Henry Gates and Sgt. James Crowley - Is It Really About Race ?
Posted: Friday, July 24, 2009
by Judge Dred
Ladies and Gentlemen, is there a problem with race in the United States of America? Yes, there is. As a result, is Cambridge, MA Police Sgt. James Crowley (a white man) an avowed racist because of his dealings with Harvard Professor Henry Gates (a black man)? Probably not.
The situation that we have here is too much pride on the part of Sgt. Crowley. Some of you out there may not agree with this, but let me explain. There is no question that Crowley was responding to a legitimate call of a possible burglary. This call would have unnecessary if the person who initiated the call to police actually knew who her neighbors were. Did she not know there was a black man living in that particular house? Shame on her. Maybe she should have taken a closer look at the person trying to gain access to the home, in broad daylight.
This is where Crowley turned and traveled down the wrong road. After Gates produced his identification, Crowley should have turned around and walked out of the house. However, he asked Gates to calm down because he was engaging in "tumultuous behavior". Somewhere in there, Gates is also alleged to have asked for Crowley's name and badge number, which was supposedly refused. Gates follows Crowley to the porch, where he continues to yell, where he is then arrested for disorderly conduct.
Here is where Crowley is wrong as wrong can be. Any professional law enforcement official can tell you if a preliminary investigation has been conducted and there is no basis for arrest - then walk away. Did Gates' conduct cause a large crowd to gather, thereby threatening the safety of Crowley and anyone else with him? That has not been indicated anywhere. No matter how much Crowley's pride may have been wounded by Gates yelling at him (things such as "This is what happens to a black man in America"), had he simply entered his vehicle and driven away, the incident ends.
It appears that Crowley wanted to show Gates who was really in charge and arrested him. Disorderly conduct is a minor offense that must be committed in a public place (Inside of a home? On the porch?). The charge was dropped faster than a bolt of lightning, which indicates that the arrest was unnecessary, and would not have been prosecuted. I don't think Sgt. Crowley is a racist, I think he needs to realize that whether it is a Harvard professor or John Q. Public, a black man or a white man, he should treat people the way he would want his family treated when dealing with the police. When President Obama used the phrase " acted stupidly", he was right. There is no place for personal pride when performing official duties as a police officer. This is a case where pride should have been put aside during the working day.
Just something to think about. Until next time.
JD
This Article has been viewed 1,545 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Interesting thoughts, JD. I personally think this is being blown way out of proportion and think asking the President about is was looking for a racial debate.Hello JL,I agree with you. This has been blown out of proportion and it continues with the press conference that was held by police officials in Cambridge, MA. When Obama was asked the question about the arrest at a news conference about health care, you could see the storm clouds gathering. Thanks for reading and commenting.JD
Judge, I think you gave a good and fair write. On both sides, I am the boss, I am the big man on campus. What I hear you saying is: "it takes 'compromise' in all avenues. Compromise does not make one lose their position. I been compromising with my wife for 30 years, she is still the wife and I am still the husband, the head of the household. Either one of us have lost our position. Thanks for this article.Hi Dr. Rucker,Compromise in this instance would have been preferable to the mess this is turning into. Did Gates have a right to be angry? Yes. Should Crowley have been the bigger person and walked away? Yes. There are items that the Cambridge Police Department, and any other law enforcement people that care to weigh in, refuse to talk about. I'll leave it at one word - professionalism. Thanks for reading and commenting.JD
