likearock 2 #26 July 30, 2009 Quote "I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' " That's bullshit. Gates was abusive, disrespectful, and completely out of line. If it had been a white college professor in the same situation screaming like a madman at a black cop, no one would have any problem with the black cop making an arrest. When a person gets that abusive at a police officer there's no excuse for it. And Crowley did the proper thing, he warned him first he was being disorderly but when Gates refused to let it go, he was arrested. Completely justified. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #27 July 30, 2009 QuoteQuote "I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' " That's bullshit. Gates was abusive, disrespectful, and completely out of line. If it had been a white college professor in the same situation screaming like a madman at a black cop, no one would have any problem with the black cop making an arrest. When a person gets that abusive at a police officer there's no excuse for it. And Crowley did the proper thing, he warned him first he was being disorderly but when Gates refused to let it go, he was arrested. Completely justified. +10I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 2 #28 July 30, 2009 QuoteQuote "I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' " That's bullshit. Gates was abusive, disrespectful, and completely out of line. If it had been a white college professor in the same situation screaming like a madman at a black cop, no one would have any problem with the black cop making an arrest. When a person gets that abusive at a police officer there's no excuse for it. And Crowley did the proper thing, he warned him first he was being disorderly but when Gates refused to let it go, he was arrested. Completely justified. As I made clear in my first post up-thread, my whole agenda in this thread has been not to analyze "excuse vs. fault", but to clinically comprehend Gates's state of mind and emotion by trying to understand what it might be like to walk a few steps in his shoes. I think Powell was essentially trying to do the same thing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfriverjoe 1,523 #29 July 30, 2009 QuoteAudio of the 911 call is out in the TV news. Totally clears the neighbor of any racial bias. She didn't even mention race - just that two men were pushing in the front door with their shoulders. The 911 operator asked for their race, and she said she thought one was hispanic, and didn't know the other one. She's completely cleared of any wrongdoing in instigating this incident. She was just a concerned neighbor reporting suspicious activity. We should all be so lucky as to have women like this in our communities. I had a very similar situation (without any racial implications because everybody was white) happen. The guy across the steet was selling a non-running car. A friend of mine bought it to fix up. At night. They used flashlights to confirm the VIN matched the title. A neighbor saw "2 guys trying to break into the car" and called the cops. They showed up and sorted everything out. 20 min later the cops showed up again. Someone "heard breaking glass" and called the cops. I guess the tiedown chains (car didn't run and was being loaded onto a tow dolly) sounded like breaking glass. One cop commented "nice to have neighbors who watch out for you". I agreed. Since it was the same cops (small town) we didn't have to go throught the whole rigamarole again. I can't speak at all for the "Black Experience", but if I have to break into my own house, I would hope a neighbor would call the cops if it was dark and they didn't recognize me. And I would understand that breaking into my own house certainly qualifies as "suspicious activity" worth a police inquiry."There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 2 #30 July 30, 2009 QuoteI would hope a neighbor would call the cops if it was dark Especially if you wuz a darkie! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
likearock 2 #31 July 31, 2009 QuoteQuoteQuote "I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' " That's bullshit. Gates was abusive, disrespectful, and completely out of line. If it had been a white college professor in the same situation screaming like a madman at a black cop, no one would have any problem with the black cop making an arrest. When a person gets that abusive at a police officer there's no excuse for it. And Crowley did the proper thing, he warned him first he was being disorderly but when Gates refused to let it go, he was arrested. Completely justified. As I made clear in my first post up-thread, my whole agenda in this thread has been not to analyze "excuse vs. fault", but to clinically comprehend Gates's state of mind and emotion by trying to understand what it might be like to walk a few steps in his shoes. I think Powell was essentially trying to do the same thing. Powell did more than that. He definitely strayed into the area of "fault" when he said "I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department". I'm sorry but the police did nothing wrong under those circumstances. Crowley made a real effort to leave but Gates insisted on following him and getting in his face. It almost sounds like Gates deliberately wanted to provoke the arrest to justify his own false sense of having been profiled. It's interesting that with all this talk about racial profiling, no one seems to acknowledge the obvious fact that Gates is the one who did exactly that. Think about it. What is racial profiling if not assuming a certain behavior from someone solely based on their race. Isn't that exactly what Gates did to Crowley by assuming the worst of him? If Mr. Obama is looking for the lesson in this "teachable moment", I'd say that's a pretty good one. You don't get beyond race as a society by just calling out the racism on one side of the fence. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1969912 0 #32 July 31, 2009 Looks like the Beer Summit went well: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/30/obama-takes-swig-black-scholar-white-cop/... "Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ." -NickDG Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
warpedskydiver 0 #33 July 31, 2009 I wonder if a little bit of their beer got poured on the ground first, to honor their fallen "homies". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 2 #34 July 31, 2009 Quote I wonder if a little bit of their beer got poured on the ground first, to honor their fallen "homies". Whose "fallen 'homies' "? Crowley's? Surely that's what you meant. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #35 August 1, 2009 In Florida, we had an incident that was a lot more serious than that. In one incident, two police officers were shot and the suspect was killed by police during the search. (Tons of police showed up. That's the way it works.) The relatives played the "just a nice young man" media bs and characterized it as a "hunt". (Duh?) Our governor, at the time, was asked to put together a special investigation. His response was that there were procedures in place to investigate those types of situations. That is the way it should work. Everyone should get the same justice and follow the same rules and procedures. This was a failure in the process of justice. This was just a media attention ploy, not a problem-solving mission. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnealtx 0 #36 August 1, 2009 Heheheheh Mike I love you, Shannon and Jim. POPS 9708 , SCR 14706 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1969912 0 #37 August 1, 2009 Quote Heheheheh That was really good. Thanks "Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ." -NickDG Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,148 #38 August 1, 2009 QuoteLooks like the Beer Summit went well: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/30/obama-takes-swig-black-scholar-white-cop/... The brewers aren't happy: www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1514315.html... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 2 #39 August 1, 2009 I admit I had to laugh that Obama's handlers chose Bud Lite for him (like I really believe that would have been his first choice). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,148 #40 August 1, 2009 Quote Bud Lite Where's the Icon?... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justinb138 0 #41 August 1, 2009 QuoteI admit I had to laugh that Obama's handlers chose Bud Lite for him (like I really believe that would have been his first choice). Bud Light? I thought they were going to drink beer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 26 #42 August 1, 2009 QuoteI admit I had to laugh that Obama's handlers chose Bud Lite for him (like I really believe that would have been his first choice). They pretty much had to choose something like that. The only real image problem he has is a perception that he's an "elitist" or part of the "elite." Picking a decent beer would have led to all kinds of oddball attacks on the grounds that "Sam Adam is a snob beer" or "he doesn't even drink American beer." I'm actually kind of surprised they went with the Lite. I'd have picked the leaded version, just for the plus "manly" factor.-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #43 August 2, 2009 It's part of the Regular Guy Look, inspired by fashion icon Rodney Dangerfield in his documentary Easy Money. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
timmyfitz 0 #45 August 5, 2009 Follow Chris Rocks advise and everything should be fine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
