BlackPerspective.net
Discussing the Diaspora as seen through an internal Black lens
Harvard Professor Gates, and Police Sgt Crawley To Visit White House
July 27th, 2009
Pissh…so Henry Gates, Jr and officer Crawley have now been invited to the white house to talk to the president.
Now ain’t that something? Black folks get harassed by cops everyday in “racial profiling” situations that result in much more dramatic consequences than Dr. Gates suffering the inconvenience of being taken down to the station for awhile. Folks who don’t have the money to scare the police off with expensive lawyers and don’t have the notoriety of Dr. Gates to get their charges dropped, and actually get caught up in all the fines, court cost, bail, and lawyers fees involved with having to go through the legal process; costing hundreds to thousands of dollars to people often living paycheck to paycheck or not even working regularly.
Then along with their criminal conviction, or still the aforementioned bills even if not convicted; they get to have their finances wrecked for months trying to pay this shit; or go to jail for not being able to pay.
Often, before all the aforementioned happens they get to be slammed down on concrete at the incident of arrest or even shot.
But the rich guy is the one who gets called to the white house. Regular people get much worse cases of this sort of thing everyday, and not a peep. Now that it’s a highfalutin Negro screaming about it, it’s a problem.
Isn’t that how it always goes? When something’s happening to regular folks it’s not a problem. When it happens to the elite class, then there’s an issue. When drugs were breaking down the fabric of ghetto to lower working class communities for 15 to 20 years; not much of an issue. As soon as it started becoming noticeable in white middle class neighborhoods; t hen it’s the number 1 issue in America, and we have a drug problem.
Coverage by the white mainstream media of this case is as always salacious, distasteful, uncomfortable, and unhelpful; which along with my distain for Henry Gates, Jr is why I’ve avoided the topic.
I can hardly feel sympathy for a guy who denies racism to the point that he actually went to the same slave castle in Ghana that President Obama was at a couple of weeks ago and tried to have Africans apologize to African Americans for the transatlantic slave trade. Blaming Africans for the slave trade is a primary means used normally by white racism denialist to abrogate fault from Europeans and Euro-Americans for the slave trade, and deny the white supremacy and racism behind it. They try to make it a cross-racial thing that had little or nothing to do with race, thereby denying the legacy of white race supremacy that persist.
So Gates takes up with the racism denialist, until like with OJ when something bad happens to him, then he’s one of us again; and whitey racist really is real! I thought Gates should have been arrested long ago for impersonating a black man.
It appears to me that both Gates and the “stupid” cop probably overreacted. Gates didn’t like being questioned about entering his own home, and probably got loud with the guy; he’s pretty arrogant, and probably doesn’t like being questioned by anyone, especially not some cop. The cop’s arrogance in turn had him decide that this blackie wasn’t going to give him any lip, and filed the usual trumped up charge of disorderly conduct.
This is the normal charge cops use when you didn’t actually commit any crime for them to arrest you for, but want to arrest you for getting out of your place; which usually means you just didn’t kowtow and take their harassment with a smile on your face.
Either way, Gates committed no crime, and liking his attitude or not; the cop had no cause to arrest him. We are not the police’s servants; they’re supposedly suppose to serve and protect us. We should not have to shuffle for them, or be under the treat of arrest.
posted in News & Events, Racial Injustice | | | View blog reactions |
10 Responses to “Harvard Professor Gates, and Police Sgt Crawley To Visit White House”
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Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.
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Wow okay so I can’t stand his punk ass either. I thought I was the only one. I was still hot when I heard about the trumped up charge and the whole situation. I figured everything Obama said after he talked to the arrested officer was true in the beginning. I figured they asked him for identification which he presented but they arrested him anyway because he was running their mouth and the officers were…well…bigots. I was actually more upset that we wasted our national spotlight on Henry Louis Gates! I mean come on. We had a chance to really put a dent in this racial profiling deal! I mean this could’ve been bigger than Sean Bell if it happened to an actual revolutionary! Not that I’m wishing a false arrest on Cornell West or anything but he would’ve made a way better martyr. I mean Dr. Gates actually said that he’d never considered making a documentary on racial profiling until this happened to him…WTF! What about the fact that you’ve been black in America your whole life. I honestly wanted to beat him with on of those pillars holding up that ivory tower he’s living in. I mean that was craziest thing I heard him say since he asked those Ethiopian guardians if they were hiding the Ark of the Covenant in their temple! What the hell kind of question is that to ask another black man. Of course he was where in a hot polo-shirt and khakis in the middle of Ethiopian looking very Euro while asking this question so anyway…just wanted to say that I more than share your disdain for Dr. Gates and the way he’s capitalized by propagandistically portraying (or betraying) African history in the Americas …and probably internationally. He sucks.
