A simple case of rights and stupidity, not race

The recent arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr has caused major reactions in the US, and sadly has been an unnecessary incident dominating the headlines when the healthcare debate should be up front and center in this sensitive stage. But the fact that the arrest happened deserved to be made news; not because of the possible racial profiling that some have suggested, and not because of the way Obama claimed the arresting officer 'acted stupidly'.

It deserved to be made news because a man was arrested in his own home, after having proved that he does own the place, simply because he was 'uppity'. Because Crowley, who should know better, chose to assert his authority when he should have remained cool, which resulted in a moment of stupidity that he refuses to back down from. That is what it boils down to.

I firmly believe that whatever people choose to do in their own homes is their business, not anyone else's. Gates was in his own home, proved he owns the residence, and got arrested because he was indignant. I know if I were questioned, in my own home, about anything concerning my right to be in there after showing evidence that I owned the place, I would tell the cops to "get the fuck off of my property". Followed by a very public letter to the police force demanding a very public apology.

We should hold members of the police force to a higher standard of conduct than reacting like Crowley did in arresting Gates. The citizens of any country should look to the police to safeguard their rights and to protect them, not to trample on their rights and abuse their authority. This power is easily overstepped, and anyone in the police service should always be mindful of the boundaries and react to them accordingly. The ability to perform their duties in this manner enhances their authority; doing otherwise merely undermines it.

Of course, I believe Gates played his part in this by overreacting and playing the race card, and he should have applied some common sense, and simply tell Crowley to leave after proving that he owns the property. But Gates' uppitiness (is that even a word?) is not, and should never be, a justifiable reason to arrest a man on his own property.

For that, the Cambridge Police Department, and Sgt James Crowley, do owe Henry Gates a public apology, without which their loss of authority, as well as nagging doubts about racial profiling, will continue to harm their efforts.

On a very slightly related note, I think Obama hit the nail on the head when he said Crowley acted stupidly. Because he did. I think this is a timely reminder that despite having a black man with a funny name in the White House does not mean racism is no longer a factor. His reaction shows me that there might be hope yet, as we have been seeing the "nice" Obama for a while now. Time to bare those fangs on key issues, Mr Obama.

Now that this should be a closed incident, can we get back to the real issues? Like healthcare, repealing DADT and DOMA, closing Gitmo, Wall Street regulation, the wars still going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Israel-Palestinian talks, Iran and North Korea, among others?

Update on Monday, July 27, 2009 at 1:52PM by Callan Tham

Added two articles from Marcia Clark and John Connolly from The Daily Beast. I particularly loved Connolly's quote: 'If Gates had been white instead of black, would Crowley have acted differently? Only Crowley knows the answer to that. But Crowley was the one who is paid to keep his cool. That’s his job!'

Which is exactly what I think. The onus was on Crowley, not on a disabled old man in his own house. This is where I think he "acted stupidly", and escalated the issue.

Comments

[MrIllusion]

It's easy to start pointing fingers, and normally I'd love playing Devil's Advocate, but not in this case.

Both men gave conflicting accounts of the story. Unless there is any reason to believe that one of them is any less reliable than the other, I see this as a misunderstanding blown out of proportion.

Nah, screw that. I'm gonna play DA.

I believe that we should hold teachers and educators to a high standard of conduct. A learned man with good education should know better than to insult the mother of an identified police officer. A police officer that has identified himself as investigating a break-in in progress.

This happened in US, and I'm not surprised the issue of race made all the papers jump at it. After all, what could be more saucy.

Imagine if this happened elsewhere. A place where... oh I dunno... race is either not talked about very often or is a non-issue. A place where maybe the divide in social status is more 'saucy'.

I can see the headlines: Rich Professor Undermines Authority of Uneducated Policeman. Calls his Mother a Whore.

A colleague keeps ramming the famous motto of Sebastian Stark in my head lately...

Truth is relative. Pick one that works.

[Callan Tham]

My opinion is simple; both men made mistakes in this incident. However, I don't find it acceptable that a man can be arrested in his own home, after proving it is his home, for his tone towards a police officer. There is no spin to that. He was arrested because of his tone.

If Gates pulled this tone to shut his students up in his classroom, then yes, I'll blame him. When the police confronts private citizens, I expect better from the police. If this happens in the home of a citizen, then I expect it not to happen.

Regardless of which country it happened in.

[MrIllusion]

I disagree. To say that there is no spin to that is simplifying the incident beyond that which I find acceptable.

Gates wasn't simply 'arrested in his own home', he was mistaken for breaking and entering someone's property after a tip-off from another person.

If the police officer had reason to believe that Gates had something to hide (not necessarily literally) then I'd like to think law enforcement is given some latitude to investigate.

Maybe Crowley iis an ass and abused his authority to teach Gates a lesson. Maybe he thought Gates' was hiding drugs or firearms in the house. Maybe he thought the hostility meant he was on the verge on opening fire.

Two things come to mind for me:

Is Crowley's method consistent with how he was trained to react?

Would this be an issue if Crowley was also black?

[Callan Tham]

So are you saying there is racial profiling at work? Because your first comment was never clear on that issue. Nor was it clear on whether you agree with what I've said: that when you remove all other possible factors, what it comes down to is a violation of an individual's rights.

When I said there is no spin, I meant my post was not meant as a spin. I strongly believe that it comes down to one simple issue, and that is the police violated a man's rights in his own home. Latitude to investigate does not mean arresting an unarmed man in his own house.

[Shawn Lim]

I agree with Callan that Gates played the race card and that we have our own rights in our own property. But I would like to believe that Sgt James Crowley was just doing his job and race was never a factor in his decision to arrest Mr Gates. I also agree that its time for Mr Obama to step up to the plate but since he didn't know the full story, how sure was he that Sgt Crowley was 'stupid' to arrest Mr Gates?. I firmly believe that his choice of words was wrong.

But it all boils down to why didn't Mr Gates' neighbours recognise him?. MrIllusion, I agree with Callan that your first comment was not clear on where you stand and I believe you are reading too much in to this issue. Forget about the firearms or drugs. What if it was just a simple case of a white policeman who arrested a black man on his property and both of them overreacted?.

[Callan Tham]

A couple of updates on this story; viewpoints of Marcia Clark and John Connolly from The Daily Beast. Connolly got it right when he said

'If Gates had been white instead of black, would Crowley have acted differently? Only Crowley knows the answer to that. But Crowley was the one who is paid to keep his cool. That’s his job! He should have backed out of the house, called for a patrol supervisor, who in all probability would have settled everyone down, and that would have been that. Instead, he threw the cuffs on Gates and probably reported to Central that he had one male perp in custody. His report of the incident to Central should have been a simple “Unfounded.”'