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 PROF. HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. ...at a happier time |
Pres. Obama and the Prof
went off the deep end
of TheColumnists.com
It was painful watching the story unfold out of Cambridge, MA, last week--the one about Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University and his confrontation with Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley.
How could things go so badly? It quickly escalated into a national dispute about racial "profiling" with even President Barack Obama getting into the thick of it.
It all began when one of Prof. Gates' neighbors spotted two black men trying to pry a door open at the professor's house in the early morning hours. She called 911 and reported what she observed. The police responded to the possible burglary in progress and found two black men in the house. One of them was the professor, who immediately started yelling at the police, claiming he was in his own house and the officer's attempt to question him was nothing more than racial profiling--a matter of putting him under suspicion of a crime just because he was black.
According to the police, the professor refused at first to show the cop any identification. Later, when the professor finally identified himself, and the cop was sure that he was not a burglar, the cop was content to let the matter drop. But the professor continued to berate the cop, according to some media reports, cursing the cop's mother and hollering other comments about racism. The officer claims he gave the professor several chances to stop raising hell, but he refused. The cop said he even displayed his handcuffs to the professor, suggesting he might be jailed if he kept it up, but once again the professor refused. The cop and another witness state that the professor walked after the officer and continued to make accusations of racism, the cop placed him under arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct and cuffed him. The professor was later quickly released.
Once the story broke, Pres. Obama, who
says he's a friend of the professor, was asked about the incident
at his press conference last week. Though Obama conceded he didn't
know all the facts of the case, he still said it seemed to him
the police acted “stupidly.”
Yes, folks, our President Obama, a former law professor, made
this finding even though he did not have the facts of the case
and was not a witness to any of it.
In my opinion, if a white U.S. President made such a finding about a case involving a black professor--without knowing the facts--the poop really would have hit the fan! Why, The Rev. Al Sharpton & Co. would be picketing the White House and demanding that the white President resign! I think he would claim that any man, let alone a President of the USA, who would utter such a dumb-ass remark does NOT deserve to be President. But the sitting president is a black man. Does this mean it’s OK to take a racist attitude as long as the racism goes from a black against a white? Is this what it means to have voted a black man into office as our President? Have we really come so far after all?
President Obama's poor choice of words AND his dumb-ass conclusion, without having all the facts, leads me to believe this black guy from Chicago might have a racist ax to grind against all cops. God help the cop had he had a few other false beefs of this nature on his record. What makes it all the more ironic, though, is that this police officer--Sgt, James Crowley--is a specialist in the area of racial profiling with a noted reputation for helping other cops to understand the sensitivities of issues involving race. He even gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to a black ballplayer once, trying to save his life!
In the wake of the controversry, Prof. Gates wanted the cop to issue an apology to him. Sgt. Crowley, because he felt he was in the right, flatly refused. I wonder now if Prof. Gates was just throwing his weight around because of his clout as a friend of Pres. Obama and his exalted status at Harvard? I wonder if Prof. Gates will issue an apology to Sgt. James Crowley? Will the heavyweight Professor get to feel what it’s like to eat some crow when you’re flat ass wrong?
Like a lot of other Americans, I’m waiting to see what kind of a man the professor truly is. I’m also still waiting to hear that President Obama has issued an apology to Sgt. Crowley. Pres. Oboma has since disclosed that he has called Sgt. Crowley and invited him and Prof. Gates to the White House for a beer.This seems to me way short of a formal apology.
Along the way, the President said a few things that make it clear he sides with the professor over the white cop. For instance, he said Sgt. Crowley “pulled” Prof Gates from his house. I just wonder how many of those seasoned reporters will pick up on that word “pulled”? The reports I've heard say the professor walked out of his house, following after the cop, while still refusing to stop his disorderly and nasty comments/ That's when he was arrested.
When I was a cop, “b.s. beefers”, the term we used for those folks who would make a false report against a hard working cop, liked to use words like “he pulled me out of my car” or he “snatched me out of my bed”!, etc., etc. So you know my antenna went up when I heard the President use that familiar word “pulled” when referring to a white cop's actions.
But then, I should remember that before he became president, Obama was a black man walking the streets of Chicago, perhaps feeling in some ways that he was a racial target for the cops there. Perhaps his bad choice of word usage reveals what law professors teach us about the Latin term, res gestae, meaning a “spontaneous exclamation,” one that is extemporaneous and usually reflects one's true character.
So, perhaps even our President might be finding it a bit hard to hide his true feelings about white cops–now that the election is over and he got the job. Perhaps our Attorney General, who also happens to be a black man, will teach President Obama a thing or two about the law, such as these points: 1. Gather all your facts before coming to a conclusion. 2. Try harder to leave all that racist talk at the door of the Oval Office, and do as you were mandated by all of the people of the USA, white folks too, and represent us all fairly.
You would think that during these difficult times--our economy in ruins, fighting two foreign wars, and at least a couple of rogue countries playing with nukes--that he would not have time to delve into local incidents in a half-ass manner, just because it involves a black Professor friend of his.
All I can say to Pres. Obama is this: In the end, as our president, you had better get this economy fixed ASAP, and stop these wars like you promised, and stop spending so much of my great-grand kids money–or you will be going back to Chicago forthwith.
My retirement account does not care what color you are, just fix it, man! And lastly, only real “stupid” guys accuse others of acting “stupidly” when they don’t know all the facts. Stay Presidential and leave that “community organizer” gig behind you now.
©2009 by Andy Murcia. The Murcia caricature is ©2003 by Jim Hummel. This column first posted July 27, 2009.
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