The colleagues of Creepy Crowley are asking for an apology from Obama. Obama seems to be giving in somewhat. It is obvious that Creepy Crowley arrested Professor Gates despite the fact that Professor Gates gave him a Harvard University ID as well as a driver's licence. It is understandable that Gates was angry, he did nothing illegal and his arrest simply cannot be justified.
It is clear that it was too much for Creepy Crowley that a black man was insisting to get his badge number. My view remains the same that Creepy Crawly should be let go. He is not fit to be a police officer. Racism is well and alive and folks use "N" word freely when a black person is not around. I have heard this in Canada and in the US, especially in the Southern US, although this incident happened in Massachusetts.
If the Cambridge police release the audio of the arrest, maybe we will have a better picture of what actually happened. So far, it's a he said/he said kind of thing. My feeling it is the neighbour who called 911 who is the evil party in this unfortunate episode. Now, I'm not a cop kinda guy - the best part of moving to Canada from the States is that the cops down there are scarier than the criminals - but I know that we will not know just how deranged Crowley or Gates is until we get the arbiter of truth rolling on tape.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting guest post over at Crooked Timber by a police officer and philosopher who went through the various elements of the case and offered his perspective.
ReplyDeletehttp://crookedtimber.org/2009/07/23/police-discretion-a-different-perspective/
But the bottom line is the cop took Gates umbrage 'personally'. That Obama has invited both of them over to the WH for a beer is backtracking and that is sad. O calls it a teaching moment. Yeah, all hail the ones with the big sticks and the laws that allow the use of them. It's a wonder he wasn't tazed for being so uppity. The creeping authoritarianism is a form of blackmail.
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ReplyDeleteWoops! That last comment was from me Ledaro, I didn't realize someone else was already logged in on this computer! lol
ReplyDeleteHere it is again:
Come on Ledaro, are police officers not entitled to the presumption of innocence?
I'm not saying Crowley is innocent or that whatever he did was right, but we only have one side of the story.
President Obama is a good man, and will surely turn out to be a great president, but it was a huge mistake to take Gates' side all the while admitting he did not have all the facts.
Don't you think we should at least wait to see what kind of independent evidence surfaces before we start demanding this man's head on a stick?
Thank you all for comments. Toe I tend to agree with you.
ReplyDeleteJymn and Fish, here is the problem with Crowley. Gates is over 50 years old, frail and walks with the help of a cane. Can he be threat to anyone let alone to a physically strong policeman? Crowley was upset as his badge number was being asked. How dare a black man ask his badge number? It was his personal ego which was bruised and he wanted to teach the professor a lesson.
Moreover, Gates is highly educated and sophisticated individual and I do believe he was provoked and probably got angry and spoke in a loud voice what Crowley calls unruly behaviour. Crowley is surely not sophisticated or that well educated. He is used to giving orders and not used to someone talking back to him especially not a black man. It was simply too much for his big ego.
Jymn, you’re from US and you know the situation well. I did travel different parts of US including New York city, Washington D.C and south. I saw some horrible things. In Washington D.C I was advised by the hotel staff not to go into the black neighbourhoods. Whenever issue of black committing crimes is raised my response is that it is not the colour of the skin but poverty and helplessness and because of that poverty and helplessness people strike back at the society. There are hundreds of studies which show that. I knew a professor who grew up in Harlem N.Y. He was not black but being from poor family suffered and told horrible stories how law enforcement authorities treated the residents and how his friends chose gangs and crimes. Although he was one of the few who survived the neighbourhood and got university degree and Ph.D and got a teaching job.
I just do not buy Crowley’s excuses in this particular case. Given the high profile of the case he is setting an awful example.
Oh my God, Ledaro no!
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect buddy, that is exactly the kind of elitist talk that gives us Liberals a bad name!
How can you possibly assume that Crowley is uneducated? I know a few police officers with law degrees, and a lot of the major police forces require at least a college diploma.
Even if Crowley has no more than a high school diploma, how can you possibly think that makes him a thug, much less begin to tellthe world what another human being, whom you've never met, was thinking during an incident that occurred, to which you were not a witness?
As for your Harlem comparison,your argument basically amounts to saying that because other police officers have committed crimes, and Crowley is a police officer, therefore he must be guilty.
I'm not saying that Crowley is innocent, just that he has the right to tell his side of the story.
Gates is a powerful man, with connections to the White House and the media. I'd say right off the bat, the advantage belongs to him.
Fish, I listened to interviews by Crowley. All he has proved so far is that he has the privilege to arrest anyone he thinks is unruly. How do you define unruly? If he was sophisticated he would have not provoked Gates and arrest him after he presented two ID’s. I am not saying all police is bad. I have known many cops who are very decent and nice people. As a matter of fact at one time an RCMP officer was my neighbour. I could not ask for a better neighbour. The circumstances under which Crowley arrested Gates make it very suspicious – because he was talking loud. Com’n, Fish.
ReplyDeleteFish, you may like to read this news story on MSNBC
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32136369/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times
Here is a little clip from the story:
"Senator Adams said black men were more likely to be locked up for what in police parlance is called getting “lippy.”
“The ‘uppity Negro,’ ” he said. “You may not have committed a crime, but you know what? You’ve got a big mouth.”
What a juvenile post.
ReplyDeleteGood to meet a grown-up. Thank you aunty Catnip. Where do you live? On Mars?
ReplyDeleteWhat is a "juvenile" post.
ReplyDeletePlease explain.
Would that be like.... a juvenile arrest?
.
Oemissions, that is ok. Aunty Catnip is a fan of Stg. Crowley.
ReplyDelete