Racists Come Out Of The Woodwork
Now Obama's done it.
He actually expressed empathy for a fellow black guy who had a run-in with a racist cop.
Here we go. This summer's shark story will be the shark that always lurks in American waters: racism.
Of course, other than virulent racists of the Pat Buchanan stripe, every media commmentator knows that there was nothing controversial about what Obama said. I'm sure the cop's own mother told him he acted stupidly.
But no matter. The MSM hates the boring health care issue. They think it's way too complicated for us dummies out here. It's time to switch the subject and what better subject is there than that our President is black and stupidly admitted it during prime time.
What a boon for the MSM.
It's hard for the respectable media when Buchanan, Limbaugh, and Dobbs own the race issue. Now everyone can play.
Note: Fox is far from the worst offender. MSNBC employs Pat Buchanan who is not only a racist but a virulent anti-semite and Holocaust denier(he recently likened Nazi mass murderer John Demjanjuk to Jesus Christ).
I don't know if anyone will respond to this post but, if past is prologue, the usual suspects will be out in force. Liberal racism is not just a construct invented by the right. We've got them too although the racists here tend to be rightwingers who are keeping an eye on us!
How do you know the cop was a "racist?"
Race obsession is becoming a Salem witchcraft hunt.
We're getting a little fanatical, don't you think?
July 23, 2009 9:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, you are probably right. We can't know from the limited data published that Sgt Crowley really is a Racist. But he used a classic charge to arrest someone for "dissing" a cop, and he did it to an African-American who was in his own home. Gates was justifiably t'd off at being treated in the high-handed manner after he clearly identified who he was and that he was in his own home.
It is impossible to determine that Sgt Crowley acted as he did because Gates is African American. Crowley clearly flipped out when he was challenged for acting as he has learned is his "right" as a cop. The insult is very likely greater because he was being challenged by an African-American, but that is normally an unconscious detail that increased the negative emotion.
While we can't know for sure that Crowley's reaction was based at least partly on race, the fact that America locks up African-American men at a higher ratio than any other race or ethnicity is a strong indicator. It's also not too surprising that teenage African American males expect to be treated with disdain by many cops even though that normal reaction will cause many touchy cops to similarly overreact to being "dissed."
This pattern needs to be broken. It pollutes our society and does neither the African-American community nor the police organizations any good. It's also a pattern built into our society that no one involved recognizes as "Racism." It appears to be a reasonable reaction to the insult or anticipated insult each party expects from those on the "other side." But if it's recognized by both parties involved, it can be dealt with. The training necessary to deal with it has to be conducted by the police. They have the disciplined organization that can conduct such training. The African-American community is not organized in the same disciplined way and will be untrusting of efforts by the police. Rightfully so. It only takes one in a thousand untrained cop who feels threatened by objections to demonstrate that the cops have not changed. And the cops have the responsibility to tamp down problems, with tools that start with their personality and understanding of the situation ranging up to force, arrests, and even lethal force. There is a lot of room for misunderstanding and error, especially when the cop feels threatened.
It's not "racist" to recognize such race- and power-based negative behavior. But it's a problem and can't be ignored.
July 23, 2009 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
How do I know? I read the reports. Try it.
July 23, 2009 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
You see, MJ, Neocons have no idea what it is to actually LOOK AT THE FACTS and then act or make judgment. One of the hundreds of annoying things about this red-herring uproar is that, as in your example, Buchanan or Dobbs or Limbaugh, or others of that ilk can spout off dozens of disgusting racist lies, and THEY GET PAID FOR IT. Our President voices an opinion with which most rational people concur, and he'll be excoriated. I'm sick of the racism--YES, racism. White people DO NOT need defending. Read the facts!!
July 23, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I read the report, too. Not a single racist word in it...unless you count what Gates said.
July 24, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where on earth have you been for the past few decades? Racism has been the cult fetish of the Left (and sometimes even appropriated by the Right) for decades now. This story - Mr. Gates' "ordeal" - sums up how cheaply the charge is used these days, and how little intimidation it holds for everyday white folk at street-level. Aside from kowtowing politicians, the issue is as compelling and meaningful as dung nuggets.
