I wasn't there and I don't know what happened. But, I have to imagine that all things being equal a white professor of Gates' stature would have been taken at his word. And why the epic fail? Gates' council is going to be none other than noted attorney Charlie Ogletree. Harvard is going to have to pay Gates' wonderful salary and give him a little something extra for the wallet it seems. Some respectable negroes have all the luck...
Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.
He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.
Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because "I'm a black man in America.'' [To read a copy of the police report, click here]
Friends of Gates said he was already in his home when police arrived. He showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card, but was handcuffed and taken into police custody for several hours last Thursday, they said.The police report said Gates was arrested after he yelled at the investigating officer repeatedly inside the residence then followed the officer outside, where Gates continued to upbraid him. "It was at that time that I informed Professor Gates that he was under arrest,'' the officer wrote in the report.
Gates, 58, declined to comment today when reached by phone.
The arrest of such a prominent scholar under what some described as dubious circumstances shook some members of the black Harvard community.
“He and I both raised the question of if he had been a white professor, whether this kind of thing would have happened to him, that they arrested him without any corroborating evidence,” said S. Allen Counter, a Harvard Medical School professor who spoke with Gates about the incident Friday. “I am deeply concerned about the way he was treated, and called him to express my deepest sadness and sympathy.”
Counter, who had called Gates from the Nobel Institute in Sweden, where Counter is on sabbatical, said that Gates was “shaken” and “horrified” by his arrest.
Counter has faced a similar situation himself. The well-known neuroscience professor, who is also black, was stopped by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after being mistaken for a robbery suspect as he crossed Harvard Yard. They threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.
That incident was among several that ignited criticism from black students and faculty, highlighting the prejudices that many black students say they continue to face at Harvard.
“This is very disturbing that this could happen to anyone, and not just to a person of such distinction,” Counter said. “He was just shocked that this had happened, at 12:44 in the afternoon, in broad daylight. It brings up the question of whether black males are being targeted by Cambridge police for harassment.”
Cambridge police would not comment on the arrest, citing an investigation into the incident by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. A spokesman for Leone said Gates is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 26 and said the office could not provide details on the arrest until that time.
Gates is being represented by Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, who has taken on previous cases with racial implications.
6 comments:
This is an outrage, but of course we know the answer to "what if he were a white professor". There wouldn't have even been a story to tell, the police would have been on their way with a "Sorry to disturb you Sir, have a good night."
Arrested for being "loud and tumultuous." Damn, just ridiculous. I wasn't there of course, but I read the police report. Very strange version of the story, and totally unconvincing. This is going to be interesting.
We all love Brother Gates, and this is some bull, but a small part of me thinks that he isn't entirely upset.
He gets to stick it to those who argue that systematic racism no longer exists (particularly for the wealthy and educated).
He also gets to share in an "authentic" black experience (getting f-ed with by the cops).
Wow. Robbers are disguising themselves as distinguished Ivy League scholars. What will they think of next? Good thing the Cambridge police are so well trained.
Get the facts, jacks. Officer Crowley actually teaches the class the Cambridge PD has on racial profiling. Gates has a choice, he can either represent a distinguished ivy league professor, or he can talk smack to cops like Pookie. Not both. I think Gates was reaching for his Mumia moment, and then realized that handcuffs hurt. He didn't even have the decency to stumble and bump his head on the cop car door and draw a little blood.
As it stands, Gates has gone out like a wimp, and now needs some fist pumping fools to get his back.
So the question all high falutin' moralists have to ask themselves at this 7 day distance from the event in question, is how many black men have actually spilled some blood while we've been bourgie babbling about poor old Skip.
Just keepin' it real.
Cobb,
Have you ever worked at a place where the sexual harassment seminar was conducted in-house by someone who could be sued (justifiably) for sexual harassment? I have.
I agree that there's something ridiculous about the attention this has garnered, but the appropriate question is how many regular, working class black men cops have harassed in the time spent playing up this Gates mess.
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