The Other Side Column for July 30, 2009
When cooler heads don't prevail
By Kelvin Wade | | July 30, 2009 23:36
It's been interesting observing the national debate over the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest. Some see racial profiling. Some just see the race card played. Still others see police abusing their authority. People want apologies. And every group seems to be using the incident to push their agendas.
I just see a stupid event. And I agree with Gen. Colin Powell that 'adult supervision' was necessary.
Was it racial profiling? Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley taught a class on racial profiling alongside a black officer at the police academy. He certainly doesn't fit the stereotype of the racist white cop.
Likewise, there are many who seek to portray the 58-year-old Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor who graduated summa cum laude from Yale, studied at Cambridge and was the first black to receive an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, as a rabble-rousing Al Sharpton type. That's just fantasy. He's the preeminent black scholar in America.
The Boston resident who called 911, 40-year-old Lucia Whalen, didn't identify the two potential burglars as black. She claims their backs were to her and she didn't know what race they were. The 911 operator prodded her and she guessed Hispanic.
So how did this end in a national debate over race and racial profiling and cops acting stupidly?
For one, in Sgt. Crowley's report he wrote the witness told him she saw two black males entering Gates' home. The witness denies telling him this. That's troubling.
And just because the principles have the backgrounds they do doesn't mean they didn't or couldn't act stupidly. Gates is a distinguished scholar but that doesn't mean he's incapable of overreacting or misreading the situation. Sgt. Crowley, given his background, would have some sensitivity to racial profiling, but that doesn't preclude him from acting rashly or out of pique.
If you listen to the 911 call, Whalen is clearly not sure if the people she's witnessing are intruders or if they live there. She says so. She wonders if they have a key and just can't get in. She spots their suitcases. She did the best job she could do under the circumstances. But I don't know if Sgt. Crowley had this information, which might make a difference in how he approached Gates.
Gates has arrived home from a trip to China. China to Boston is a long, long flight. It'd probably be safe to infer he would be tired and maybe irritable after such a long trip. (I once had to wait for a plane for six hours at LAX and I was ready to bite someone's head off.) So when he was questioned by an officer about breaking into his own house, he probably flew off the handle. Being a professor of black culture and having a police officer in your home asking for your ID to verify you live there; it's not surprising that Gates would feel racially profiled.
We do know at some point Crowley is shown Professor Gates' ID. From there, Gates is said to have yelled at Crowley accusing him of being a racist. Once outside, Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct.
If Gates had responded without rancor, the incident could've ended simply. He should have. But by the same token, Sgt. Crowley and the other officers, after establishing Gates as the legal resident of the home, could've simply left. The police leaving would've defused the situation. Gates probably would've gone in and took a nap and we would never have heard of the incident.
It sure seems like Gates' crime was, as Clarence Page put it, 'contempt of cop.' Many blacks look at the arrest and just see a white cop putting an 'uppity black' in his place. And it's telling that the charges were dropped.
I believe it was a dumb incident fueled primarily by irritation.
President Obama shouldn't have commented on the specifics of the case especially when he conceded at the outset he didn't have all the facts. But, if you notice, most of the people angry at the president are people who didn't like him to begin with.
I think the beer Sgt. Crowley, Professor Gates and the president are having today is the best way to end this. (The strangest aspect of the entire case is the news this week that Gates and Sgt. Crowley are related!) We don't need marches in this case. No demanded apologies. No lawsuits. No national navel gazing. No fundraising or point scoring.
Everyone just needs to chill. Peace.
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NOTES: Whenever something happens like this, knees start jerking everywhere. Blacks were quick to see racial profiling. Cops circled the wagons around their own. The accusations started flying. The cop was a racist. The woman who made the 911 call was a racist. Professor Gates was a racist. Lawsuits were threatened. Apologies were demanded. The President's a racist. The President hates cops. Columnists and bloggers had a field day. Blah, blah, blah... This happens because we want answers right away. We form snap judgements. And history tells us that usually the first accounts are wrong.
