Did a rogue cop intentionally provoke the professor in order to entice him into an arrest? Can rogue cops be behind the negative image of some police departments? Are they why some people charge racism and discrimination?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Now that President Barack Obama has weighed in on the debate in the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., it takes national attention. The response against the heavy-handed handling of the arrest has drawn spotlight on the Cambridge Police force.
CNN Soledad O’Brien interviewed the professor, after President Obama stated that the police acted stupid.
When the commander-in-chief makes a statement like that, we can rest assured that he has a Justice Department file on the case, and knows more than the average public.
"I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played," Obama said Wednesday night while taking questions after a White House news conference.
Cambridge authorities dropped disorderly conduct charges against Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Tuesday.
Obama defended Gates on Wednesday night, while admitting that he may be "a little biased," because Gates is a friend.
"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 ... that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."
It’s as simple as 1-2-3. Even a caveman can understand it.
Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons talks with American Morning about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin
http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/
http://educationofeddiegriffin.blogspot.com/
http://eddiegriffinbiblestudy.blogspot.com/
Hey Eddie!
ReplyDeleteI just knew that you were going to write a post about that mess of a documentary on CNN "Black In America 2"!!
As for the Gates situation, I am wondering why he didn't call 911 at his front door and request a supervising officer on the scene. If there is ever a situation between the responding officer and the person, that person has a right to request a supervising officer.
I don't understand why Gates went into the whole "this is racist" thing when he could have just called for the supervisor on duty...
I am not blaming the victim but daaaaang... how old is this man and he doesn't know how to handle the racist po-po by now?
Here are the keyords in the essay:
ReplyDelete13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 2012 Election, B.E.T., Barack Hussein Obama, Booker T. Washington, Bryant Park, Cipriani's, Colin Powell, Criminal Industrial Complex, Deb Slott, Do The Right Thing, Heidi Klum, Hip-Hop, Mark Penn, Melting Pot, Pink Elephant, Racism, Reconstruction, Robert Johnson, Seal, Segregation, Shelby Steele, Sidney Poiter, Sonia Sotomayor, Spike Lee, Tavis Smiley, Terrence Yang, The Dance Flick, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Virginia Davies, W.E.B. Dubois, Zero Mostel, Politics
Prologue to Obama 2012
We approach the future walking backwards, our gaze forever fixated on the past. Predicting the future is not a passive exercise; we invent it every day with our actions.
I began the sketches for what would ultimately become Obama 2012 in March 2007, a month after Barack Obama declared his candidacy. I had spent much of the previous 18 months living abroad as an entrepreneur and statesman of sorts, and I was slightly out of touch with the pulse of life on the street in the United States. I learnt about Sen. Barack Obama’s Springfield, IL speech formally declaring his candidacy for president of the United States through one of the international cable news channels and thought how great it would be to have a fresh start after years of mediocrity in Washington and a plummeting reputation around the world.
By September, after what seemed like raising a six-month-old child, my sketches had turned into Why the Democrats Will Win in 2008 the Road to an Obama White House. It was my answer to the burning question everyone had back in March: Can he really win? Actually, not everyone thought it was a question. For many people, including Mark Penn, director of the Clinton campaign, the answer was an easy “no way.” This strategic blunder made it that much easier for the Clinton campaign to be defeated. Then there were Black pundits like Shelby Steele, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, who came out with a 2007 book entitled A Bound Man, Why Obama Can't Win.
Being Black did seem to be an automatic disqualification, but then why did someone need to write an entire book arguing what should have been patently obvious? Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell came to my mind and I remembered that he could have run for president in 1992 as a war hero. But Colin Powell was Ronald Reagan’s protégé and got a special pass on the race question. Black conservatives like Justice Thomas, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell were careful to disassociate themselves from liberal thinkers and activists like Jesse Jackson, who lost, as expected, the 1984 and 1988 Democratic primaries. Ultimately, Colin Powell, in spite of all his honors, declined to run for president. His wife Alma feared for his safety. Common sense said that a candidate like Obama, for numerous insurmountable reasons, didn't stand a chance of winning the Democratic primary, let alone a general election in which 10% of the electorate is African American and Republicans controlled the White House for 20 of the preceding 28 years. But I decided that Obama's chances merited a closer examination. In it, I would bring to bear my gambling skills.
Navas, Interestingly well written. What gambling skills?
ReplyDeleteYes, even a caveman should understand...
ReplyDeleteFinally broke my silence on the Henry Louis Gate Arrest. Ya'll can read it here if you are so inclined.
New essay "The Gates Affair:Why We Care" yours to publish
ReplyDeleteDear readers and webmasters,
Author Daniel Bruno Sanz has written an essay about Gatesgate. We encourage its publication and distribution.
Regards,
Navas S.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
- 4th Amendment to the The Constitution of the United States of America