Thanks for sharing your view, JD. What gets me is this kind of thing will happen until the world comes to an end and it will always be news.Hi Avis,I feel that these things happen everyday, the difference is that a world renowned scholar from Harvard was involved, which turned this into a newsworthy event.It seems that the interjection of race does many things, such as increasing ratings on cable news networks,and it sells more newspapers.The hatemongers out there now have a rallying point. This is unnecessary. Thanks for reading and commenting.JDJD, this reminds me of another article about a pastor/minister and I believe it was a border patrol policeman. The pastor/minister did not readily produce ID when asked. Things went awry. I hold this renowned Harvard grad to the same standards as I do this clergyman. I do not have all the facts because I wasn't an eye witness. It did not have to make the news but we're human and all of us mess up, Harvard grads, too. It'll happen again and again and it'll make the news again. I don't listen to the news often. I tend to get it here at SearchWarp. *grinning*Hi Avis,I believe Prof. Gates shares some responsibility in this ordeal. High school dropouts, Harvard or Yale grads, or home schooled, everyone shares the responsibility of keeping civic order in our cities and towns. Yes, we all mess up. My point is that the trained law enforcement professional did not act in a professional manner in this instance. I will illustrate this point in a forthcoming article. You know, I really like reporting the "news"on Searchwarp! LOL !JDJD, I'm not disagreeing with you about the law enforcement officer. I can't expect something out of someone I do not know. I would like to hope they'd behave differently if out of order. I hoped the Harvard grad would have done as I think I would have done (sitting in the AC of my own place not having his experience) under those circumstances which would have completely circumvented anything done by the policeman. Now, I know all of that is Monday morning quarterbacking. *grin*
Now, we turn it over to news anchor, Judge Dred. *Waiting for more news* LOLAvis,There will be more on this breaking story when we send our roving reporter, J. Dred,out into the field to gather information and conduct one on one interviews! LOL! Thanks, Avis!JDJD, I need to correct the Harvard grad error. My bad. Yale grad, Harvard prof. I'm looking forward to your next report. I hear these two fellas are gettin' together with the Prez and having a coupla beers. Now ain't that mahvalous!? That Obama, ya gotta love him even if ya don't like him! *laughing* I wonder if he'll break out the bar-b-que on the south lawn like he did for the boyz in da hood? He'll prolly fire up the grill himself and show off! LOL
Bless you and yours!
AceAvis,I would love to be a fly on the wall for that one! That's gonna be one heck of a picture. My next report will be a doozy! LOL! Talk to you soon.Talk to you soon.JD
It's a shame after all of this time these things will continue to happen until people look at the facts before the extenuating circumstances. In this case, look at the facts before the issue of race.Mr. Gates originally refused to show his identification when asked, something we all know (regardless of race) is a no-no. He continually berated the officer, until finally showing his id. Mr. Gates, perhaps because of his 'standing' at Harvard, was stunned it seemed that this was happening in his home. I would be too, yet I would rather have just provided my id and sent the cop on his way.If it was really about race, how many black me would have done the same thing Mr. Gates did in the same situation: not many.Sure, Mr. Crowley should have a thicker skin, yet to be completely fair you have to ask if it was you, wouldn't you expect to be arrested after yelling at a policeman, even in your own home, and wouldn't you expect to be arrested especially after saying to the officer, "I'll meet your momma outside"? In fact, how many of us would actually think to say something like that to a cop? As with before, not many.Sure, both overreacted. It wouldn't have been about race until the 'victim' (Mr. Gates) declared it so. Personally, I think it has been blown way out of proportion. Both should have stepped back. It's a shame after all of this time these things will continue to happen until people look at the facts first.Well done.Hi Michael,I agree with you. Facts should be weighed before race, but in our society, this rarely is the case.Did Gates overreact? Yes. Could he have simply shown his ID without raising his voice? Yes. Would I have done what Gates did? I would like to say I wouldn't have, but who knows how a person will react in any given situation. This is where life experience comes into play. I don't condone yelling at police officers.On the other hand, Sgt. Crowley is supposed to be a trained professional. He was supposed to be taught that police are supposed to have a thick skin. He should have walked away after Gates was identified. If all police officers had thin skin, there would be running battles in the streets of America between civilians and law enforcement, regardless of the color of a police officers skin.Race became an issue with some of Gates' statements, but that only took the Band - Aid off of the wound that is known as race relations in America. This is a sensitive issue with no clear way to solve it. This incident certainly did not help. Facts should have been the only thing to have been weighed in this case. Thanks for reading and commenting.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.