At the end of a press conference on health care reform, they asked President Obama about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr, a black Harvard professor who is a friend of his. Obama took three minutes to answer the question. In part he said:
Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know, separate and apart from this incident, is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that’s just a fact.
That was so great and so wonderful! To have a president who does not mouth the storybook lies about America but knows full well what goes on and says it out loud. Not only was he willing to call the police boneheaded right there on television, but he did not buy the police account of events either!!
One of the best lines from his NAACP speech last week:
When I drive through Harlem or I drive through the South Side of Chicago and I see young men on the corners, I say, there but for the grace of God go I. They’re no less gifted than me. They’re no less talented than me.
One of the greatest, greatest things about Obama is that he does not believe in the Just World Doctrine – unlike most White Americans, who seem to believe, or at least want to believe, that the world is just. Not should be just, but already is just!
So when the world is plainly unjust they look the other way or try to come up with Some Logical Explanation or some half-baked excuse. Like when the New York Times talks about black unemployment. Unless the injustice is far away (China, Alabama) or long ago (1800s, 1950s) or is done by people “not like them” (Muslims, blacks) it makes them uncomfortable and not, say, angry or sad or shocked like they should be.
They want to believe that America, or at least White America, is just. It is clear that their sense of themselves as good people is built on it, which makes their belief even more deeply rooted. But the lies and the level of moral and intellectual blindness required to carry that off means only that more evil will be done.
Therefore the Just World Doctrine makes the world more unjust than it would have been. And so then, one fine day, one bright Tuesday morning, they find two of their tallest buildings falling down in front of their eyes.
See also:
It must be said at that outset that Gates is no Michael Eric Dyson, an intellectual airhead and compulsive race baiter. He’s a smart sophisticated and usually quite balanced and modulated commentator on racial matters. Which makes this incident all the more interesting and illuminating. The first thing to be said is that it’s obvious that Gates is lying about what happened. There were three officers present — a black, a Hispanic and the arresting officer who was white but who had been teaching other officers how not to racial profile for ten years, a position he was selected for by a black superior. To believe Gates you have to believe that when officer Crowley arrived on the scene, Gates was cooperative with officer and maintained his calm and that the officer arrested him out of racial spite. This is utterly ridiculous on its face. The officer’s story is all too credible: A neighbor reported two men breaking into the house. In fact there were two men breaking into the house — Gates and his driver, since Gates had lost his key. The officer asked for Gates’ id and Gates basically said piss off. You don’t know who you’re dealing with here, and the fact that you would ask for my id in my own house is just instance of how black men are treated by cops in America. When the officer did not back off, Gates panicked and began calling him a racist and it descended from there. In other words it was Gates’ arrogance not his race that got him in trouble. The cop didn’t recognize him — friend of the president, millionaire Harvard professor, host of a PBS TV series etc. That was sin.
Lying about the embarrassing details of one’s own arrest is understandable. Pouring gasoline on racial tinder is not. “This is the way black men are treated in America,” Gates said. In fact a black man in America can slit cut his white wife’s throat from ear to ear and be acquitted. A racial arsonist, convicted liar and lynch mob agitator responsible for 8 racial deaths — I’m referring to Reverend Al — can if black revive himself as an elder civil rights statesmen and be treated respectfully not only on MSNBC but Fox. Perhaps the lowest point in Gates effort to pin his rap on the Cambridge police is his invocation of the canard that a black man with a PhD in America is still a nig—r. (Look at that — it’s 2009 and it would still be a risk for me to spell the word out.) This big racial lie (with his PhD Gates as a black man is world famous and rich) originated with Malcolm X,. himself a anti-American racist. It libels all other Americans and sends a disgusting message to African American kids that America is rigged so they can’t succeed. Shame on the professor.
But none of this would be possible without the soft racism of American liberals which takes this racial garbage coming from Gates and uncountable others seriously.
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“But the lies and the level of moral and intellectual blindness required to carry that off means only that more evil will be done.” What the hell does that mean? Are you saying 9/11 was just? You’re a anti-white, anti-American racist. This hostility to America stems from a particularly tired chestnut, the belief that any differences in prosperity between America and other countries are somehow America’s fault.