Earlier this year, I read the excellent book, Columbine by Dave Cullen. Nearly everything people think they know about the Columbine massacre is wrong. There's so much misinformation. So much rumor that people still believe. Trenchcoat Mafia. The Cassie Bernall 'She said yes' story. The shooters were gay, loners, crazy, bullied... That this was a school shooting like the rest of them, just with a higher body count. all WRONG.
The facts and complexion of this case changed as time passed. I've done my best to write this column with all the new facts in mind.
But what inspired me was something totally unrelated. Last Sunday I took a dozen bags of aluminum cans to be recycled around noon. It was blazing hot and my girlfriend and I were emptying these bags into garbage cans so that they could be weighed. We hadn't washed the cans before bagging them so the tiny drops of soda in the cans had fermented and stank and adhered the cans to the plastic bags. So it took a long while pulling each can from the plastic bag out in the hot sun.
Afterwards, we went by a fast food place to get something to eat, but mainly to get something to drink because we were so hot. We both ordered meals and the girl behind the counter gave us two cups, one large for me and a smaller one for Cathi. I didn't even notice that the larger cup she handed me said, "SWEET TEA" on the side of it. We went to the self serve beverage counter and while I was filling my cup, the manager came up to me, pointed at my cup and said, "You can't do that! That cup is for tea only. You can't buy tea and get soda with that cup!"
I shot back, "I paid for this soda and I'm getting soda!" My tone was harsh. Cathi handed her the receip that showed my meal came with a large soda and then snatched it back out of the manager's hands. The manager shrank away, apologizing.
Apparently, the tea is like $1 while a large soda is $2. So, she assumed that I'd bought the cheaper tea but was having soda to save a dollar, I guess. I told her I didn't have any control over what cup they handed me.
As we sat and ate, I realized that our reaction was overly hostile. Had we not just been out in the blazing sun peeling those smelly cans out of those bags and sweating like pigs and being so thirsty, we would've been more receptive. Plus, the accusatory tone the manager took with me didn't help. I didn't like being accused of something I didn't do.
I started talking with Cathi about the Gates case. What's interesting is that when we first heard about the case, our views of it broke down along racial lines. I took Gates' 'side' and Cathi took the cops'. But that incident in the fast food restaurant, along with the more complete information that rounded out the picture, as well as reading the arrest report, made things much clearer for me.
I see this case as a case of irritation. The 911 caller did an excellent job of describing what she saw. She wasn't accusatory. She even posited that the men she saw might live there. I don't know if that info was relayed to the responding officers. Gates was probably irritated after such a long trip home only to find out he couldn't get in his door. A police officer in your home demanding ID to see if you lived in your own home would be an irritating thing, especially, if you've just traveled home from China. Not to mention, Gates probably misread the situation as racial profiling. He responded hostilely.
The cop was perturbed by Gates' belligerence. There's no way he deemed the 5'7" 150 lb. disabled 58 year old man as a threat to him or the public. He didn't like being called a racist. That's understandable. Gates got under his skin, so he arrested him.
That's not to say Gates was right in yelling, if that's what he did. Being tired and irritable isn't an excuse. But it is an explanation. Had he just been cooperative and polite, this could've ended peacefully. He could've gone to the woman who called 911 and said, "Good lookin' out for my house." That would've been the ideal response.
But it was the arrest that made this news.
It may be that Crowley thought of Gates as an 'uppity black.' But we'll never know that. We can't get inside his head. Personally, I believe it had more to do with irritation than race. I had to ask myself, if this had been Alan Dershowitz, famous white law professor, standing on his porch yelling at Sgt. Crowley calling him an anti-Semite, would he have arrested Dershowitz? And this is where I part company with some of my black colleagues. They would say no. I think he would have. I think it would be just as dumb.
