Posted on 07/25/2009 5:22:15 PM PDT by justkate
Sorry for the vanity but...
This morning (7/25) while watching America’s News HQ on Fox News, 2 guests were interviewed by Kelly Wright & Jamie Colby about the Gates/Crowley confrontation. One of the guests, a female prosecutor, clearly said,
“…he (meaning Gates) showed him (Crowley) his butt...”
At that point, Kelly Wright cut the woman off abruptly saying, “Now, we’re not going there.” The woman looked clearly perplexed & appeared to attempt a response. Wright , scowling, simply spoke over her until the camera moved to his other guest. I don't think the woman was heard from again during the segment.
Question: Did Gates used some obscene gesture (aka “mooning”) or perhaps pointed to that part of his anatomy, suggesting the officer kiss it? And is that why Crowley's Union lawyer said that the tapes might pick up Gates' tone and volume, "But it will not be the whole picture." (Boston Herald, "'Gates Tapes' May Reveal Angry Rants", By Richard Weir & Laura Crimaldi Saturday, July 25, 2009)
Kelly Wright’s somewhat hostile reaction to this guest left us stunned. It would have been far better had he let her finish the sentence so I didn't have to waste an entire Saturday trying the figger out what she was going to say before he cut her off.
I have looked all over hell n' gone for any reference to this exchange & found nothing. I never even got the names of the guests.
So, just hoping someone out there has this exchange recorded. Thanks.
I watched this segment, and that is exactly what happned. Kelly Wright was merely protecting Fox News from a potential controversy.
THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/013758.html
Gates and the Signifying Monkey
Paul K. writes:
While pondering the case of Professor Gates, I recalled that his breakthrough publication was “The Signifying Monkey” (1988), in which he argues that the Signifying Monkey is the central metaphor, “the trope of tropes,” in African-American literature. The Signifying Monkey is a trickster, an archetypal figure that enjoys stirring up trouble for its own sake or to rattle the powers that be.
In “Black Literature and Literary Theory,” Gates describes some of the Signifying Monkey’s antics. It seems that the professor may feel a strong affinity for the object of his study. For example, “The monkey, fed up with the lion’s roaring, decides to do something about it. He insults the lion publicly and at length-—his “mama” and his “grandmama, too...” (That sounds familiar from the police report.)
Gates also writes that “black rhetorical tropes subsumed under signifying would include ‘marking’, ‘loud-talking’, ‘specifying’, ‘testifying’, ‘calling out’ (of one’s name), ‘sounding’, ‘rapping’, and ‘playing the dozens’.” I have no idea what some of these terms mean but certainly “loud-talking” and “calling out” were demonstrated by Gates before his arrest. Gates also gives as an example of signifying, “to make fun of a policeman by parodying his motions behind his back.”
Perhaps most helpfully, Gates provides the following rhyme, which he describes as a popular African-American toast:
Deep down in the jungle so they say
There’s a signifying monkey down the way.
There hadn’t been no disturbin’ in the jungle for quite a bit,
For up jumped the monkey in the tree one day and laughed,
“I guess I’ll start some sh*t.”
This may help clarify Gates’s motives.
Reading that you wonder if Gates doesn’t like black people.
Hot damn...
So this whole thing was just African-American Performance Art which was misconstrued by the Cambridge police.
I had no idea...
The term “showed hit butt” was immediately cut off, probably thinking she was making claim that he actually dropped his pants for moon. Needless to say, it is a phrased used for another meaning, as shown in several posts above. It showed a quick “panic” by the Fox News people.
Show the tapes on TV! Everyone has the right to know what Professor Gates said and did to give probable cause for an arrest.
I am certain that a professional law enforcement person like Cowley did not “overreact”, as Obama would have us believe. Nor did he “pull” Gates out of his house. Gates pursued the sergeant outside, shouting a volley of obscenities. The sergeant did not know whether or not Gates may have had a concealed weapon (knife,gun, taser).
And now we hear that indecent exposure may have been involved. Maybe Gates was arrested for BEHAVING BLACK, not for BEING BLACK. Does the Old Goat think he’s a hip-hop artist or a rap gangsta?
Gates’ irrational behavior and disturbance of the peace were reason enough to slap the cuffs on him. Any officer—black, white or purple— would have done the same as Crowley.
Let’s hear the tape and let’s see what’s on the squad car camera.
Interesting.
There’s not much difference between a community activist and a community agitator.
Obama and Gates—signifying brothers?
I absolutely saw that. I even wrote to Kelly Wright and Fox News wanting to know why they cut the woman off. I thought Kelly was about to have a heart attack. It started when the first guest stated,” Now that the charges have been dropped, Gates can start a civil lawsuit. That is when the second guest named Shannon stated, “Lawsuit for what, dropping his pants and showing his butt to a police officer?” Right away Kelly shouted,”Shannon, Shannon don’t go there. Shannon, Shannon, stop, just stop. I am very disappointed with Fox News and Kelly Wright and can only guess that Harry Gates wants this all behind him because he knows he acted inappropriately and didn’t want the real truth coming out.
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