgrace to MOST of the police officers who try to deal with such situations civilly.
gex
@liberal: I’m actually much more sympathetic to police officers in this respect than I am to doctors or lawyers. I understand why it might be hard to self-police when failure to address the issues causes strife on the force. If you need to count on someone for backup, this can be the wrong kind of history to have with someone upon whom your life depended. But this simply means that we need to find ways for IA or citizen boards or *someone* to handle the problems that arise.
kay
@Ash:
I didn’t think there was much on the “tapes that speak for themselves”.
It’s interesting that Crowley didn’t respond to three attempts to contact him on his radio, thereby causing 6 police cars to descend on Gates’ residence, because they thought Crowley was in trouble. Why didn’t he respond?
kay
“Let me be clear: She never had a conversation with Sgt. Crowley at the scene,”
Huh. A whole conversation that never happened, yet there it is, in the police report.
And I was told police reports were just the last word on truth.
Kilkee
@flounder: But they ADMITTED they were from France!
Martin
Bad acoustics.
Mnemosyne
@geg6:
hidflect sounds like Lady de Rothschild complaining about Obama being an “elitist,” unlike her down-to-earth, working-class self.
kay
@Martin:
I think he invented a whole conversation, Martin. I’m not sure he’s credible on “acoustics” or anything else in that report.
The 911 caller either spoke with him at the scene or she didn’t, and he’s got a whole paragraph in that report describing a conversation, in elaborate detail, that she says never happened.
Sputnik_Sweetheart
I just read a transcript of the 911 call and something is off about all of this. His neighbor seemed unsure that they were actually breaking into the house– she told the 911 operator that she saw two suitcases on the porch and that maybe they lived there and were just locked out. It seems so strange that the situation escalated so out of control given that the information the police had would have strongly suggested that it was not a break-in and just someone locked out of the house.
kay
@kay:
This whole thing has been spun. He’s not a patrolman. His job is to assign lucrative private contracts to individual Cambridge police, and then he supervises those contracts. It’s why he has an unmarked car.
I was told he was a local cop, just cruising the street, checking doors, and keeping the citizenry safe.
The media have really outdone themselves this time. They wrote a fairy tale that has little or nothing to do with the facts.
Just a crock from beginning to end.
Xenos
The detail assignments are an enormous racket. Anyone who wants to do road work has to hire an off-duty officer at time-and-half to wave the orange sign to slow down traffic. If Crowley is running this he is a very well connected guy within the force.
kay
@Xenos:
It’s fine if that’s what he does. What I resent is being deliberately sold this tv movie media invented.
Good Christ. Can they just find things out and THEN construct the narrative? We’re now to the point where they’re completely writing a script.
Mike G
If you wanta real case study in American law enforcement authoritarianism, check out US immigration and customs staff compared to other Western countries the wingnuts keep telling us are unfree-soshulust-hellholes.
Arriving in Australia or New Zealand is like dealing with a bank teller – low-key, businesslike and efficient, they get the job done and get you on your way without making you feel like a criminal suspect. Even the UK, who have more than the US to worry about in terms of actual history of domestic terrorism, isn’t as police-state-like as the buzzcutted, bellowing and snarling jerks with guns at US ICE.
The only border-crossing experience I’ve had that is consistently as unpleasant as LAX arrivals was arriving in Estonia two years after it broke from the Soviet Union, when they still had the Soviet ethic of authoritarianism and suspicion.
Funny how the “freedom”-fetishists always seem to be the ones excusing the nastiest bullying authoritarian treatment of the public by law enforcement with in the name of whatever ginned-up non-threat they are pissing their pants about this week.
Xenos
@kay: For locals there is a strongly unsavory connotation to the process whereby detail work is handled by the Cambridge cops. A prominent judge once busted them for doing some of the work off the books in order to keep a cop from paying alimony and child support based on the detail work.
Had a guy swear up and down that the Sgt had it in for him and would not give him any detail work. The next day the judge is on his way to work, and who does he see holding the orange flag at the Fresh Pond Rotary? Someone had an unpleasant time at court the next day.
This was all before Crowley’s time, so we can’t tar him with that specific brush, but I bet this detail will be pretty telling with the locals.
