“The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.” —President Barack Obama after admitting that he did not know the details of the Professor Gates arrest
“In some ways, this is every black man’s nightmare and a reality for black men.” —Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
“I think the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed McCain—if I’m not mistaken.” —White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs after being asked about a possible backlash from police groups given that Obama has received praise from the law enforcement community up to this point
“I think now it’s about conflict resolution and I don’t think that the officer is at all being coöperative in any kind of extent of resolution to this. I think he’s been defensive at best by saying, you know, even on the show I saw yesterday, he refuses to give an apology. So as the [Cambridge] mayor just eloquently stated my father has said that he’d participate in whatever the next step must be and if the officer is saying that he won’t, I think that maybe he needs to extend his sensitivity training.” —Elizabeth Gates, daughter of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
••••
When this story first broke, I was going to comment on it but I held off because I didn’t want to adopt the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mentality that was prominent throughout the eight years of George W. Bush (and no pun is intended with Dick Cheney’s “hunting” incident).
President Obama, however, has no problems following in Bush’s footsteps and quickly commented on Professor Gates’ arrest even though he admitted that he didn’t have the facts pertaining to the incident. That being the case, he still had no problem saying that the Cambridge police “acted stupidly.”
Now that the police incident report has come out, and given that hundreds of news stories are out, I have to add my voice to the many who have said that it more likely that Obama was the one to have acted stupidly (no doubt upsetting his sheepish followers).
Before I do, I feel the need to preface it by saying that I’m usually critical of bad police. Whether it’s a cop who drinks while on duty or an entire police force that selectively targets gay bars for full-scale raids on the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, I could easily be accused of being anti-police.
The truth is, I’m not. I’m simply in favor of good cops. I hate bad cops for two reasons: (1.) the idea of taking advantage of your position to violate the very concepts that you supposedly stand for is morally and ethically wrong, and (2.) I actually had a corrupt cop in my family many years ago.
It’s not something that I’ve ever mentioned in any of my other posts over the last four years, but I felt the need to mention it so that it didn’t seem like I was being selective with my support of law enforcement.
••••
In the late-1930s, my great-great uncle was a police chief in a neighboring town. Unfortunately, he didn’t use his position to protect and to serve.
Due to his position—and God knows it wasn’t because of his looks—women loved him. He had power, he had a uniform, and he had a wife; he was the prime candidate for female pursuers.
He wasn’t too careful, though, because he got one of his girlfriends pregnant. And, being the kind of guy that he was, he solved the problem the only way that he knew how: he killed her.
Since forensics in the late-1930s weren’t what they are now, he literally got away with murder. Everyone in the town knew that he did it. Everyone in the town where the girlfriend lived knew that he did it. The problem was that no one had any hard evidence to pin the crime on him.
He ultimately became the black mark—if not the black sheep—of the family. His son refused to even speak about his father. To this day, I can’t even find out what the girlfriend’s name was because so few people want to remind themselves of his existence.
••••
When I first heard the story of Professor Gates, my immediate thought was that he was the victim of power-hungry police. When I learned that he was black, I thought that he was the victim of racist power-hungry police. Then the police report came out and explained that the arresting police officer, James Crowley—who incidentally teaches a class on avoiding racial profiling after having been hand-picked by a black police commissioner—radioed his communications center to let them know that the subject whom he was to investigate (Gates) was “very uncoöperative.”
Here’s an excerpt of Crowley’s report:
When I arrived at [redacted] Ware Street I radioed ECC and asked that they have the caller meet me at the front door to this residence. I was told that the caller was already outside. As I was getting this information, I climbed the porch stairs toward the front door. As I reached the door, a female voice called out to me. I turned and looked in the direction of the voice and observed a white female, later identified as Lucia Whalen. Whalen, who was standing on the sidewalk in front of the residence, held a wireless telephone in her hand and told me that it was she who called. She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch of [redacted] Ware Street. She told me that her suspicions were aroused when she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry. Since I was the only police officer on location and had my back to the front door as I spoke with her, I asked that she wait for the other responding officers while I investigated further.
