maysie.web.net

The story:

"  Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling. 

Police arrived at Gates's Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

He was booked for disorderly conduct after "exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior," according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.

...

The arrest of such a prominent scholar under what some described as dubious circumstances shook some members of the black Harvard community.

"He and I both raised the question of if he had been a white professor, whether this kind of thing would have happened to him, that they arrested him without any corroborating evidence," said S. Allen Counter, a Harvard Medical School professor who spoke with Gates about the incident Friday. "I am deeply concerned about the way he was treated, and called him to express my deepest sadness and sympathy."

Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because "I'm a black man in America.''  "

Link to the original news story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html

Link to Gates' statement: http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr

Link to the police report:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/CANON8AA683_LNOTESMAIL_07202009-153909.PDF

..... 

So, a progressive discussion board has a thread on this news item. My first comment there is, this is only news because it happened to someone who is well-known and prestigious. This kind of treatment, and worse, happens every day in the U.S. And Canada.

Some have innocently, or idiotically, said:

"Was this really racism?" 

"He shouldn't have yelled at the police."

"What should the white lady have done?" 

So I'm going to break it down here, from the very beginning.

Step 1: Gates arrives home and can't open his front door, he and his driver (who is also Black) are standing on his porch. It's during the day.  Gates tries to open the door by jamming against it with his shoulder.

White woman observes this (by the way, from the news reports we know she's white because her race is not identified).

The first thing she thinks is that there are two (TWO!!) Black men together. Oh the horror. Oh the entitlement. Oh the white space. Jamming open a door is what thieves do, right? Right? And there is NO OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION for two Black men on a front porch IN HER (white) neighbourhood than breaking in. Right? RIGHT?

FFS. 

Let's stop here. It's the middle of the day, in broad daylight, and this is happening on the FRONT PORCH. In a neighbourhood where PROFESSORS and other fawncy Hawvaard people live.

Please think about that. Let's let that sink in for a moment.

My thought is, if there are any thieves and robbers out there who would rob a house under such circumstances, they deserve to go to jail for lack of brains.

Step 2: White woman calls the police.

Step 3: The police arrive, and do the thing they do the best: act like assholes, deny that they refused to give their badge numbers when asked, make shit up, such as Gates was yelling so loud the cop couldn't hear the instructions on his radio? Come on, asshole, can't you be a little more creative than that? Fuck.

Step 4: Gates is charged, arrested and released. His mug shots are now all over the media. Once the charges aren't going to stick, the police will just do what they can to fuck him up.

Step 5: The charges are dropped. Link: http://wbztv.com/local/Henry.Louis.Gates.2.1094574.html

He was alleged to say "You don't know who you're messing with."

He was right. 

.... 

P.S. Answers to the above questions are: Fuck Yes!, Irrelevant, and NOT called the police.