Posted on 07/23/2009 7:04:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Last night while watching Obama address the country on health care, I was indeed shocked like everyone else when Lynn Sweet asked Obama what he felt about Skip Gates. I was both, disappointed that she was derailing the focus on health care and anxious about the potential answer. Obama has not talked much about violence or police brutality, even though during his administration there have been many incidents of violence between police and people of color.
So what did he actually say? Watch the video below.
(VIDEO AT LINK)
(Transcript after the jump.)
I never imagined that he would make jokes about "getting shot in front of the White House," and how "it could have been me." These comments show an understanding of racial profiling that no other president has ever had. Being so candid in expressing these comments, I almost wondered if it was political suicide. Granted, Obama has worked on the issue of racial profiling in Chicago so he has experience on the topic and maybe it would seem odd if he were to deny it.
But what are the implications of what he said? As Adam Serwer said on twitter (yes on twitter), " Reporters are going to act like this was a "betrayal" of a post-racial promise Obama never actually made." Obama is defying the most popular election/post-election meme which is that we are in a "post-racial" time. Many whites in this country are committed to the idea of being in a post-racial space, it makes them feel relieved and less bad about the racism of the past. It also gives them a pass on harboring racist sentiments about things like affirmative action. Furthermore, Obama's comments reminded Americans (who are more committed to the task of remembering to forget racism) that Obama is actually black like "those" that can be picked up by the cops, not "almost white" or a "decent black," that isn't a threat to you. That racism is so endemic in our society even the POTUS can't get away from it. I have written about this tension amongst moderate/liberals about the legibility of his blackness (and will shamelessly quote myself here),
"With these two frames about race, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. On one hand, we recognize the clear and blatant racist attacks that Obama is facing. On the other, we claim not to notice or care that the first black president is actually black. The simple truth is that in fact there are Americans voting for Barack Obama because he is the best choice AND because it is important for us to have a black president. As we said over and over again during the Democratic primary, gender is a factor but not *the only factor* in choosing a candidate to support. The same goes for race. But this tension -- is race a major factor or a non-existant factor? -- is at the heart of this election, and I don't believe it is proof that we are in a post-racial space. Perhaps we are stuck somewhere in the middle of two different ways of understanding race. It is so important that Barack Obama is elected (and obviously not just because he is black) but let us not forget what this election is bringing out in all of America -- and not just the "real" Americans as defined by McCain and Palin. We must continue to push the way we understand race in American society and push to change the racist conditions these beliefs have created. Saying that we are post-racial or don't see race does not change the actual condition of our country."
Given this ambivalent relationship Americans have with understanding race, holding the post-racial frame feels damn good. Sadly, what the situation with Skip Gates shows us is that we are not in a post-racial space, just like we are not in a post-capitalist space. Poor people, people of color, women and other disenfranchised communities are the ones suffering the most due to the economy and suffering from lack of health care. As Serwer states at the end of his must-read piece on Obama's comments from last night, the worst thing that could happen is that the GOP uses his opinions on the cops to stop health care reform,
My first thought upon hearing what Obama said was that he may have allowed his opponents a crucial opening to destroy health-care reform. He certainly should have chosen his words more carefully, and if I'm being completely honest I'd say this was the wrong moment to be real with the American people on race. There's an unfortunate, and longstanding myth that racism is something that victimizes people of color. The truth is that institutionalized racism has always been a disaster for this entire country, economically, socially, and politically. If health-care reform is derailed because the GOP effectively exploits racial fault lines, and allows the argument over health care to become one over how the president hates the police and doesn't want them to protect you from all the scary black men out there, it will prove that race still has the power to make Americans abandon their most immediate interests in the name of petty tribalism.
I am nervous to see what is to come.
(VIDEO AT LINK)
(Transcript)
OBAMA'S ANSWER ON GATES
"Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts.
What's been reported though is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house. There was a report called in to the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. So far, so good, right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger into -- well, I guess this is my house now, so..."
(LAUGHTER)
"... it probably wouldn't happen. But let's say my old house in Chicago."
(LAUGHTER)
"Here, I'd get shot."
(LAUGHTER)
"But so far, so good. They're -- they're reporting. The police are doing what they should. There's a call. They go investigate what happens.
My understanding is, at that point, Professor Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in. I'm sure there's some exchange of words. But my understanding is, is that Professor Gates then shows his I.D. to show that this is his house and, at that point, he gets arrested for disorderly conduct, charges which are later dropped.
Now, 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 the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact.
As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois, we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know, race remains a factor in the society.
That doesn't lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made. And yet the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, this still haunts us.
And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause.
And that's why I think the more that we're working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody is going to be."
I want to know what Hussein has to say about the Black Panthers stopping people from voting in Philly.
You know, the ones that his DOJ dropped the charges on?
“There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs-partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915.)
What is a feministing?
“What is a feministing?”
It’s what the NOW gang does when they get together.
What are you talking about the African American Gentlemen poll worker who was busy telling people how they
“Were about to be ruled by the black man, CRACKER!”
No, everyone in the US knows very well that the whole thread she's referring to was a put up deal by a crazy former reporter in BC and his friends at sites like hers.
Not at all the sort of thing anyone decent needs to know more about eh!
Wow! Reading Samihata’s post is like watching a train wreck.
I dont know how this person can function in life.
And running counter to Booker T. Washington was, of course, W.E.B. DuBois, one of Gates’ role models and the namesake of the “institute” that Gates runs at Harvard. For DuBois and his intellectual/political descendants, e.g. Gates, Malcolm X, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, et al, continued grievance is both a political tactic and a way of life. Washington was far more interested in an actual functioning society, in which racism can be overcome because stereotype and polarization are no longer valid forms of identity. MLK thought along much the same lines.
a verb
an action verb
This is all such crap.
The cop was trying to do his job.
Gates acted like an @sshole.
End of story.
Thank you. That's one of my favorites.
Perhaps the business has become the most lucrative industry in America.
It’s not racial profiling that got Gates arrested, there was probable cause to investigate; the arrest was for “contempt of cop” from the front stairs.
Lynn Sweet was set up to ask the question. Rush called it for what it was—a red herring, a distraction from the Obama health care crash and burn.
Obama's Gatesgate
President Obama's Approval Nosedives
Ugly white racism and hate, explains White House. Urges increased donations to civil rights groups
I just checked the DUmmies:
47 votes for Gates
2 votes for the policeman
Deluded.
I want to know what Hussein has to say about the Black Panthers stopping people from voting in Philly.
You know, the ones that his DOJ dropped the charges on?”
I understand the DOJ did that AFTER they had all been convicted and were awaiting sentencing....More of NObama’s influence???
I’m aware of the circumstances of the arrest. But don’t start this leftist “contempt of cop” idiocy: disorderly conduct was a legitimate charge, and Gates is lucky that they didn’t tack on resisting arrest.
These “women” went after my website a few years ago. They are nasty hags with no sense of humor. Read the comments, they truly are nuts.
Here’s their attack on me from a few years ago.
http://feministing.com/archives/008312.html
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