"I don’t know – not having been there and not seeing all the facts – what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two that he Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home," Obama said in response to a question from the Chicago Sun-Times's Lynn Sweet.
Gates, Obama allowed, "is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts."
However Gates, he continued, "jimmied his way to get into [his own] house."
"There was a report called in to the police station that there might be a burglary taking place – so far so good," Obama said, reflecting that he'd hope the police were called if he were seen breaking into his own house, then pausing.
"I guess this is my house now," he remarked of the White House. "Here I’d get shot."
Undergirding the long digression, though, was Obama's place as a new symbol of racial reconciliation, and his long past in the trenches of the politics of race and discrimination in the Illinois State Senate.
"Separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-American and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately," the president said, eagerly engaging the issue of racial profiling, a concern earlier in his career that has seen little White House attention to date......Politico -- July 2009
What's happening around Houston for MLK Day
[snip} WEDNESDAY • University of Houston history professor Tyrone Tillery, a former Detroit NAACP director and an award-winning author, will consider how King might have viewed current U.S. race relations in a 4 p.m. presentation at Smith Neighborhood Library, 3624 Scott.
Some of her complaints were of urine splattered toilet seat lids and foul language.....in a station with 48 out of 50 firemen using the restroom being male. Hmmmm She sounds alot like my wife talking to me and my two sons.
When the captain with the noose in his locker came forward he stated it was from his days as a rookie in training. One of the first things a rookie fireman does in training is ropes and knots. Over and over for days you carry around a 10 foot piece of rope creating different types of knots to secure ladders, axes and supplies to be hauled over peoples heads to upper stories of buildings. While a hangmans noose isnt taught its very common to see people making them while playing around. And the article doesnt say hangmans noose, just "noose". Could have been a slip knot for all we know.
How many times have you heard of a sexual accusation against a coworker that turned out to be false? Often right? A male accused doesnt stand a chance to rebutt even with witnesses if they are male.
What they wont tell you is that women who become firemen often dont have to pass the same physical tests as males in order to satisfy quotas, though a few do. Males resent it, and who wouldnt when 5000 males try out, 100 females try out and 100 males are chosen and 30 females? I have worked with several females who were very capable, strong, smart and great to have on any crew, but they were few and far between.
I think there is much more to the problem than this article and your assessment takes into account.