Jeezum Crow
@Mike G:
I don’t know, Mike. From what I remember of Australian politics, Immigration is definitely a more pleasant experience if you’re an Aussie or North American/European, but I’d hardly hold them up as a shining example. Granted, it’s been a decade or so since I traveled there, but the immigration policy under John Howard could be euphemistically described as borderline racist. Granted, things are better under Rudd than they were under Howard. They’ve stopped with the mandatory detention of refugees, I think.
Betsy
@Xenos:
Lots of locals round these here parts!
I was watching “Greater Boston,” a local PBS talk show about Boston and MA issues, and one of the people on it said, “It’s important to remember that the Cambridge Police are more Police than they are Cambridge.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that.
Brian J
All of the above sums up my feelings on the matter. Anybody who is defending the cop’s actions seems to focus on the fact that he’s not a flaming racist, which appears to be true, but beside the point. I doubt anybody really believes that, but as is the case with so issues these days, the right seems to be arguing against the left for a position it doesn’t hold. Whether a great number of them have thought about the policeman overstepping his bounds isn’t clear, but for the few people I’ve talked to, the answer is, sadly, no.
kay
@Xenos:
This story was sold, and it was sold deliberately dishonestly.
The 911 call does not, in fact, verify the officer’s account, there are huge problems in that police report, and huge problems with that arrest, and the officer is not, in fact, the poor blue collar hero the media made up and sold.
I don’t have to know one thing about Gates to know that.
I swear to God, Xenos, I have had it with “reporters” promoting a fictional narrative. Can you tell me what the point of this fairy tale they told was?
kay
@Xenos:
And this. Reporters READ police reports, or used to, am I correct? That would be part of their job, if they were on a local paper?
Yet, completely inexplicably, they summarily announced that this police report was accurate, the gold standard for Truth, and Gates was a racist hot-head who attacked Hero Crowley.
And the report wasn’t accurate. And if they read police reports, they know that assuming they’re accurate is a stupid-ass, naive assumption. But they did it anyway.
Xenos
I have not researched the details of the different stories – I was more interested in how the stories resonated, apparently irrationally, with different people. So I may be off on the facts here…
One thing that jumps out at me is an understandable mistranslation from 911 call to the dispatcher. The 911 call reported suspicious activity, maybe a break-in, maybe someone needing help. This was translated by the dispatcher to a code meaning possible burglary in process. I guess the dispatching code is not very nuanced, or maybe the dispatcher sends out a worse-case scenario so that responding officers won’t walk into a dangerous situation unprepared.
That translation, though, colors the narrative for all the police involved in the response. With so many police instantly telling a coherent, if wrong narrative, the press will go with it over the disjointed and unorganized stories told be the non-police witnesses.
Aimai seems convinced I am just making excuses, and maybe she is right. I moved out to the suburbs a decade ago and I guess I went native.
AhabTRuler
@Xenos: Well, from the start a number of people, myself included, were identifying suspicious elements based on reading the police report alone. It’s not about Gates, and it’s not about understandable mistranslations. It’s about taking Crowley’s story as he “believes” it and identifying errors of judgment that he made.
Bob In Pacifica
I worked as an officer and a shop steward in the letter carrier’s union and have had plenty of experience with postal inspectors’ reports and statements by management in discipline cases, a lower level equivalent of police reports. The presumption is that police reports are documents of fact. They aren’t. At best they are a narrative constructed by the arresting officer to constrain the facts in a way to make his acts appear justified.
Today we find out that Crowley invented the “two black guys with packpacks” quote from the witness. A couple days ago I pointed out that from his report he never seems to have thought about asking for the the most important piece of identification, a driver’s license. In Gates’ more rational version of events, he gives his driver’s license to Crowley. We do know that Gates’ driver’s license is curiously in police possession when Gates is getting his mugshot. It’s left out of the police report because if Crowley is shown Gates’ driver’s license he’s done. Crowley leaves out that little point because he stays and screws around with Gates and if it’s clear that he already knows Gates lives there then suddenly Gates’ anger is justified.
And anyone who thinks that Gates is ranting like Crowley describes it is in need of a reality check. This is just more testilying.
Tattoosydney
Test.