July 24, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ Rosenberg:
"Now Obama's ... expressed empathy for a fellow black guy who had a run-in with a racist cop"
Boston Herald:
"Obama..ripped ..police for acting “stupidly” in the arrest Gates Jr. and said the noted scholar, A PERSONAL FRIEND, was justified in being “angry” at his treatment.
Obama said HE DOESN'T KNOW IF RACE WAS A FACTOR in the controversial case now making national headlines. But he said racial profiling is a “fact” in America today."
Obama acknowledged that HE DIDN'T KNOW ALL THE FACTS OF THE CASE in which Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct by cops investigating A REPORT OF BREAK-IN at his Cambridge home after Gates had to force open a jammed door"
Shorter MJ Obama: I don't know the facts. I don't know if race was a factor. But racial profile happens. The police acted stupidly.
Well, if a president defends a personal friend and blames the police while acknowledging openly he has no idea of what he's talking about, then why can't MJ Rosenberg scream, as shrilly as only he can, without knowing any of the facts either?
July 23, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, the usual suspects! Proves my point.
July 23, 2009 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes it does prove the point.
The point was that you're an utterly shrill trigger-happy loudmouth, who needs even less time and facts than Buchanan to start pontificating on racial divide.
July 23, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Another precinct heard from.
July 23, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
This sort of "comment" isn't just disrespectful to Lalo35admin...
It disrespects the whole idea of free discussion on the internet.
Lalo35admin took the trouble to write a detailed comment, right or wrong, and since the jerk Rosenberg can't refute it, he comes back with...
And what sort of reply can anybody who disagree with Rosenberg expect?
July 23, 2009 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's what I think happened:
Gates gets questioned by the police as he's trying to enter his own house. He explains he's trying to get into his own house, but explains it in a frustrated, possibly aggressive tone. Maybe the cop is suspicious. Maybe he asks Gates to step away. Gates then explodes. The cop assumes he's acting this way because he's guilty of something, ups the ante and arrests him.
Gates, whatever his other virtues, is a notorious publicity hound and has a colossal ego. He is also, let's not forget, a scholar of the black experience in America. Here he was experiencing the very sort of racial profiling that he's probably written acres of words about. It was too good an opportunity for a "teachable moment". This would (a) get him in the news and invited to the various talk shows and (b) be a situation where he was the undeniably sympathetic party. So with this in mind (or more likely, in his subconscious) he overreacted. The cop, meanwhile, not wanting to appear weak, overreacted too.
Let's face it, most of us know enough to realize that mouthing off to a cop is just not a very smart idea even if, as in this case, you're totally innocent. Gates could have probably easily defused the situation by calmly saying that he was trying to enter his own house, shown him some ID and would the cop please give him a hand. The cop could have realized what was going on and also just walked away, even after Gates exploded.
Can I prove any of this? Of course not. Just idle speculation. But while the cop is clearly at fault, I'd be surprised if Gates and his ego weren't also factors.
July 23, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds logical.
But...
I just can't help but wonder how likely it would be for this kind of thing to happen with a white guy, dressed similarly, trying to get into his house in an upscale neighborhood.
Would the cop be as "on edge"?
I don't know, but I suspect he would give the person more leeway to explain. Then again, the white guy would START with a different attitude toward the approaching copy--would be LESS likely to assume that trouble was coming his way.
July 23, 2009 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps the cop was on edge. Perhaps he was rude. Perhaps he was suspicious. Similarly, perhaps a white person in the same situation wouldn't have exploded.
But my sense is that Gates chose to make it a big deal.
There's at least one person who suspects the same thing as me. Here's Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic:
July 23, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sgt. Tom Fleming, director of the Lowell Police Academy, told ABC News that Crowley has been teaching a class to cops on racial profiling at the academy for the last five years"
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8153681&page=1
July 23, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gates was already in his house. he answered the door and let the policeman in. He showed him his ID and the cop apparently asked more questions which angered Gates. Gates had just returned from China. He was tired, jet lagged and had an upper respiratory infection. He might have had a short fuse but WTF? The policeman didn't have a warrant, he was shown proof of who Gates was and did something to piss Gates off. The cop should have called for backup even before he attempted to go inside and most of this would never have happened. Once Gates showed him the ID he should have said thank you very much and left. Gates should sue him
July 23, 2009 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ: President Obama seems to have an problem gauging the potential reaction of the press (as well as the public) to offhand comments he makes.
