The Village’s desire, almost a demand really, that President Obama transcend his half-blackness is very offensive to me. Why does his outrage at the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. violate the protocols of Washington? Is it okay to arrest a man in his own house after he provides documentation that he owns the house?
Katharine Seeyle opens her article with this: “Americans got a rare glimpse Wednesday night of what it means to have a black president in the Oval Office.” What the fuck does that even mean? I get a glimpse of what it is like to have a black man be president everytime I turn on my teevee. The only time that ‘means’ anything is when Obama stands up for black people? Please.
Katharine “Kit” Seeyle is just another one of the “Village” idiots. I just wonder where they find these people. Is there one TradMed reporter that doesn’t fall into the same trap? I really don’t get how these asshats can sleep at night. Are they that wedded to some mystical “Beltway” culture?
Seriously, where do they find these people?
I’ve often thought that an extremely interesting and useful project — for someone with more drive and resources than I — would be to create a database of the movers and shakers in the NY-DC political media complex, and use it to build a diagram showing known relationships among them and to politicos and lobbyists.
I care less about the village idiots’ response than that of the secret service, who are probably having a good laugh over Barack’s response to the question. I guess I should care more about the village idiots.
Back in the 80s, I was working in Washington, DC. There was an incident in Prince Georges County, which county kind of surrounds the north and east side of DC. Some body reported a burgler or robber in a house in PG County. PG police or sheriffs deputies came and from the outside, without ever trying to enter the house, saw a person in the house through a window and shot and killed the person.
The person who was killed was not only the homeowner of the house he was a DC police officer and he just happened to be black.
The grand jury did not indict the PG police involved.
I guess Gates is lucky to still be alive.
So sad a situation.
Funny, but I thought Gates’ arrest was relevant to me because it was an abuse of one of my fellow citizens. It didn’t occur to me that it wasn’t my concern because he’s black.
Back on New Year’s Eve in 1988, when I was getting my ass kicked in a parking lot by a group of neo-Nazi skinheads who took exception to my anti-Bush bumper sticker, I learned an important lesson that I hope closeted bigots everywhere will someday learn, preferably the same way: hatred is never very precise. Bigots tend to focus on one particular category, but they really hate everyone. Is there a racist on the planet who isn’t also a sexist and a religious bigot?
Members of the dominant group who think bigotry isn’t their issue are gravely mistaken. Take it from this 6’6″ blond, blue-eyed, obviously northern European guy who had six “Aryans” stomping his ribs with their jackboots. Bigots are about as selective as hand grenades.
Remember the bloviators’ discussion of the polls last fall, how the large numbers of african americans in the polls were “skewing” the results away from a poll of “normal” voters?!
the scene of the crime, so to speak:
byron york’s infamous “the black-white divide in obama’s popularity”
Yes, that was it! thanks – quote:
“and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are.”
Racism is alive and well in the USA. It’s as simple as that. What is new is that there is a virulent, viscious source that is willingly stocking the flames of hatred in this country.
Sure, I know that someone out there will point to the newspaper rabble rousers of the past but they can’t be compared to the impact of current radio and tv hatemongers. this is a 24/7 barrage of the most despicable garbage imaginable. And it is being driven by the nightmarish characteristic of a “Free Market”- GREED! The profits being reaped by the networks is never discussed publically yet the govt is ripped when it talks about reigning in the “industries”. The most evil genie has been released from its bottle and we are reaping the results. GREED!
“Americans got a rare glimpse Wednesday night of what it means to have a black president in the Oval Office.”
…by saying that police had “acted stupidly” (regarding the arrest of Professor Gates).
Because of course a white president would never say such a thing.
I can’t imagine that any reporter would have asked a white president what he thought of the incident.
Oh, I can imagine it. Gates is one of the two or three most distinguished black scholars in America, arrested for being in his own house? This would be a lollapalooza of a racial profiling incident no matter who was president.
I’m so glad that Obama is our President. But his election has unleashed the Stupid in America, and there is more of it than even this cynic had imagined.
Ya’know, I’m not sure that what happened to Gates had anything to do with him being a black man. Even the initial call to the police might not have been biased.
If I’m driving by and I see one guy waiting in a car at the curb and another guy forcing a locked door, I’d call the cops, too. Whether they were black or white would not affect my feeling that the situation didn’t look right and the cops should check it out. It would be my civic duty to report it.
The real lesson here is never, ever express anger, indignation or outrage towards a police official under any circumstances. Doing so will get you arrested at best and tazered or shot at worst. The personality types who are attracted to police work tend to be authoritarian bullies, they have guns and they’ve been trained to kill without hesitation. They should be handled like nitroglycerin, gently and with respect.
Gates should have politely said, “Thank you, sir, for coming so quickly to be sure my house wasn’t being robbed. I really appreciate it.” Instead, he was puffed up on his own self-importance. He’s lucky he didn’t get the shit beat out of him.
yeah…even on the McJob.
authoritarian
bulliesassholes…you bet!..interviews I’d seen with gang-bangers out of east LA…
“He didn’ sho’ me no RESPEC so I shot ‘im…”
I feel like I’ve heard some of this argument before…hmmmm when was that? Ah yes, after the ’68 Chicago Democratic Convention.
So where can a private citizen draw the line, where we can insist “Don’t try to roll over me, I won’t stand for it” ??
Respect has to be recognised by both sides as a necessity in interpersonal relations, an eventuality for which I’m not holding my breath.