As I turned and faced the door, I could see an older black male standing in the foyer of [redacted] Ware Street. I made this observation through the glass paned front door. As I stood in plain view of this man, later identified as Gates, I asked if he would step out onto the porch and speak with me. He replied “no I will not”. He then demanded to know who I was. I told him that I was “Sgt. Crowley from the Cambridge Police” and that I was “investigating a report of a break in progress” at the residence. While I was making this statement, Gates opened the front door and exclaimed “why, because I’m a black man in America?”. I then asked Gates if there was anyone else in the residence. While yelling, he told me that it was none of my business and accused me of being a racist police officer. I assured Gates that I was responding to a citizen’s call to the Cambridge Police and that the caller was outside as we spoke. Gates seemed to ignore me and picked up a cordless telephone and dialed an unknown telephone number. As he did so, I radioed on channel 1 that I was off in the residence with someone who appeared to be a resident but very uncooperative. I then overheard Gates asking the person on the other end of his telephone call to “get the chief” and “what’s the chief’s name?”. Gates was telling the person on the other end of the call that he was dealing with a racist police officer in his home. Gates then turned to me and told me that I had no idea who I was “messing” with and that I had not heard the last of it. While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence, I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me. I asked Gates to provide me with photo identification so that I could verify that he resided at [redacted] Ware Street and so that I could radio my findings to ECC. Gates initially refused, demanding that I show him identification but then did supply me with a Harvard University identification card. Upon learning that Gates was affiliated with Harvard, I radioed and requested the presence of the Harvard University Police.
••••
Police don’t always know what kind of situation they’re going to walk into when they’re dispatched for a call. In this case, the dispatcher received a cell phone call from someone who saw a person wedging their way into a house. In this case, it was Gates; Crowley didn’t know that when he received the dispatch order from the dispatcher. He had no idea if Gates was or wasn’t an intruder. He had no idea if there were more people in house. He had no idea if anyone was carrying a concealed weapon.
When I looked at this case I tried to put myself in the shoes of both Crowley and Gates. And, truth be told, I at first put myself in Gates’ shoes: that of an innocent home-owner who was being put through the wringer by a power-mad cop. Then as the story unfolded, I put myself in Crowley’s shoes: going into an unknown situation where you might or not be ambushed. In fact, any apprehensions that Crowley might have had before going on-scene at Gates’ home might have been heightened by Gates’ immediate defensive behavior, as well as his quick accusation of racism.
••••
President Obama wasn’t willing to wait to comment on this story. He wasn’t willing to make firm comments on the protests in Iran—protests in which people were shot and killed in the name of democracy—but this time around he was willing to shoot his mouth off even though he admitted that he didn’t have all the facts. And as if that weren’t enough, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs—whose behavior as an arrogant prick is nothing new—tried to make a racial issue even bigger by turning it into a racial and political issue by suggesting that police organizations just don’t like Obama as evidence in their support for John McCain during last year’s election.
Now that he’s realized he screwed up, he’s attempted to make nice by saying that this was simply a “teachable moment” and that he, Gates, and Crowley can come to the White House for a few beers.
I just hope that they don’t drink too much because I’m not sure if alcohol poisoning is covered under Congress’s socialized healthcare plan.
Chen, Edwin. “Obama Says Police ‘Acted Stupidly’ in Arresting Gates.” Bloomberg.com. 23 July 2009.
Cooper, Chase Edwards. “Raid ‘Em, Cowboy.” The American Philosophy Company. 4 July 2009.
——. “Sex, Lies, and Computing.” The American Philosophy Company. 25 Nov. 2008.
——. “Sticking to the Script.” The American Philosophy Company. 1 July 2009.
Crowley, James. Cambridge Police Department police report, incident #9005127. The Smoking Gun. 16 July 2009 (posted on July 23, 2009).
“Gates’ Daughter Calls Cop Uncooperative.” CBS News. 24 July 2009.
“Is the Gates/Crowley Affair a ‘Teachable Moment?.”” Chicago Tribune. 24 July 2009.
Salsberg, Bob. “Black Officer at Gates Home During Arrest Said Scholar Acted Strange, Supports Arrest.” Chicago Tribune. 24 July 2009.
Saltzman, Jonathan and Andrew Ryan. “Police Unions Call for Apology from Obama, Patrick.” Boston Globe. 24 July 2009.
Weir, Richard, Laurel J. Sweet and Benjamin Bell. “911, Police Tapes Key in Gates Case.” Boston Herald. 24 July 2009.
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UPDATE: JULY 27, 2009
The 911 tape from the caller was released and it turns out that she never mentioned the skin color of anyone involved until the 911 dispatcher asked her for the descriptions of the men.
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