From his pulpit, he should be much more careful about offhand comments such as these which end up being a distraction from his positive agenda.
Blaming the media doesn't cut it; the media is the media, and will not change in its love for silly sensationalism. Successful politicians understand this and speak in ways that don't create needless diversions.
As for your comment about genteel racism and anti-Semitism in this country cutting across both right and left, I agree completely. Your characterization of Pat Buchanan as a "virulent anti-Semite and Holocaust denier" is overwrought, though, as you would know if you had read Bill Buckley's incisive discussion "In Search of Anti-Semitism". Someone can be unpleasant and traffic in anti-Semitism without being a "virulent anti-Semite"; the maximalist language you use causes you to be taken less seriously, and allows the real "virulent anti-Semites" of the world today (many of whom are actually murdering Jews) to take cover under your broad brush.
July 23, 2009 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly what would you expect President Obama to do when directly asked about a recent event? If he glossed over the incident regarding Professor Gates, dismissing it out of hand, there would be an uproar at TPM, Kos etc. that he couldn't be bothered with it. Geez, he made perfectly reasonable comments in my opinion.
July 23, 2009 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
He should have said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the issue at this point given that the facts are in dispute.
July 23, 2009 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why should he have said that? I totally disagree. He was asked a question and he responded. He didn't call the policeman stupid - he said he acted stupidly and he did.
The cop should have called for back-up first and then knocked on the door. He had no warrant to go inside. Gates opened the door and let him in and showed him who he was.
July 23, 2009 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
"there would be an uproar at TPM, Kos etc"
- so he did it for TPM! YEAH!
July 23, 2009 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
He did it for you Lalo, 'cause he likes your silly little Lincoln stovepipe hat avatar.
July 23, 2009 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, maybe Obama should have characterized our struggle against Islamic terrorists as "a crusade".
Or in this case, perhaps, he should have told the racists cops to "bring it on".
Getting on Obama for not choosing his words carefully is pretty effing hilarious, considering what we tolerated over the last eight years.
Give the guy a freakin' break. As Yankeedevil pointed out, he was damned-if-he-did-and-damned-if-he-didn't. The media brought it up, and they seem to be more interested in that than in the healthcare debate. And I guess we get the media we deserve. So maybe it's on us...
-- ARG
July 23, 2009 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
So you're saying that you'll be satisfied if Obama is no worse than Bush?
July 23, 2009 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, let's see... (Re-reading what I wrote very carefully...)
No. That's not anything close to what I said.
And I'm sure you know that. But thanks a lot for the disingenuous comment.
-- ARG
July 23, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ comes out of the woodwork to announce this.
Priceless.
July 23, 2009 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
The cop is guilty of abuse of power and faulty judgment. Gates was in his own home and undoubtedly steamed. But even if he told Crowley to "f#$* off" or go F#$* himself" a well-trained, intelligent and disciplined cop would have apologized for the mistake and left. If someone is mugged and then shoots the mugger in the back while he's running away, the claim of self-defense won't hold. This is similar. If Crowley was pissed, he just should have turned around and left. But in today's culture, they just can't!
July 23, 2009 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure Obama was aware of widely-published fact that Gates was in his own home and identified himself. The officer should, at that point, have tipped his hat and gone on his merry way. Nothing else is even relevant. No crime was being committed.
The officer should be fired.
July 23, 2009 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
There was a clip of him on one of the networks telling them all to Overreach THIS, no apology would be made! (It was CBS and they may have taken that down now.) Not a very wise interview; I think the mayor himself of Cambridge offered and apology, and this lout just made the mayor's job harder. And it don't help that the President is calling his actions stupid.
Voice is roughly that of a "Southie" if you ever heard that expression; not quite maybe, but in that realm. Lot of obstreperous types hail from South Boston and race relations have never been their strong suit.
July 23, 2009 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone who saw Good Will Hunting should know what a "Southie" is.
-- ARG
July 23, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Count me among those who was pretty surprised Obama responded in detail to the Gates question.
Not for anything in particular that he said, but that he was prepared to end a signature healthcare reform presser - one where he was particularly impressive - on a completely unrelated issue that was guaranteed to grab media headlines.
