Regarding the arrest of Mr. Louis Gates, I do not believe the call to the police was racially motivated, or even the subsequent arrest due to his belligerent behavior. If I had seen two WHITE men appearing to force their way into a home, I would be the first to call the cops. I would base my suspicions on the BEHAVIOR that was being exhibited, and not on race or any other IRRELEVANT factor. Unfortunately, due to the sad history of racism in this country, I can see why some would regard this incident as being racially motivated. Mr. Gates belongs to a privileged class. A working class bloke of any race would not have gotten the charges dropped. This case smacks more of classism than racism.

Carolyn Casey
Boston, MA

Sharon I hate to tell you the story was in the press right away. Gates wasted no time at all in getting it into the press.
I think both parties are wrong here. Gates was belligerent and he was arrested by an over zealous cop. The police officer involved has refused to apologize and has been interviewed by Fox news. My impression of him is that he is also a bit arrogant. This is about class, race and Harvard which is not well liked in Cambridge. I’m not sure what is going on here, but one thing is sure, the Cambridge Police department now has a huge PR nightmare.

I have to agree with Carolyn Casey that this incident is more one of class than race. Basically this sounds like a conflict of egos in a face-off power play. Joan Vennochi nailed this in the Globe today when she called this a case of machismo. A Harvard professor with a sense of entitlement comes up against a police officer with a sense of dignity. Clash! Pow! Crowley should have just done a 180 and walked away. Instead he is guilty of charging a man with the crime of arrogance. Where’s the crime? Just another example of class warfare, I’m afraid.

Don, are you trying to be offensive? Because if you are it’s working. As far as your attempt at satire, well it’s not very funny and I have a good sense of humor.

I don’t think bad jokes on any side of this issue is constructive.

Maybe you should take a creative writing class at the Harvard extension school.

Hi Rich. I get what you’re saying. In the reporting we’ve done for this week’s show, I’ve asked several people the following question: what is the practical standard for disorderly conduct employed by officers in the field?

I honestly don’t think we’ve gotten a satisfactory answer, just lots of “it’s a discretionary call, blah blah blah.”

We’ll be touching on this with an NEU criminologist during the show. That said, I really do think race either was or has become the defining dynamic in this incident, and it deserves some unpacking, particularly from a local perspective.

Maybe you’re right; maybe this is a tempest in a teapot. Or maybe it started out that way, and the teapot has since blown its lid. I favor the later interpretation.

Here’s my #1 rule of producing a talk show: generally speaking, whatever it is you find yourself talking about with both your friends AND your dental hygienist in the same week is what your show should be about.

Just about everyone around me has been talking about Henry Louis Gates, and how race may or may not have played into his arrest.

Sometimes a talk show can take the public discourse on an unexpected field trip, but most days we just show up to class and open our books to the same page everyone else is on.

Our job in the later instance is to bring context, insight, and civility to the conversation that everyone else is already having. That’s what we’ll try to do tomorrow.

while reading the comments here it is amazing how the stories facts have been twisted. Mr. Gates came back from China, not France, which is a long flight, can be over 18 hours with connections. He also did not refuse to show his ID as Janet has said. He did show his ID, several sets from what has been reported in various media outlets including this one.

I think another interesting aspect of this story is how the day after President Obama’s press conference on health care reform all the mainstream media shows from Good Morning America to the Nightly News ran with Obama’s comment on the Cambridge police department. While I think the President should have stayed out of it on a personal level, it was still astounding how this story has completely taken health care out of the head lines.

The more I think about this and watch the two sides draw their lines in the sand it is clear this is more about class then race. Mr. Gates is fast losing any sympathy from me by calling Sgt. James Crowley a rouge police man. This is off base and hes playing the victim card to the max in my opinion. That said, Sgt. James Crowley is coming across as kind of arrogant and he has increased the level of this I suspect because it seems the rank and file of his department has enabled him as well as the general public and some media outlets who seem to have taken sides in the issue.

I can say one thing for sure, President Obama will not be getting any endorsements from the police unions in the next election.

Understandable that the police would come when called to an upscale neighborhood. Doing their difficult job. I commend them. No blame. Seems like both Gates and Crowley were hot-headed. Not a great idea to arrest a man out of his own home who has proved who he is and that he lives there. Many white folks seem to think this isn’t racist. Many black folks seem to think it is.

Cooler heads on both parts would have made this a different event. Should a police officer arrest a senior man with a cane who just got back from a very long trip in his own home even if he’s upset? Was he threatening with a gun? Was he threatening to hurt the police or himself? I think Crowley made a mistake taking it that far.

Maybe both Gates and Crowley need some updated race relations communications training.

I had heard early on regarding this incident, that there was a refusal to produce ID. Apparently, that was in error and I am as well. My apologies to Professor Gates.

The Cambridge police should be careful how they tread. So should all police forces. The record of policing in this country is not good. Now they act like victims! They want the governor and the President to apologize? Do they really want to start this?