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oh jack please…so i guess you were there and witnessed the whole thing so you know for sure that Gates was wrong…(ofcouse) bottom line, it doesn’t matter whether he said you don’t know who you’re dealing with or not, he was at his own home, he showed proof that it was his home and therefore the cops had no right to arrest him for doing no wrong. saying you don’t know who you’re messing with is not vulgar, its not wrong, its not talking back, he didn’t threaten the cops, he didn’t attack the cops. He was upset and rightfully so. As soon as he showed his id that should have been the end of it period. Also in terms of the OJ simpson reference, i believe he was found innocent and in this country this great and glorious country that supposedly does no wrong, a person who is found innocent in a court of law is innocent, so leave it be… get over that already. Also please stop using that lame OJ excuse as a way to try and paint america as showing favoritism to blacks when we know thats not the case. Because the number of blacks who have been wrongfully accused and hanged for crimes, which were later actually PROVEN to be false accusations far outnumbers the OJ simpson cases, so please get over yourself…
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Jack, if you don’t understand abagond’s last comment then you must be stupid
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or naive, i don’t think he ever said 9/11 was just, harming human beings is never just. But maybe you should try reading it and actually thinking about the comment and try viewing America from another perspective for once
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Great post…as usual.
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Gates explains what happened in an interview on his website:
http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,0
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I have a friend who is a plumber and was working in a house next door when Gates got arrested. He told me that Gates was off the wall. Gates had every reason to get arrested. When you answer back the cops, then you’re guilty of disorderly conduct. Everybody knows that you can’t answer back a cop except skip Gates, because he is an elitist Harvard Professor who thinks he’s above the law.
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Whatever makes you sleep at night…Jack.
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A black man was seen — seen — breaking into a house. In fact a black man — Gates — was breaking into the house, which happened to be his own. The incident was created when the investigating officer asked him to step outside the house so he could determine what happened. Instead of cooperating Gates became antagonistic and started calling the cop a racist and while still behind the door phoned the Cambridge police, asked to speak to the chief and called the cop racist. As it happens the cop is an Obama supporter, was in charge of a police program designed to train officers in how to avoid racial profiling, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to try to save the life of basketball star Reggie Lewis, and probably didn’t appreciate being called a racist and trash talked by a punk-assed Harvard college professor. The cop should have been more professional but the Harvard lynch party which has reacted to this incident by slandering not only the Cambridge police but police in general should have their mouths flushed.
What’s a black man with a PhD? Gates and his professor friends have asked. Their answer: a ni–er. The truth: a friend of the President. A wealthier professor than a white with a PhD.
Wait until the tape recording of the arrest – captured over the officer’s walkie-talkie – comes out.
Gates will end up looking like an infantile racist – and Harvard will look like idiots for employing him.
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i just hope obama doesnt apologize…rush and coulter say some pretty racist hateful crap day after day and the republicans back it.
a black man who is as high up, tells it like it is, and people get angry.
lets face it, most people want him to apologize because he wounded their ego by telling it like it is…if he apologizes, the truth will for sure be pushed under a rug once again.
instead of people trying to get him to say sorry when he isnt, they should be talking about the race issue that so many dont want to talk about, that so many want to pretend isnt happening, when it really is.
crowley hasnt said sorry for his wrong. so i dont see why obama should apologize for saying something right. i hate it when democrats apologize for saying the right things.
lets face it, society has to relearn that you cant force people to apologize to make you feel better. you are just going to have to accept it. why suppress someone’s true feelings? if obama not apologizing is keeping you from living your life to the fullest, thats pretty pathetic.
it is a good thing obama said it…we seriously need to address what is going on…and obama being a black himself, knows the what its really like, so who better to say it?
my views are not up for discussion, so dont pick a fight with me….
once again Abagond, you made a good post!!!
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alwayright101 said: i hate it when democrats apologize for saying the right things.
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This is what liberals/democrats do, they capitulate when things get hot. No wonder they can never get anything done for this country.
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Obama has conceded some of his statements and thus he has effectively, at least to most White people, apologized for speaking rashly about the incident, even though it was a reporter that posed the question to him in the first place. Instead of seeing what he said for what it was, a supposed racial profile trainer being unable to diffuse a situation in which Gates was clearly the home owner and having some measure of empathy that a private citizen could be harassed on their own property, most Whites saw it as an affront to their belief that Obama was and is a color blind president even as they continue to question his citizenship and his competence —questions and outright contempt that they have never showed Bush II even when he was at his worse. Either way, he has backed down because most Whites feel alienated by Obama supposedly taking the side of a Black man and feel that he interjected race unnecessarily thus they feel betrayed and angry.
