Who “Acted Stupidly?”

>UPDATE: Read the Police Report from Cambridge Police Dept. (.pdf) – HERE

By now we have all heard of the foot in mouth moment for President Obama at his Wednesday Press Conference. While responding to a question at the end of the conference relating to the arrest of well known Harvard black scholar Henry Gates Jr. President Obama said that Cambrige Police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates, accused the men of essentially being racist, and impugned police officers everywhere. All this, as with much of what Obama has done in his 6 months in office, without all of the facts.

Gates was arrested July 16th by Sgt. James Crowley, who was the first officer to respond to the home which the renowned scholar rents from Harvard University, after a woman reported seeing two black men trying to force open the front door. Gates said he had to shove the door open because it was jammed.

He was charged with disorderly conduct after police said he (Gates) yelled at the white officer, accused him of racial bias, made insulting remarks about the officer’s mother, and refused to calm down after Crowley demanded Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home. Gates responded firstly to these requests with “Why because I am a black man in America?” It was Gates who became beligerent and began throwing around charges of racism, when it appears racial profiling had nothing to do with this situation. There was a report of two black men breaking into the house. JUST FYI, Professor Gates is BLACK! He wasn’t profiled, he fit a citizen’s description of someone who was thought to be breaking into a home! The charge was dropped Tuesday, but Gates has demanded an apology, calling his arrest a case of racial profiling. But it was Gates who is responsible for reverse racial profiling. He assumed that a white police officer was only asking him these questions because he was black.

Obama was asked about Gates’ arrest at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night and began his response by saying Gates was a friend and he didn’t have all the facts.

This is Obama’s response from the press conference on Wednesday (and I will respond individually to certain aspects in bold), “But I think it’s fair to say (a), No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry. No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly (b) in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home (c). And No. 3 — 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.” (d)

• A – “It’s fair to say that any of us would be angry.” Obama thinks that anyone of us would be angry if a police officer was investigating a break-in and asked us for identification to show we lived at the house. All Prof. Gates had to say was, ‘this is my home, here’s my ID that shows that.’ If it were me I would perhaps feel it to be awkward but would give the Officer a chance to explain and not accuse him of racial profiling.
• B – Is it stupid to arrest a man who essentially verbally acosts a police officer? Is it stupid to ask someone if they live at a home when it is reported that people are breaking into it? Lest we forget that someone reported to police that two BLACK men were breaking into Gates’ home. When the officer responded he saw Gates, who is a BLACK man. So one of two thoughts, this is either the homeowner and there two people in the home that he doesn’t know about, or this is one of the men who is reported to have broken into the home! How is that stupid, Mr. President?
• C – There was no proof the Professor Gates was in his home. Why? Because he initially REFUSED to provide identifcation to the officer. He could have been arrested for failure to identify himself to the officer. When he later identified himself, he began a tirade against the officer following the officer out on to the porch and lodging accusations of racism, making disparaging comments about the officer’s mother, and using foul and abrasive language. Remember, Prof. Gates was not arrested for trespassing but rather for disorderly conduct. He was warned that his behavior was disorderly and he could be arrested, yet he continued his tirade toward the officer. Race had nothing to do with it… in fact there are photos (which I will post links to here when I find them as I saw them on television) that shows black officers present as Prof. Gates was being arrested!
• D – Yes there is a history of people being pulled over for DWB or DWM (driving while black or mexican), but to assume based on what you’ve heard that the police are automatically at fault is just as wrong. Again I point out that the report was that two black men broke into this home and Prof. Gates is black. The officer wasn’t trolling the neighborhood looking for a black man going into a home … if he was I would say he was wrong. Gates was arrested for verbally acostive behavior not for trespassing. He was arrested for his actions after the officer realized he was the occupant of the home not based on race. The President is wrong, not because he’s black, but because he is simply wrong.

This afternoon, the President stopped short of apologizing. He said that through his words, “I gave an impression” that the Sgt. or the Cambrige police were wrong. Well, refer yourself to his statement from Wednesday. The Presient plainly said, “the Cambridge police acted stupidly.” You didn’t give an impression, you SAID THAT! All this based on what you heard, not what you knew. You could have read the police report Mr. President, but you didn’t.

The President also said that race is still a troubling aspect of our society. I myself am a minority, and I have never felt maligned or profiled against. However, what appears to be a continued antagonism by high profile black activists (i.e. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson) have led to a culture where some blacks automatically assume any questioning of them by police is “racial profiling.” Does it happen? Yes, that can not be denied. However, at times some are too quick to rush to that judgement. This can even be seen in the statement from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D), who said that what happened to Prof. Gates was, “every black man’s nightmare.” I would say to Gov. Patrick that any policeman’s nightmare is likely being publicly accused of “stupidly” acting racist wether it be by the public, or by your President and Governor.  

Another interesting take is found here from a Professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. It is a good read!