Even this incident presented a clear opportunity to raise the issue of racial profiling etc, that doesn't explain the timing. That said, I expect it was very deliberate on Obama's part, so just wonder how he and his advisors came to agree on this.
July 23, 2009 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think he thought he was making reasonable, balanced, uncontroversial remarks - which he was. He just underestimated the capacity of the media and others who, let us say, don't necessarily have his best interests in mind to gin up silly controversies.
Let's face it, by any reasonable standard what Obama said was unremarkable. The fact that we are talking about this at all says more about us than it does about him.
July 23, 2009 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I think he thought he was making reasonable, balanced, uncontroversial remarks"
If that's true, you'd have to mark down Obama as naive about the racial climate in America. Perhaps he is, but no way I'm arguing that.
July 23, 2009 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Basic facts about modern life 101:
1. Watching American television rots the brain.
2. In order to try compete with the internet, the rot rate of TV programs has been markedly increased in recent years.
The two sentences Obama devoted to the Cambridge, Mass police incident were exactly enough. Back to serious issues now, please.
Throw your TV in the trash where it belongs, and tell us about Netanyahu, health care, the economy, swine flu or something halfway worthwhile thinking about.
July 23, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's turn this around, if Gates were white, the cop would still have wanted to find out who he was and this wouldn't even be news worthy.
Policemen everywhere are very suspicious, that is their job, when the cop received the call he arrived and found professor Gates trying to break into his own house. Professor Gates, instead of admitting to himself that his behavior might look a tad suspicious and cheerfully offering to go next door with the cop and have a neighbor identify him as the owner of the house, got loud and aggressive, which is a very dumb thing to do with a policeman investigating a possible burglary. Maybe not so dumb considering that Gates is getting a huge amount of publicity out of this.
July 23, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do agree with this. I was stopped once by cops in a hallway in graduate school. I was on pain killers from a badly broken bone (it's still screwed up today) and they must have noticed something about my demeanor. And quite startled I blurted out, "Well why me, why do you want to see my ID and not every other student's?" And they closed in a bit on me and said, "Now you look, we have the right to check your ID!"
I was just momentarily stunned by their approach, and I immediately folded and said, "Okay, okay, okay, okay, I think I've got it here!" And I couldn't find it right away and I was fumbling, assuring that I thought I had it, and finally I grasped it. I calmly and cooperatively handed it over and explained the situation and humbly said if I looked funny, this was why, and I knew that they had to do their job and I respected it. And they were so nice, wishing me a good evening, a good convalescence, good luck, asking me if I was okay getting around. And I thanked them, and they acknowledged that graciously, etc.
But it could have done the other way if I had been on a high horse. In this case, it was probably excessive to cuff the guy, but I wasn't there, and what do I know. A neighbor said he witnessed it and agreed with the cops that the guy was "belligerent." The guy could have thanked them for trying to protect his home, by the way, and it would not have been newsworthy. He *did* break into the house, right?
I also think Obama Overreached a bit on his answer.
July 23, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
That has been my experience, too. As long as you kiss their asses, bow your head, and avoid making eye contact, the cops will probably not get rough with you. (But, of course, I'm white, so you might have to grovel even harder if you're not.)
Give generously to the ACLU and Amnisty International. Unless you think that behavior by our police is okay.
-- ARG
July 23, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I thought I might attract a snark!
Why'd ya go after me, BTW? Why didn't ya take on Seaton? :)
I've honestly never been mistreated by cops. My instinct is to do as you said, except that I do make sincere eye contact and let them know I respect them. I appreciate exact answers to my questions and I offer them the same. If they say, you got any pills with you, drugs, anything, I think about the question, and if I have allergy medicine, I'll tell them that and show it.
But like you, I'm white. Still, I don't know what happened in that house and I can't pretend I do.
Oh actually, in Moscow there used to be cop bribe game they would play, so that was abusive. The foreigner (e.g., undersigned) would be with a Russian girl, and they's always find something wrong with her documents. So she'd have to spend the night in jail while they got it sorted out, unless you paid a bribe. You could argue that her docs were perfect, but they had time and could just jail her overnight and get it sorted out with the fresh new day. Unless, of course, one was willing to simplify the matter right on the spot with them. I was still never impolite, didn't see the up side.