Obama is trying to get the Health Care bill passed and is attempting to make inroads for a second presidency and so this non-issue has become a race issue because this feeds into the meme that Obama will take sides with blacks, become a pump fisting Black president and try to eradicate Whites by showing continuing to show overt and covert favoritism to Blacks. Either way, the hate and racism that has festered and has bubbled to the surface only assures that Obama will certainly only be a one note president and his failure will no doubt be blamed on his racialism and his incompetence due to half his race.
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I’m so glad you wrote that! Some of these white folks are a trip, I hear nothing but excuses excuses. Yes it’s 2009, we have a black president but racism is STILL HERE. That’s why it’s so disturbing to hear people trying to justify an obvious case of race based discrimination. Just because the officer had an AA partner does not mean that he cannot be racist and treat blacks differently than whites. Gimme a break with that! And I’m so glad Obama spoke out on it. The only thing that bothered me was when he apologized later for speaking “rashly” – We need somebody to be real and tell it how it really is instead of worrying about ruffling da good white folks feathers LOL. I’m from South GA please spend a day in the life of an avg black person down here and tell me racism doesn’t exist!
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I’m beginning to wonder if Gates passed all the tests required to get his PhD or was he elevated just to fill a racial quota on the Graduation podium?
I bet fifty bucks that he agreed that the White firefighters, who were discriminated against, shouldn’t have been promoted since the Blacks couldn’t pass the test!
Has Gates gone through life being promoted only because he is Black and if they didn’t promote him, he would call them racists too?
IS THIS A PATTERN?
DOES HE PREACH THAT IN HIS CLASSES?
DOES HE GIVE BETTER GRADES TO BLACKS?
DOES HE DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ANYONE WHO DOESN’T AGREE WITH HIM INCLUDING IN THE CLASSROOM?
DOES HE PREACH BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY IN HIS CLASSROOM?
I’M SURE THERE WILL BE STUDENTS WHO TOOK HIS CLASSES WHO ARE GOING TO SPEAK UP ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THIS RACIST!!!
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That is not how affirmative action works. And even if it did, he has written books and done shows on PBS. Also, he is hardly some black radical. If anything he underestimates the amount of racism that is still in American society.
And accusing him of racism just when he has been a victim of it is pretty cold and heartless, even if he were a flaming racist. Like if your father were a drunk and was put in the hospital after being hit by another drunk driver, should I use that moment to remind everyone that he drinks too much?
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Jack does bring up a good point: the tape of the 911 call and the police radio chatter has yet to be made public. The police commissioner indicated that there was more to the story than was being made public.
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Jack and others:
Please use a bit of common sense when you read a police report. That the report “makes sense” does not prove that it is true. Lies are designed to sound true.
If Crowley did do something wrong, well then he has a motive to lie on the police report. After all, judges and even news reporters tend to believe the police over ordinary people, so he might figure he can get away with it.
To me his report seems a bit too “cinematic” – more like what you would see in a Hollywood film than in the newspapers. Some of the quotes are just too good.
Gates has far less reason to lie in this case. It is not his job that is on the line.
Gates says Crowley lied in the police report. Why is it that so many people believe the police over Gates? I think the answer is in my post – they want to believe the police are just.
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It is disappointing that Obama has distanced himself from his comment. He still says that Crowley overreacted, but sees his “acted stupidly” comment as doing little more than feeding the media frenzy.
I was surprised he said anything about the Gates thing since he generally avoids talking about race.
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As it happens the cop is an Obama supporter
here we go with the “i’m not racist i voted for obama thing again.”
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*roll my eyes*
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No offence to all yo Americans, but to me Obama is more interested in his speeches than making a difference. A whole lot of hot air!
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Actually Crowley said he did not vote for Obama.
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as far as i’m concerned, obama shouldn’t have apologized because it’s not like he called them stupid. he said they acted stupid. but i guess since he’s a black man who tell it like it is, it’s wrong. if i was obama i would’ve done nothing plus i agree with what he said.
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To Wayne:
No offence to all yo Americans, but to me Obama is more interested in his speeches than making a difference. A whole lot of hot air!
Well I think he certainly wants to be more than that but making changes in the US is like trying to turn around an aircraft carrier in a small lake – not an easy task.
In regards to Crowley and Gates, Obama has suggested the three of them have a beer together:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/25/obama-race-row-professor-beer
So it will be cooler air, at least, if he drinking a beer.