We ask a lot of peace officers. We ask them to make the ultimate sacrifice if need be. But it's a waste of time and resources to arrest someone because they yelled something nasty to you. And in this case, cooler heads should've prevailed on all sides.
I just see a stupid event. And I agree with Gen. Colin Powell that 'adult supervision' was necessary.
Was it racial profiling? Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley taught a class on racial profiling alongside a black officer at the police academy. He certainly doesn't fit the stereotype of the racist white cop.
Likewise, there are many who seek to portray the 58-year-old Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor who graduated summa cum laude from Yale, studied at Cambridge and was the first black to receive an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, as a rabble-rousing Al Sharpton type. That's just fantasy. He's the preeminent black scholar in America.
The Boston resident who called 911, 40-year-old Lucia Whalen, didn't identify the two potential burglars as black. She claims their backs were to her and she didn't know what race they were. The 911 operator prodded her and she guessed Hispanic.
So how did this end in a national debate over race and racial profiling and cops acting stupidly?
For one, in Sgt. Crowley's report he wrote the witness told him she saw two black males entering Gates' home. The witness denies telling him this. That's troubling.
And just because the principles have the backgrounds they do doesn't mean they didn't or couldn't act stupidly. Gates is a distinguished scholar but that doesn't mean he's incapable of overreacting or misreading the situation. Sgt. Crowley, given his background, would have some sensitivity to racial profiling, but that doesn't preclude him from acting rashly or out of pique.
If you listen to the 911 call, Whalen is clearly not sure if the people she's witnessing are intruders or if they live there. She says so. She wonders if they have a key and just can't get in. She spots their suitcases. She did the best job she could do under the circumstances. But I don't know if Sgt. Crowley had this information, which might make a difference in how he approached Gates.
Gates has arrived home from a trip to China. China to Boston is a long, long flight. It'd probably be safe to infer he would be tired and maybe irritable after such a long trip. (I once had to wait for a plane for six hours at LAX and I was ready to bite someone's head off.) So when he was questioned by an officer about breaking into his own house, he probably flew off the handle. Being a professor of black culture and having a police officer in your home asking for your ID to verify you live there; it's not surprising that Gates would feel racially profiled.
We do know at some point Crowley is shown Professor Gates' ID. From there, Gates is said to have yelled at Crowley accusing him of being a racist. Once outside, Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct.
If Gates had responded without rancor, the incident could've ended simply. He should have. But by the same token, Sgt. Crowley and the other officers, after establishing Gates as the legal resident of the home, could've simply left. The police leaving would've defused the situation. Gates probably would've gone in and took a nap and we would never have heard of the incident.
It sure seems like Gates' crime was, as Clarence Page put it, 'contempt of cop.' Many blacks look at the arrest and just see a white cop putting an 'uppity black' in his place. And it's telling that the charges were dropped.
I believe it was a dumb incident fueled primarily by irritation.
President Obama shouldn't have commented on the specifics of the case especially when he conceded at the outset he didn't have all the facts. But, if you notice, most of the people angry at the president are people who didn't like him to begin with.
I think the beer Sgt. Crowley, Professor Gates and the president are having today is the best way to end this. (The strangest aspect of the entire case is the news this week that Gates and Sgt. Crowley are related!) We don't need marches in this case. No demanded apologies. No lawsuits. No national navel gazing. No fundraising or point scoring.
Everyone just needs to chill. Peace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOTES: Whenever something happens like this, knees start jerking everywhere. Blacks were quick to see racial profiling. Cops circled the wagons around their own. The accusations started flying. The cop was a racist. The woman who made the 911 call was a racist. Professor Gates was a racist. Lawsuits were threatened. Apologies were demanded. The President's a racist. The President hates cops. Columnists and bloggers had a field day. Blah, blah, blah... This happens because we want answers right away. We form snap judgements. And history tells us that usually the first accounts are wrong.