“I was actually more upset that we wasted our national spotlight on Henry Louis Gates! I mean come on. We had a chance to really put a dent in this racial profiling deal!”
Pik, I so agree with this statement.
It had to be this uppity, arrogant fool who will turn around tomorrow and be the number 1 Black apologist for racism; that the conversation is based around. The guy literally physically makes me ill anytime I see him.
“I mean Dr. Gates actually said that he’d never considered making a documentary on racial profiling until this happened to him”
Wow, I’m going to have to go search that statement out.
“he’s capitalized by propagandistically portraying (or betraying) African history in the Americas …and probably internationally”
Yeah, I think all his bellyaching is about self-promotion. Though he’s had the same pulpit for so long, he’s never cared about racial injustice til now.
Where is the N.R.A. at a time like this ? Considering how much Gates tries to appease white folks and how much they are about firearms and protecting ones property , you’d think they’d have given him support. Sort of like how Armstrong Williams was used by the Bush administration then hung out to dry. Uncle Toms never learn.
The NRA wouldn’t want to admit racism is real.
Gates is one of these Negroes who’s dulisional enough to think if he shuffles long enough and achieves enough, and proves himself he’ll be accepted as white.
Then he finds out that the old jokes is true: What do you call a Black Doctor? A Nigger.
I think what Dr. Gates is really upset about is finding out that he’s still just nigger.
If I didn’t know you were black I would think you were a white conservative. Because Gates is an “uppity” negro, racial profiling is o.k.
No matter his economic class, he was able to bring this topic to a national attention, and many times, it takes someone with connections or self-interest story to bring it to the light. so what he wanted African to apologize, that’s not the issue here. The issue is that racial profiling is real, and now people are talking, what do we do or day about it, and how do we bring exposure to those less unfortunate.
If it’s wrong for a poor black person, it’s wrong for a stuck up Harvard Grad. Let’s not lose focus of the larger picture. Majority of conservatives are using this as reverse racism, and twisting the conversation away from racial profiling, to woe is the WASP.
Now it’s out there, and instead of berating Gates, or Crowley, let’s look a the larger issues, and how simple it is for things to get out of control because of race and class. Both of these guys acted stupidly, and I don’t care how much a snob Gates is, you don’t get arrested in your own home for disorderly conduct, in fact, you ask the cop to get the “f” out.
Then the lady that reported the story didn’t even say anything about race, yet, Gates fits the profile. Gates acted like a snob, but he did so on his property in his home. Crowley didn’t appreciate been talk to like a child and so he showed Gates who’s really the boss, and in the end the nation is back on cultural divides.
I think what happened to Gates was unfortunate, however I’m shocked at the amount of attention it received. I was almost slapped (not literally lol) for saying they are focusing too much on it. Racial profiling no matter who it happens to (elite or non elite) is wrong HOWEVER, what got to me is how Gates somehow thinks that all of sudden it’s an issue that needs to be discussed. It’s like it took for it to happen to HIM for him to go to the president. I’m glad whitey wants to focus on this now in the media, but lawd geezus they going about this all wrong!
Hello MrsGrapevine,
I’m not at all saying “racial profiling” is okay under any circumstances. Maybe you got caught up on something early in my post and didn’t read through, but I culminated the post with words clearing saying the arrest was completely unwarrented.
My issues lies with someone who cares nothing about the stain of racism and the black struggle for liberation, and actually denies it; then all of a sudden pull an OJ and is trying to play Malcolm X when it serves his self interest.
My other issue is this relatively minor encounter being a major, almost 3 week story; when real racially based cop brutality is on the rise; and you can hardly find updates about them online, much less hear a wiff of them on t.v.
My other problem is with society at large. Nothing’s ever a problem until it’s a problem for people with titles in front of their name.
“you don’t get arrested in your own home for disorderly conduct, in fact, you ask the cop to get the “f” out.
Agreed! And basically I don’t much disagree with anything in your comment, I’m just annoyed that Gates, being who he is; is getting all this attention for a situation, when the cases of unarmed black men getting shot and the police walking scott free will continue to be ignored.
Basically I just want people to know that “Skip” ain’t my boy, he ain’t representing me, and fuck him! But he was still wronged in this situation, lol.
I’m annoyed, too, but that’s always the case with the media. That’s why Caylee Anthony is on CNN HL everyday, although her killer has been caught, and yet no other missing kid can get some attention.
I like this case because it shows how polarized we are as a nation. I mean culturally we are at odds, white v. black, common v. elite, government v.private, everyone has a stake in this situation because it speaks to everyone in one way or another.
I totally agree Deidra except the media isn’t focusing on the issue, they’re just focusing on the scandle of this one particular case; which isn’t even nearly a representative case. They’re still ignoring eveything else just the same.
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