July 23, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ trivializes serious issues and discredits victims of racial profiling by his unwarrranted assumption of racism. My (apparently white) son recently spent a night in jail for the crime of insufficient deference to a verbally abusive police officer. The charges were subsequently dropped. This is a common occurrence. As the president said, nobody knows whether race played a role in this particular event. The officer may have overreacted. Time and more eyewitness accounts may tell on that; but we will likely never know why.
July 23, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
The story here may not be cop racism.
The real story may be the police state that we have evolved into, where questioning authority in your own house leads to your being handcuffed and taken away.
Seriously, Gates should count himself lucky he was not tasered. Read up on what Digby has been posting about Taser Nation.
If I have criticism of Obama, it's that it would have been nice to see that kind of engagement and passion displayed over the fiasco of health coverage in this country. He may have inadvertently sent a shiny ball into the air that distracted our media herd from what should be their focus.
July 23, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you are right that this is relatively common. But is it okay? I don't think so.
(Of cousre, I understand that your main point is that it's not necessarily racist -- that cops like the one in question may be equal opportunity douchebags.)
-- ARG
July 23, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry -- that was meant to be a reply to Bruno2, above.
-- ARG!
July 23, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amy Goodman's account:
I thought that I had heard on Democracy Now that after showing his ID to the officers and asking for the officers' names and badge numbers (which they refused) Gates had shouted to on-lookers, "this is what it's like to be a Black man in America." Whereupon they arrested him for disorderly conduct.
"Stupid" is a polite term for the officers' conduct. A 58-year-old Black man who has just returned from a business trip opens the front door to his home (wearing a suit?) and shows not only his driver's license (which bears not only the address of the door he has just opened, but also his photo) and his Harvard ID. He complies with all of their requests. He asks for their names and badge numbers (which is within his rights). And he gets arrested for raising his voice on his own doorstep.
This is what it is still like to be a Black man in America.
July 23, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not only that, but Gates walks with a cane for christ's sake.
Racist pigs
July 23, 2009 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except for England in the old days, ("good evening sir, could we please see the license for that gun you are holding?) cops are rough trade everywhere in the world and even in England in the old days if you resisted they could get tough, but always "excuse me sir, just hold still while I twist your arm behind your back, sir".
One of the things that happens to policemen is that after interviewing thousands of really horrible and dangerous assholes in the line of duty, they come to assume that everybody is guilty of something... and of course, in reality, everybody is guilty of "something" if only stealing another kid's teddy bear back in nursery school. So that is part of why contact with cops is normally so humiliating for honest folk... the cops seem to be looking into your soul with a look that says, "asshole, this time we are going to overlook that teddy bear, but don't let me catch you around here again." This makes an honest person feel soiled. So making people feel guilty is a professional tool and people resent feeling guilty.
Perversely, if you don't feel guilty about anything and don't seem to be affected by this treatment, they may get the idea that you are psychotic or a hardened criminal.
July 23, 2009 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just KNOW I shouldn't comment on this, because I know beforehand I'm biting the trembling hook - just like every OTHER clueless blowhard on any side of this sort of fracas, talking without any direct knowledge whatsoever about either the specifics or the people involved.
Well, h--l! Here goes, anyway:
For those looking for a classic civil-rights dust-up, this isn't it: Too many obvious small holes. What this actually IS (as I see it), is two grown men who cooperated to let a tricky situation get the best of them.
Nothing more than that, and whichever one (if either) has the good sense and the moral size to cop to his role in the misunderstanding, learn something from it, and get this behind us, is going to come out the better for it.
That's my first and last comment on this.
July 23, 2009 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point.
July 23, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
one-wilson. Great point. Let's see who, if anyone, has the larger moral.
July 23, 2009 10:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Too many obvious small holes. What this actually IS (as I see it), is two grown men who cooperated to let a tricky situation get the best of them.
Nothing more than that, and whichever one (if either) has the good sense and the moral size to cop to his role in the misunderstanding, learn something from it, and get this behind us, is going to come out the better for it."
MJ pass on an opportunity to make knee jerk reactions to situaltions he knows nothing about? Come on. There would be no blog otherwise.
August 7, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink