And for national news...racial profiling or a police officer doing his job?
So I am sure you all have heard about this Gates faceoff that happened last week and for those who haven't the basic rundown is that: A phonecall was made to the police about a potential breakin. It turns out that this was the home of Professor Henry Gates, an African American Harvard professor and it was him who was breaking into his own home after finding the frontdoor jammed when he returned from a trip to China. The white police officer commenced to approach Mr. Gates, who then began yelling because they were questioning him about breaking into his own home and the police proceeded to arrest him saying that he acted belligerently. The police officer has been accused of racial profiling in unnecesarily taking the situation all the way to an arrest. Yet the police officer does not think he did anything wrong and was merely doing his job.
The whole thing really came to a head when Obama stated that the police officer "acted stupidly" by arresting Mr. Gates. So what do you think? Was the officer right in making the arrest because Mr. Gates was upset and yelling or should he have let it go, given there was clearly no illegal breakin going on? In other words...is this another case of racial profiling or was the police officer acting in accordance with the law?
4 comments:
Honestly I think both parties are in the wrong here, more Gates though.
The police officer has no reason to believe this man is any more important than homeboy up the street. He doesn't give a damn (or prolly even know) who the hell Henry Gates is and I'm almost positive Gates prolly was mouthin off tryna make the officer feel stupid and inferior. Usually this means insults, rather mean ones that I'm sure Mr. Gates used.
So the officer, who has a choice to either sit and listen to this BS or remind Mr. Gates NO ONE, not even his ole boosie behind is above the law. The arrest was not stupid--in fact I think it was warranted just because I know that Professor Gates was being an ass. The person who profiled racially was the person who put in the call, not the officer. The police officer couldn't have known this would be such a big deal so i don't blame him at all. Professor Gates lost some of my respect with this sh*t.
PS Barack only sees it from the perspective that a man was trying to get in his home and got arrested, but conveniently dismisses the high probability Mr. Gates deserved it. Bad on his part, cuz this was definitely not a profile situation turned bad. It was Dr. Gates being an ass and using this racial profilin' BS to try to cash in on an experience he knows nothing about. Damn BLACK MIDDLE CLASS--I hate this so much, hence my resentment for them.
Humility is a virtue.
Both parties are wrong but given the power that an officer has....the officer holds the greatest responsibility in the situation.
How would you react to the officer? I am not agreeing with throwing insults but who would be calm about the situation?
The officer did show responsibility--though he has to freedom to make judgments about each situation, he has no mandate to make the decision that seems best fit for long run, just the current situation. Dr. Gates was acting out and he has full legal power to arrest him. Many MIGHT say that's irresponsible, but the fact is we KNOW Dr. Gates was irresponsible by whatever qualifies in the law as threatening or belligerent behavior.
hmm..Question: [I have been out of town so not really keeping up with the news too much]
Was it made obvious/proven at any point that this was Mr. Gates' house? I mean anyone could say..oh "this is my house, I'm locked out and need to get in" But did was the officer made fully aware of this? if so how? just wondering since I haven't been keeping up.
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