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Uncle Milton
American politics must be the most confusing system in the world. Lobbies backing their man and visa versa. No one knows who’s running the show anymore?
The USA have acomplished remarkable achievements in the last 40 years, but with all that power and money so much more could have been done for humanity. Crazy world!
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“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders, if the dreams of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”
President Barack Obama, Election night.
Like the man said, it’s the greatest country in the world.
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in justice ndone by law-inforcements in so called democratic Europe!!!! Tourturring people, especially non cacassion peolpe in Erope!
( a solution to stop torture by law enforcement)
Dear Mr. President,
Please help to stop the torture of people in Democratic Europe!
Law enforcement officers, primarily police and security guards, have the ability to arrest people, especially dark-skinned people, in the name of law, regardless of their guilt. They can escort these people to a room, such as a dressing room(even the Law enforcement call it Swedish & German lager)! , a vehicle or another place without public views nor security cameras. There they can beat, torture or even sexually assault these people.
When victims of such cases try to stand up for their rights and seek justice, the guilty officers have the excuse: violent resistance to the law; thus it is their duty to deal with them. Law enforcement often censor such cases so society never hears about them from the media. There have been numerous cases all over the Democratic and Humanitarian Europe (for more information 120–cases) contact Mr. Juan Fonseca, chief of Discrimination bureau in Stockholm and former member of Swedish Parliament (Cell # +46 733421988) or Amnesty International’s EU Office. Some cases are covered by the media; for example, in Swedish Channel 4 News showed a video taken with a mobile phone where European police officers are seen torturing refugees in “torture rooms.” In Stockholm, a central police station had pictures of non-Caucasian officers with “SS” written on them. There are many other similar cases happening, possibly now as you are reading this letter, and the guilty parties suffer no consequences. If this type of violence committed by law enforcement isn’t stopped, victims will continue to be damaged not just physically but mentally. This type of behaviour may result in even more violence when victims want to release their anger and aggression for this injustice. There have been numerous cases in France, Sweden and other countries where people have obtained weapons for shooting, explosions, and so on. There are even more cases in the US and around the world available online as evidence to back up this proposal in order to end these kinds of barbarian behaviors
A possible solution to stop this type of violence would be to require all law enforcement officers to carry a small digital video camera (with a few GBs of memory), attach it to their uniforms, and require them to tape their actions on duty. It is not an expensive technology when you compare it to the costs of court when dishonourable officers are sued by their victims. The cameras should be encrypted and not able to be stopped or viewed by officers. The footage should be collected from all officers and archived daily, when they finish their working day.
There should also be cameras placed in all law enforcement premises and officers should not be allowed to take arrested people to any “blind” places. Law enforcement communication should be recorded 24 hours a day by a higher level law enforcement unit. This unit should consist of a diverse group of people from as many different nationalities and races available in that country. The recorded materials should be publicly available for use in court.
I sincerely hope that you will kindly consider this matter not only as President but as someone who deeply cares about humanity. I hope you will further this idea by talking to your colleagues around the world because it would have positive effects for every country. The next generation would remember you not only as the 44th President but as someone who has done good for the entire world, making big changes for justice and human rights by stopping racism and discrimination all over the world.
With best wishes and a hope for a better world for us and our children.
Yours truly,
Rico Hendran
Post Restante
104 60 Stockholm,
Sweden
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What’s really annoying is the amount of people bringing up the fact that one of the officers, that is black defended the actions of the one whom arrested Henry.
Wow. One police officer defending another. Really adds significance. I wouldn’t give a damn if the entire police department backed them up. Wrong is wrong.
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Why do black men go ballistic when a cop asks for their ID? Why do they go nuts when questioned over the most reasonable matters? Because they can get away with these infantile temper tantrums. See, multiculturism has allowed for a seperate code of conduct for surly, pompous, in your face black celebrities and politicians….they can scream and go bananas and get a pass…..it’s almost expected now. If some white judge had claimed his experience was better than some “latina” he would have NEVER been considered for the Supreme Court. We live in a hypocritical, race baiting, Orwellian PC libtard society….where all the rules are Alice in Wonderland style…elastic and impermanent. This Harvard professor is another easily enraged infantile lunatic, just waiting for some white cop to dare question him; immediatly screaming “racial profiling”.
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Nicole, the reason we get so pissed off is because we have a hunch the only reason we are questioned, is because we are black.
Happens all the time. Especially if you live in a major city.
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