I absolutely agree with Carolyn Casey above. The media has failed to explore the classism at play in this situation. As someone who has observed the insufferable self importance of some Harvard types, I can see how this situation might have spiraled out of control.

When will we learn that if we keep looking for something, we’ll find it! A “victim mentality” predisposes the so-afflicted to see (almost) everything as victimization.

We, as a society, need to understand that tolerance and mutual respect doesn’t include the concept of a “victim” from either perspective and we all should act accordingly.

Why did the neighbor not know who lived there? That’s the racial mistake in the first place.

How dearly ironic. Here is an encounter between two individuals who have both made efforts in their respective careers and lives to transcend the ugly race legacy in America. Here’s a Harvard professor who’s identity is embedded in advocating racial equality in America. He encounters a public servant, a police officer, who, by press accounts, has gone out of his way in his career to bring fairness and race-blind justice to police practices. Who was the wise man who stepped back from the abyss of ego’s grip? And thus, the Sisyphean stone arrives at the base of the mountain again.

L wonder about 2 things with regard to the reporting of this incident. First, why is the woman who called the police, Ms. Lucia Whalen, repeatedly referred to as a “neighbor.” Being a neighbor implies that one lives in the area, and has some familiarity with the other residents. My understanding of the reports is that she merely works nearby. I would certainly not consider myself a neighbor in that part of Cambridge, despite having worked and studied nearby for a period of years. The use of “neighbor” tends to give more credibility to her observation than it clearly deserved. It also adds to the perception that as a white woman, she clearly “belongs” in the neighborhood, while an African-American must justify his presence.

Second, I am distressed that Prof. Gates right to see ID from the officer is given short shrift. We do need to comply with legitimate police directives, but we have a right to know that the person giving them is on fact really a police officer. And as a former costumer, I can assure you that it is all too easy to procure a believable police uniform, complete with hardware. Women are regularly warned to ask for official ID from police and other government employees before allowing them entry into one’s home, or getting out of one’s car. Warned, I might add, by police officers working on public safety issues.

I can understand Prof. Gates predicament. I personally experienced similar treatment with the same police force. I am a colored person and I had just pulled my car over to a valid parking meter to take a phone call (near MIT). While I was in the car talking on the phone, the police officer walked over and issued a parking ticket while I was still present in my car.
Moreover, the same officer passed by without issuing a ticket to a white woman who ran to put coin the meter.
To add insult to the injury, appeal does not work no matter what proof you present!

Does anyone else appreciate the irony of Afr.Amer males of the highest rank- a President, a Governor and a Harvard Professor crying Racism? (not to mention the slew of A-A male commentators wading into the fray) Only the Mayor, a female by the way, is the voice of reason in this mess. If we want to discuss “isms”, ask the experts; Clinton, Palin and Sotomayer(sp). We might also ask the 75 year old white grandmother who was tasered by her local police. The tragic thing is that we are now discussing this when we should be discussing Health Care. Thank you, Prof. Gates.

Consider this scenario from a slightly different angle. It is known that the officers were responding to a citizen report of a possible break in. Now supposed it had been an actual break in and there were a criminal in another room of the house in a position to be a serious threat to the resident. How would the officer act, after determining the resident was in his/her own home? The officer does not know if a break in has occurred or not at this point.

The most obvious answer would be to ask the person to step outside where he/she would be out of potential harm’s way and could honestly speak with the officer and report any potential threat.

Suppose that had been the case, and the officer simply left after seeing the ID and then the resident were seriously harmed or killed? Would there be calls of racism because the officer had not done a proper job?

Remember – the officer was responding to a reported potential situation and did not know the facts. It was prudent of him to determine there was no actual threat. Anything less is poor policing.

Gates overreacted and owes the officers an apology.

All reports indicate that the officer was just doing his job – treating Gates as he would anyone else who was tinkering to get into a house, then refused to provide ID, and then became belligerent. But the media is again the source of much of the problem with this issue = just as when anyone who didn’t vote for Obama was a “racist,” the media frames this as a racism issue rather than what it was – an arrogant Harvard Prof who thinks he should be treated differently from others. Worse yet, we have stations like WBUR that have as “expert” guests people like Lowry, who concedes he’s a racist and assumes everyone else is too (his comment was that he drew his conclusions about the incident based on the fact that he’s an African-American and that an Irish American would “of course” support the police officer). What we need in this country are people who treat one another based on their actions – Blacks who acknowledge that the police officer was right; whites who are outraged when true racism occurs. We surely don’t need more media that tries to foment further mistrust and bias, and offers guests like racist professors. My only other comment is: when I was a Harvard student, we used to say that – in order of size – here’s the earth, here’s the sun, and here’s a Harvard professor’s ego.

STREETCORNER POLITICIAN
PATROL OFFICERS TOOL BOX
RE: A Harvard Scholar and Cambridge Street Cop
CONFLICT RESOLUTION, SOCIAL INTERACTION SKILLS & CONTEMPT OF COP
COPYRIGHT © 2009
In the police academy we spend hours and hours learning how to fire a gun and then we have to go back to the gun range on a regular basis, but not one class or even one hour is spent crafting the best way to talk with citizens. A famous criminologist in his studies of American police used the phrase “Streetcorner” Politician to describe the uniformed police officer. What comes to mind of recent is the firestorm over what President Obama had to say about the actions of the Cambridge, MA police officer who arrested Harvard Scholar Henry Louis Gates. The racial issues are real and require the Nation’s attention. However, there is an issue as significant, namely the social skills of the men and women assigned to police patrol duties throughout the United States. As a street cop, I knew the power of my spoken word.
Any big city cop worth his salt knows that what he\she says or omits to say when interacting with citizens determines whether the situation escalates or winds down. I worked with officers who came barreling, blindly and stupidly onto scenes shouting that someone was going to jail(!). I and other officers acted differently, we showed to scenes with a toolbox of conflict resolution and social interaction skills. By example, simply refraining from the use of word “You” would often save day and avoid the need to arrest anyone, since human beings, when in crisis, may assume the word to be Accusatory. To insure resolution of a call-for-service, I and thousands of competent problem solvers in uniform say to citizens “We”: “How can we resolve the situation?” This is empowerment passed onto the citizen. The resulting resolution more likely to last since human beings typically do not destroy things that they have created. Furthermore, constant employment of good conflict resolution skills by cops reduces repeat calls-for-service; engenders officer-safety; dispels stereotypical notions; and knocks out mistrust and distrust between police and citizens.
What happened in between a Harvard Doctor and street cop from Cambridge was a Testosterone laden confrontation fueled by ego of, and misconceptions held by, both men. The Cambridge event can be characterized as a war between Academia\Science and street cop subculture, the latter filled with the unwritten rule that citizens who dare question our authority must, and will, go to jail merged with our erroneous colorful notions, that citizens are troublemakers. Consider this final point, the scientific research shows that the extent to which conflict resolution skills are used by police when dealing with Blacks are simply: “cut it out or you are going to jail.” Rather, when police interact with whites: “How can we work together to resolve this problem. Now consider how, if we as a nation capitalize on the Cambridge event with an eye on causing our patrol officers to personify courtesy and problem solving skills, then arrests will decrease as will calls for service. Most important, respect by citizens for police in the U.S. will increase.

Dr. Christopher C. Cooper, Ph.D., Criminologist; Attorney at Law (Civil Rights)
Former Washington DC Police Officer and United States Marine
1987 Graduate: John Jay College of Criminal Justice Mediation & Conflict Resolution Program
National Black Police Association, Washington DC
cooperlaw3234@gmail.com Tel: 312 371 6752

This is an unfortunate episode which teaches us mainly about the law of unintended consequences, and which has distracted our President from staying focused on one of many issues which he is passionate about and which needs immediate attention. As far as the two parties involved, they might have handled it differently if they were quicker on their feet. Professor Gates might have said that he was tired, jet-lagged and was slightly upset about not being able to get into his house to the officer. When rested, he might have given a dissertaion to his students(and the country) about how racism is an abomination, but that situations arise where racism is not at play, and how one could jump to the wrong conclusion, especially when police are trying to do their job. After all, someone else could have been breaking into the professor’s house, and he would have been appreciative of the quick action of a neighbor and rapid response of the police to protect his domain. Officer Crowley could have just asked for ID, then realizing that this was the actual owner of the house, winked at the professor for the mixup, and left, just as he might have done if the professor were white, knowing that white people generally don’t have to cry racism in this society, as they have never been victimized. Both parties could have ackowledged the irony of the situation and parted on a friendly basis. Instead, we are now obsessing over a nonissue, will soon forget about it’s significance and go about our business like the attention deficit society that we have become.

There is a world of difference between the facts and the truth…sometimes the facts obscure the truth. The focusing of the arrest in this case as motivated by race and racial profiling has obscured that this is also a case of discretionary arrest for “contempt of cop” and that more often then not, it is a black or Latino or Asian, depending on the neighborhood and the time of the stop or the police and citizen encounter. Mr. Gates may have overreacted, however, the police officer exercised his discretion to arrest not because he was in fear if eminent physical harm but because Mr. Gates had the audacity to challenge the police officer’s authority. It is police discretion and how it is individually utilized that underlies this national discussion. I am not recommending that police not have the ability to exercise their discretion… but how is it monitored, reviewed and informed?

The Gates-Crowley incident was stupid.
I agree with Jeffet that belligerence and overzealousness are to blame. And it is silly to turn belligerence and overzealousness into a national story.
I am tired of hearing the story over and over and over again, on your station and on every other news outlet; yesterday’s teary statement by the witness was pathetic overkill. And the “beer diplomacy?” The whole thing has become inane, diminishing the importance of a sad, but true condition. And an ad for beer companies.

Gates is an elitist person that thinks the sky is the limit because he is a Harvard professor.
As a Harvard professor he is to teach patience and respect not bulling.
No one should be yelling at a police officer even at their own home. Respect should be mutual.