Looks like The Man has changed his mind: "A prosecutor is dropping a charge against prominent Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. after Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the city's police department recommended that the matter not be pursued. In a joint statement, Cambridge and the police department said they made the recommendation to the Middlesex County district attorney and the district attorney's office 'has agreed to enter a nolle prosequi in this matter,' meaning that it will not be pursued." Great! Everything's all right now!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
25
Nooooo! This is totally going to encourage minorities to get locked out of their own homes!
This sort of weak response by the DA will only encourage him to continue being black.
This weak response by the D.A. will only encourage Gates to continue being black.
They would have gotten it the first time around, jackass.
Removing "sort of" was a good decision, though.
I guess this is the year the world finds out that Harvard folks are as stupendously dumb as the rest of us.
Finally we as a society have achieved a state where all men are equal before the law, whether they be white or black Harvard professors.
The police have learned a valuable lesson. Next time they get a call about someone breaking into a house, they'll know better than to follow up!
HLG has learned the valuable lesson. When treated unfairly by the cops, "Do you know who I am?" gets you more places than "This is what happends to a black man in America."
Really? It seemed to me the situation began to deteriorate when he started with the "Do you know who I am?" shtik.
I encourage everybody to check out the photo of the incident over at the Boston Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090721source_police_recommend_dropping_charge_against_harvard_scholar/srvc=home&position=0
The "during arrest" shot looks to be in daylight. I thought this occurred in the middle of the night.
in daylight. on his front porch.
Thank you. Wow. Thousand words.
Ha! I am getting ads here for both L.L. Bean and McD's "Sweet Tea" promotion.
Obviously, these police officers were not Harvard grad-u-ates.
OMG remember when he told a dejected and incredulous Oprah she's not from South Africa?
YES! And she insisted that she was Zulu? And so he was like, uh, fine you're Zulu, you're Zulu.
The Globe notes that Gates was being dropped off by a car service bringing him back from the airport.
Which means he almost certainly had ID in his possession.
Oddly enough, he never suggests that he (a) showed it to the police or that they (b) saw it, ignored it, and cuffed him anyway.
So given that he should have had the means for a swift and peaceful resolution in his pocket, but elected not to use it (or talk about it when grandstanding after the fact) it's safe to assume that he got arrested because he wanted to. And who would possible want that?
Probably not a physics professor, that's for sure.
did you read any of the accounts of this story? He did show them ID -- drivers license (w/ his address) and Harvard faculty ID.
Two observations. First, I wonder is Cornel West is getting upset that when this incident first happened, Gates was being referred to as "one of the most preeminent scholars of African American studies...." and now, Brian Williams just called him ""The leading scholar of African American studies..."
Second: Toure is having a fucking MONTH. Between Michael Jackson dying and then being the token NBC guy (?) to comment, apparently, on all thinks "black," the one-name (like Twiggy!) guy is getting a ridiculous amount of more air.
"things"
if a cop had bailed me up in my own home after i had just got off a long flight i would have got bitey. though i'm a white chick, which means that my neighbours don't call the police even when i spend half an hour jemmying my bedroom window open with a crowbar.
i guess i'm being overly earnest, but i can't see what's obnoxious about gates' behaviour.
There was nothing obnoxious about it, as far as I'm concerned. Frankly, I can't believe so many people are calling for the smelling salts over his behaviour. What did he do that was so outrageous? Should he have been anything other than angry that a police officer was bullying him in his own home?
Cops can have an attitude because they are the ones with authority and if you say the slightest thing that questions that authority then off to jail you go. I do have a problem with Lucia Whalen who did not recognize the professor as I think the two of them have done fundraising events together. In addition, no one breaks into a house by way of the front door in the middle of the day because the person can be seen.