Self-importance? Since when is being pissed about being harassed in your own home “self-important”?
You’ve got it backwards. He should have been pissed and the cop should have apologized and walked away.
What were the circumstances? Was he in slippers and bathrobe? Hardly likely to be a burglary suspect. Or was he still dressed with backpack? ABC News says the prof refused to give id. Yes, he was in his own home, but the cop was investigating a felony report in which he expected the felon to be inside. What was the truth? I’m sure I don’t know. What I suspect happened is that there was prejudice and harsh language on both sides. I was once in a similar situation. Cops appeared at the door and said they were investigating a report of child abuse. I had to show my id and we had to stay in the kitchen while the cops interviewed each kid upstairs in their bedroom. There was no fighting, no abuse. Probably a crank or malicious call. I didn’t demand a warrant, I didn’t get abusive. My rights were probably violated, but I think I took the wisest course of action, polite compliance, even when they were being insulting.
I believe this is a grossly unfair generalization.
I think there is probably a reasonable case to be made that both parties likely bear some responsibility for the unfortunate outcome here.
For some people in this thread to paint this as just another clear cut case of police racism from some power mad authoritarian asshole in a uniform is, in my mind, a reflexively ignorant assertion.
How about waiting until we actually know all of the facts before passing judgment on the officer. It might turn out in the end that he was reacting from a racial context. But this rush to judgment many seem to want to make here is not merited at this point, in my opinion.
Yep, it was a generalization. That’s why it included the words “types” and “tend to be.” From my direct experience with police officers, I don’t think I’m being unfair. I’ve certainly known some who were generous, caring people but they were exceptional.
I didn’t pass judgement on the particular officer in this case or even suggest he was “reacting from a racial context.” Arresting someone for being angry with you is a mistake. But my main point was: getting angry with a police officer is a bigger mistake.
The person who called was not driving by, she is his neighbor and a fund raiser for Harvard iirc. It was noon, plenty of daylight to see the person – “Oh Hi Skip, did you lock yourself out of your house; happens to me all the time” would be the normal progression of events. Or, “hey Skip, weren’t you on leave last semester? how is your research going? Let me help you push the door in”
Do you have a link for this? The articles I’ve read refer to “neighbors” calling in to report “suspicious behavior.” But, you’re saying this was someone who knew him? That “she” called the cops on him knowing it was his house? If this is true, that’s a really nasty trick.
there were a lot of diaries on this in the orange place with good comments; here’s one with some links
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/22/213137/342
vivid and pertinent series on The Assimilated Negro called “the time I got arrested for holding a dvd”
http://theassimilatednegro.blogspot.com/2005/11/time-i-got-arrested-for-holding-dvd_03.html
F*ck that – I’d sooner take a beatdown or a bullet than kowtow to @$$hole with a badge.
Respectful? Certainly.
Subservient? Submissive?
Never.
“Americans got a not so rare glimpse Thursday morning of what it means to have self glorifying, over paid, lazy “journalists” telling the rest of us the way the world is.”
Wow. I grew up sort of worshiping the NYT and so have resisted accepting how deep it can sink into asshole land. That sure is getting hard. What this “journalist” is saying is, no white president would have given a shit about the incident, because he’s white. So the logical conclusion of her statement is that, of course, any white president would be a racist who could only get pissed off if a friend the cops treated badly were also white.
Fact is, if Obama were all-white, the question never, ever, would have come up. What the story really reveals is that the beltway “journalists” think Obama’s hue is what’s definitive about him — not his education, his career, and certainly not his policies and beliefs. Is this Seeyle person some kind of summer intern from a high school or what? In a way she’s even more sickening than the likes of Judith Miller. The Times should be ashamed of running crap like this.
Welcome to reality, dude. And hey, guess what. Maureen Dowd is despicable too.
The “cop” had to respond to a citizen`s call about a possible crime.
He did, & his training should have led him to diffuse the situation in a resolution that would have made the homeowner pleased at the fast, though erroneous response, & the officer, having made a community link.
Years ago, I called the police, reporting a possible ongoing attack.
When the police did come to my house to take a report, my dog innocently barked at this stranger (the officer).
He said take care of the dog or I`ll spray her.
I didn`t know what he`d said, but saw him get a canister from his
utility” belt.
I then realized he was going to “mace” my “little female pet”.
I reached behind him & opened the door while I simultaneously put my hand on his chest & flipped him out of my house onto his back into the snow.
It goes on from there, though we both lived through the incident which incidentally I made a personal appearance at the station the next day to make a formal complaint.
I left that town soon thereafter.
HAHAHHHHahahhhaaaaaha
Katharine Seeyle is an especailly despicable piece of work. She almost in the same class as Maureen Dowd.
Police work is difficult and dangerous; hence the need for strict adherence to procedure. Attacking Crowley for following procedure is a bungle that Obama probably won’t live down any time soon. Bad move. It will be interesting to see if Obama recants and apologizes.
I’m guessing he has a book one the way. Thoughts? Here’s an interesting snippet from CNN (where it’s killing reporter, Don Lemon, to face the truth that Gates is completely in the wrong):
Gates, however, told him “that I had no idea who I was ‘messing’ with” and was being so loud that he could not give pertinent information to the department when he was calling in, the sergeant said.
Authorities have said they may release tapes of the officer calling in, in which Gates is heard in the background
Crowley’s report said that when he asked to speak with Gates outside, the professor at one point responded, “I’ll speak with your mama outside.”