Reactions From The Presidential Beer Fest

Reactions from all three participants of the meeting today at the White House between President Obama, Officer James Crowley and Skip Gates where they were all furnished with beer and nuts from what I understand.

Excerpt from Professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates' statement

Sergeant Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters – as metaphors, really – in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control. Narratives about race are as old as the founding of this great Republic itself, but these new ones have unfolded precisely when Americans signaled to the world our country’s great progress by overcoming centuries of habit and fear, and electing an African American as President. It is incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.

Let me say that I thank God that live in a country in which police officers put their lives at risk to protect us every day, and, more than ever, I’ve come to understand and appreciate their daily sacrifices on our behalf. I’m also grateful that we live in a country where freedom of speech is a sacrosanct value and I hope that one day we can get to know each other better, as we began to do at the White House this afternoon over beers with President Obama.

Thank God we live in a country where speech is protected, a country which guarantees and defends my right to speak out when I believe my rights have been violated; a country that protects us from arrest when we do express our views, no matter how unpopular.

And thank God that we have a President who can rise above the fray, bridge age-old differences and transform events such as this into a moment in the evolution of our society’s attitudes about race and difference. President Obama is a man who understands tolerance and forgiveness, and our country is blessed to have such a leader.

The national conversation over the past week about my arrest has been rowdy, not to say tumultuous and unruly. But we’ve learned that we can have our differences without demonizing one another. There’s reason to hope that many people have emerged with greater sympathy for the daily perils of policing, on the one hand, and for the genuine fears about racial profiling, on the other hand.

Cambridge Police Officer Sgt. James Crowley's news conference:



President Obama's statement:

"I am thankful to Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley for joining me at the White House this evening for a friendly, thoughtful conversation. Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them. I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

This would seem to be the end of all of this. But with the state of our mainstream media I wouldn't bet on it.

"Jungle Monkey"

Yep, post racial.

What do you want to bet that cop's union stands up and defends him too just like they did for Sgt Crowley?

Update: Here is the full email. Its obvious this cop was a FoxNews watcher. Im sure he is a big fan of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.

click to enlarge

The Need For Adult Supervision

I owe Colin Powell an apology but yahoo news owes me and the rest of its readers an apology as well.

Last night I read this account of General Powell's appearance on Larry King live on yahoo news. This particular part of the article made it seem as if Powell was totally blaming Henry Louis Gates for his arrest.

Powell, interviewed by CNN's Larry King, criticized the way Gates dealt with Sgt. James Crowley, a white officer who responded to reports of a possible break-in by arresting the black professor at his home on a charge of disorderly conduct. The charge was soon dropped.

Gates "might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer, and that might have been the end of it," said Powell, one of the nation's most prominent African Americans.

"I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal," he said.

snip

But, he said, "when you are faced with an officer trying to do his job and get to the bottom of something, this is not the time to get in an argument with him. I was taught that as a child.

"You don't argue with a police officer," Powell said.

Now the thing of it is, Colin Powell did say those things. But conspicuously absent from the write up was what Powell had to say about the arrest itself. So lets roll the tape.



So even if he felt like Professor Gates handled it wrong, he STILL felt that he shouldn't have been arrested. He even goes as far as to say that "adult supervision" should have taken over. So while the yahoo news article gives you the impression that General Powell was saying the arrest was all Gates' fault, thats not really what he said.

For my part I apologize for overreacting and calling Powell a "sellout mofo".

Which Story Will Be Written?

Now that the 911 tapes and the police transmissions have been released by the Cambridge Police Department it will be very interesting to see how the media tries to spin it. Last week I documented a discrepancy in the police report between the two responding officers' accounts. Now there is a bigger discrepancy and a very curious development to consider.

The discrepancy is that the woman who called 911, Lucia Whalen, never identifies the people who she thinks may be breaking into the house as being black. In fact she never even ventures a guess about their ethnicity until prompted to do so by the dispatcher and then she says possibly hispanic. Now some people are spinning this as bad for Henry Louis Gates Jr, but I don't see that at all. The report was written after the incident and the question has to be asked, why did the officer make it seem as if the woman identified the men as being black men. Sounds a lot like trying to make the facts fit the crime.

Also, although it couldn't be called a discrepancy, the tone of Ms Whalen is not one of certainty at all. In fact she makes sure to note that these men had suitcases (not backpacks as has been reported) and that they may just live at the residence. That is not the story we have been sold by the Cambridge police department which tried to make it seem like Crowley thought his life might be in danger.

