Posted on 07/21/2009 8:02:38 AM PDT by FromLori
Henry Louis Gates Jr, America's most famous black scholar, has accused local police of racism after he was arrested while trying to break into his own home near Harvard University.
According to a police report, officers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were called to the house on Thursday afternoon after a woman said she had seen a man "wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open".
According to police, an officer ordered the man to identify himself and Prof Gates refused.
He allegedly began calling the officer a racist, repeatedly saying: "This is what happens to black men in America." Officers said they tried to calm down the 58-year-old academic only for him to tell them: "You don't know who you're messing with." Prof Gates, who was named as one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine in 1997, was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behaviour". He was released later that day and is due to appear in court next month. He is the director of Harvard University's WEB du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“If he’s so famous, why have I heard of him only in news accounts about this incident?”
From Wikipedia:
Gates has been the recipient of nearly 50 honorary degrees and numerous academic and social action awards. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1981 and was listed in Time among its “25 Most Influential Americans” in 1997. On October 23, 2006, Gates was appointed the Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor at Harvard University. In January 2008, he co-founded The Root, a website dedicated to African-American perspectives published by The Washington Post Company. Gates currently chairs the Fletcher Foundation, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is on the boards of many notable institutions including the New York Public Library, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Aspen Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, HEAF (the Harlem Educational Activities Fund), and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, located in Stanford, California.[2]
In 2002 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Gates for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government’s highest honor for achievement in the humanities.[13] Gates’ lecture was entitled “Mister Jefferson and the Trials of Phillis Wheatley”[14] and was the basis for his book The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.[15]
In 2006, Gates was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution after he traced his lineage back to John Redman, a Free Negro who fought in the Revolutionary War.[16]”
I guess you guys don’t travel in the same circles. But, hey, YOU’VE never heard of him. ‘Nuff said.
I supppose you have a point there. Sorry... I don't get out too much, but just because you can find him on Wiki does not mean I've "heard of him". My sphere of acquaintances is apparently a bit smaller than yours; I'll just have to live with that.
Have a good day.
The National People’s Radio show I listened to this morning said there were “numerous witnesses/onlookers” to the event. I have yet to hear one interviewed or quoted.
That pretty much demonstrates to me this guy was behaving like a total a—hole and the media are covering up that part of the story.
Oops. you beat me to it.
>>It is amazing here that so many folks here are willing to take the cop’s word as gospel truth over the word of a property owner citizen arrested in his own hom.<<
Good point. I think I’ll use that argument with the judge next time I get a ticket.
I had a guy report me for hit and run once. Fortunately my wife was with me. While I was at the chiropractor the cops spotted my car in the parking lot and came in to confront me and my wife. They said a guy reported that I hit his car and took off about 20 minutes before. I showed ID, they looked at my car, I said I had no clue what they were talking about and that was that. I would have LOVED to see that guy in court though ( am aware of what car reported me and I never came within three feet of him). But I was courteous, kind and respectful because I at least TRY to put myself in the cops shoes in this sort of thing.
Heck, my car didn’t have a front license plate (illegal in my state) and they didn’t even mention it.
A little civility goes a long way.
And your point is.....what? That the police should have total discretion over your rights?
It works! A long, long time ago I fought a parking ticket. I asked the person wo gave me the ticket a convoluted series of questions leading up to, "Would you say my car was legally parked at the time you put the ticket on my windshield?" She answered, "Yes," and I told the judge I had no further questions. He gave me a lecture about how great it was to live in the United States, and then he let me go.
ML/NJ
My point is that when it is the cops word against yours, you may face challenges. Ultimately, you’ll probably be let go, of course, but you miss a day of work, etc.
In this case, it appears there were witnesses to the entire event, but who knows. I do know that I prefer not to be in situations where it is my word against the cop. I can better insure that by cooperating fully to reasonable requests. Maybe that is because I have more empathy with the challenges of their job than this professor does - and I don’t even trust the cops.
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