As we all know by now, Henry Louis Gates Jr., a prominent and renowned Harvard professor, was arrested last week in front of his own home after a neighbor called 911 to report what appeared to be a break-in attempt at the Gates' residence. This story gained national attention for its racially related claims and even had President Barak Obama commenting on it in his national televised press conference.
Here is the official police report:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html
For some more insight into Gate's take on the situation, here is an article from the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072101771_pf.html
In my opinion, here is the most telling comment from Gates on the event:
"I'm glad that someone would care enough about my property to report what they thought was some untoward invasion," Gates said. "If she saw someone tomorrow that looked like they were breaking in, I would want her to call 911. I would want the police to come. What I would not want is to be presumed to be guilty. That's what the deal was. It didn't matter how I was dressed. It didn't matter how I talked. It didn't matter how I comported myself. That man was convinced that I was guilty."
I have a few responses to different parts of these comments from Gates':
A.) You WERE guilty of what was being reported! You were the one trying to break into the house - that's a fact! Now, because it was ultimately determined through some questioning and research that it was your own house and, therefore, not a criminal break-in attempt, officer Crowley was the one that determined you were NOT GUILTY of unlawful intrusion.
B.) Please tell me what else officer Crowley, or anyone, accused you of that wasn't fact? What else was officer Crowley convinced you were guilty of?
C.) Everything Gates says that he would want to happen if the situation happened again, in fact, happened the first time the event occured. However, evidently, it wasn't good enough. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. Furthermore, to suggest that only poorly dressed people that aren't well-spoken and don't handle themselves well are capable of crime is about as uneducated of a comment I have ever heard from a highly educated individual.
I would pose these questions to Gates:
Did someone look like they were breaking into the house? Yes.
Did someone call 911 to report it? Yes.
Did the police come to investigate the report? Yes.
Did Gates, in fact, have to break into the house - or at least, attempt to? Yes.
Was it determined that it was Gates' house? Yes.
Did the officer determine and conclude that the report was unjustified based on his findings at the residence? Yes.
Sounds like case closed to me.
Here's how the ordeal should have culminated:
Crowley: "Thanks for your cooperation Mr. Gates. I apologize for any inconvenience."
Gates: "No problem. Thank you for your time officer."
Unfortunately, Gates' behavior surrounding the events that, according to him, he himself would desire, were way off-base.
Officer Crowley was doing his job - plain and simple. Any claim of racism is completely unsubstantiated. Furthermore, Gates' claim of racial profiling is even more unfounded. Officer Crowley was simply responding to a report of a break-in in the area. He was not patroling the area and decide to approach Gates based on the fact that he was black. He did not randomly knock on the door and demand that Gates produce identification or else be arrested. He was doing his job.
To answer Gates' question of, "is this what happens to black men in America?" I would answer: no, this is what happens when the police get a call from a concerned neighbor who has reported a possible break-in attempt at this particular residence. This happens to be the protocol for investigating the situation and making sure the resident of the home, you in this instance Mr. Gates, is safe.
Having only limited facts into what he might be encountering, the officer's job is to survey the situation and act accordingly. By all accounts, that's exactly what was done by officer Crowley. Only Gates' actions lead to his arrest. Had he merely cooperated with the procedure, millions of Americans would still not know who Henry Gates Jr. is.
Consider these few thoughts for a minute: What if the actual set of circumstances were that Gates was being held hostage by the two men that were reported to be breaking into the house? Had this been the case, I doubt Gates would have been so confrontational and eager to claim racism in officer Crowley's procedure.
What if the men that were reported to be breaking into the house had a gun to Gates' wife's head in the basement and had sent Gates to the door?
What if the the two men that were reported to be breaking into the house were in the house, unbeknownst to Gates, waiting to ambush him, but hiding in a closet?
What if Gates and his wife were having a domestic dispute whereby she had locked him out of the house out of fear that he would harm her?
The point is, officer Crowley doesn't know how benign the situation actually is when he shows up. Even upon finding out that the person he is speaking with is the homeowner and was the person, justifiably, trying to break into the house, can officer Crowley be 100% confident that all is well. Only by some questioning and a brief investigation inside the house would officer Crowley be able to leave satisfied that the report was unwarranted.
The fact is, latitude needs to be extended to all police force when investigating a claim...and certainly one of intrusion. Given the endless set of circumstances that might be transpiring, there is a certain amount of due dilligence that must be conducted by the responding officer - I don't care if the homeowner is black, white, well-dressed, well-spoken, rich or poor. As we all should, Gates should recognize and respect this. Unfortunately, his education on race seemingly lead him to jump to illconceived conclusions about the level of the questioning. Instead of cooperating, Gates chose to resist, argue and draw undue attention to the situation. Therefore, he turned a "standard operating procedure" case into a volital national debate and got his mug shot taken in the process. Congrats Skippy!
Considering he's the one demanding an apology, I don't suspect Gates will be offering up any apology of his own for his role in this event. Sad if you ask me.
Just for the record, there was a black officer that arrived at the scene as well and supports officer Crowley's decision to arrest Gates for his actions.
I won't even touch on Obama's idiotic comments on the situation - that might be a whole other blog entry for another day!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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