Earlier this year, I read the excellent book, Columbine by Dave Cullen. Nearly everything people think they know about the Columbine massacre is wrong. There's so much misinformation. So much rumor that people still believe. Trenchcoat Mafia. The Cassie Bernall 'She said yes' story. The shooters were gay, loners, crazy, bullied... That this was a school shooting like the rest of them, just with a higher body count. all WRONG.
The facts and complexion of this case changed as time passed. I've done my best to write this column with all the new facts in mind.
But what inspired me was something totally unrelated. Last Sunday I took a dozen bags of aluminum cans to be recycled around noon. It was blazing hot and my girlfriend and I were emptying these bags into garbage cans so that they could be weighed. We hadn't washed the cans before bagging them so the tiny drops of soda in the cans had fermented and stank and adhered the cans to the plastic bags. So it took a long while pulling each can from the plastic bag out in the hot sun.
Afterwards, we went by a fast food place to get something to eat, but mainly to get something to drink because we were so hot. We both ordered meals and the girl behind the counter gave us two cups, one large for me and a smaller one for Cathi. I didn't even notice that the larger cup she handed me said, "SWEET TEA" on the side of it. We went to the self serve beverage counter and while I was filling my cup, the manager came up to me, pointed at my cup and said, "You can't do that! That cup is for tea only. You can't buy tea and get soda with that cup!"
I shot back, "I paid for this soda and I'm getting soda!" My tone was harsh. Cathi handed her the receip that showed my meal came with a large soda and then snatched it back out of the manager's hands. The manager shrank away, apologizing.
Apparently, the tea is like $1 while a large soda is $2. So, she assumed that I'd bought the cheaper tea but was having soda to save a dollar, I guess. I told her I didn't have any control over what cup they handed me.
As we sat and ate, I realized that our reaction was overly hostile. Had we not just been out in the blazing sun peeling those smelly cans out of those bags and sweating like pigs and being so thirsty, we would've been more receptive. Plus, the accusatory tone the manager took with me didn't help. I didn't like being accused of something I didn't do.
I started talking with Cathi about the Gates case. What's interesting is that when we first heard about the case, our views of it broke down along racial lines. I took Gates' 'side' and Cathi took the cops'. But that incident in the fast food restaurant, along with the more complete information that rounded out the picture, as well as reading the arrest report, made things much clearer for me.
I see this case as a case of irritation. The 911 caller did an excellent job of describing what she saw. She wasn't accusatory. She even posited that the men she saw might live there. I don't know if that info was relayed to the responding officers. Gates was probably irritated after such a long trip home only to find out he couldn't get in his door. A police officer in your home demanding ID to see if you lived in your own home would be an irritating thing, especially, if you've just traveled home from China. Not to mention, Gates probably misread the situation as racial profiling. He responded hostilely.
The cop was perturbed by Gates' belligerence. There's no way he deemed the 5'7" 150 lb. disabled 58 year old man as a threat to him or the public. He didn't like being called a racist. That's understandable. Gates got under his skin, so he arrested him.
That's not to say Gates was right in yelling, if that's what he did. Being tired and irritable isn't an excuse. But it is an explanation. Had he just been cooperative and polite, this could've ended peacefully. He could've gone to the woman who called 911 and said, "Good lookin' out for my house." That would've been the ideal response.
But it was the arrest that made this news.
It may be that Crowley thought of Gates as an 'uppity black.' But we'll never know that. We can't get inside his head. Personally, I believe it had more to do with irritation than race. I had to ask myself, if this had been Alan Dershowitz, famous white law professor, standing on his porch yelling at Sgt. Crowley calling him an anti-Semite, would he have arrested Dershowitz? And this is where I part company with some of my black colleagues. They would say no. I think he would have. I think it would be just as dumb.
We ask a lot of peace officers. We ask them to make the ultimate sacrifice if need be. But it's a waste of time and resources to arrest someone because they yelled something nasty to you. And in this case, cooler heads should've prevailed on all sides.
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