Now the curious development is this, Crowley called for more back up AFTER he admitted having seen Gates' ID and believing it was his house.

Sgt. James Crowley said he was with a man who claims to live in the house and with identification showing he was Gates. Crowley said the man was not cooperating and told the dispatcher to "keep the cars coming."

Now we have all pretty much seen pictures of Professor Gates at this point. Are we really to believe that Crowley felt threatened by Gates and thought he needed help apprehending him. Well the thing of it is, Crowley never claims to feel threatened in any way in his own police report. He probably felt humiliated no doubt but you don't arrest people for humiliating you. But bigger than that, at that point he knows no crime has been committed. What exactly is Gates being "uncooperative" about that would require even his own presence, let alone the need for more back up?



Now the question is, how will the media report this. Its not even a judgement call anymore here. The police report was obviously factually incorrect. We hear Crowley calling for backup after learning it was Gates' house. What else is there to even consider?

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Lawerence O'Donnell FTMFW!

I was going to do a post about Charles Blow's excellent column this morning on "Gates-gate" but then I happened across this Lawrence O'Donnell column on the same subject. I still highly recommend Blow's piece because it comes from the angle of personal ancedotes and data related to racial profiling. For that matter Stanley Fish also has a good article up on his personal experiences with Skip Gates as well in the New York Times. In point of fact I still may post on it just because I have my own personal ancedotes about being racially profiled as well. However the reason I want to focus on O'Donnell's column is because it goes more to the heart of President Obama's comment without having it be conflated with racial profiling.

The President said the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" when they arrested Henry Louis "Skip" Gates at his home after they knew it was his home. That is almost what I would call a no brainer. In what world does it make sense to arrest a man that is in his own home and isn't threatening anyone no matter how loud he gets? What the hell ever happened to free speech? And where are all of the conservatives in this who normally grouse about the tyranny of cops who infringe on a person's right at their home?

Well Lawrence O'Donnell gets at what this arrest was about whether race played a role in it or not. It was about power. It was about a cop deciding that he didn't have to take criticism from a citizen and then abused his power by arresting him to "show him whose boss".

There is no crime described in Crowley's official version of the way Gates behaved. Crowley says explicitly that he arrested Gates for yelling. Nothing else, not a single threatening movement, just yelling. On the steps of his own home. Yelling is not a crime. Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts. Not a single shouted word or action that Crowley has attributed to Gates amounts to disorderly conduct. That is why the charges had to be dropped.

In classically phony police talk, Crowley refers to "[Gates'] continued tumultuous behavior." When cops write that way, you know they have nothing. What is tumultuous behavior? Here's what it isn't: he brandished a knife in a threatening manner, he punched and kicked, he clenched his fist in a threatening manner, he threw a wrench or, in the Gates house, maybe a book. If the subject does any of those things, cops always write it out with precision. When they've got nothing, they use phrases that mean nothing. Phrases like tumultuous behavior.

Unless you confess to a crime,or threaten to commit a crime, there is nothing you can say to a cop that makes it legal for him to arrest you. You can tell him he is stupid, you can tell him he is ugly, you can call him racist, you can say anything you might feel like saying about his mother. He has taken an oath to listen to all of that and ignore it. That is the real teachable moment here — cops are paid to be professionals, but even the best of them are human and can make stupid mistakes.

snip

The president was right when he called the arrest stupid. It doesn't mean Crowley is stupid. It means that, in that moment, he made a stupid choice. Barack Obama has made some stupid choices on occasion too. We all do. Everyone who is defending Crowley's arrest, including his union, needs to re-read his report. There is a crime described in there. In fact, Sergeant Crowley's report is a written confession of the crime of false arrest.

See when you strip all the other BS out of the way as President Obama himself did during the press conference, it still boils down to a stupid decision by the police officer to arrest Gates for yelling at him. There is no such charge and because Sgt James Crowley is supposed to be the professional in that interaction the onus is actually on him to deescalate the situation. Guess what would have done the most to turn down the volume? Crowley and the rest of the cops leaving that's what. Arresting a man at his own home did the opposite of that, whether it was because of race or just ego tripping. And thats what we call around my way stupid.

And Pat Buchanan Thinks He Has It Rough.

How many white professors do you think would be arrested for trying to get into their own home?