Second, to informedcitizen, or really uninformed citizen, I think that what Roland Martin is saying, is what many black men feel are saying. Shoot, there have been times that I have been stopped and I have wondered if it was that I was doing something that I should have done, or was it because that i was black.

So instead of accusing Roland Martin for playing the race card, what are you doing to help to make race relations better? In this country right now, there needs to be a real dialogue on the the issue of race.

I would like to know just how many “degrees” does Prof gates hold? From what I have been reading in his speaches I see he was apointed his current postion by yelling and crying the most about how “being black” not being represented corrcetly at Harvard. From what I have heard he got his apointment to teach others how to show disrespect for Law Enforcemnt and get prased at the same time. I see now that you and Obama follow that teaching. I wonder if Rev Wright learned it from Gates as well.

There is one thing about this issue that hasn’t been spoken about and that is respect for elders, especially black elders. The most egregious thing about this is if an elderly white man had acted the way Professor Gates did, one can bet that he would have gotten a pass. Skip is in his 60s, and the fact that Officer Crowley did not acknowledge Dr. Gates as an elder is a true testament of how status and age are irrelevant if you happen to be the wrong skin color. Now that the furor has subsided, I have a question for you that can’t be answered in one fell swoop, but the dialog needs to start anyway and that question is: How can things change for the African American community to where we stop receiving the short end of the stick?

When I look at the problem, and I am sad to admit it, the problem is us. One day and I don’t know when it will happen, but the day is going to come where the power balance will shift in our favor and these things will be a thing of the past. If wealth, power and economic well being were concentrated in the black community, would we be having these issues? A rhetorical question, but I don’t think we would. We need to get to a point where we our power lies in phone calls, not protests. This is the answer – in my opinion. Idealistic? Maybe. Blaming the victim? Maybe. We’ve been asking whites for help for the last 44 years and while we have a black president, his buddy got thrown in the hole, so realistically have we gotten anywhere with the protest tact? No! We get placated with a big old pacifier. With this in mind, I would like to see a challenge to all blacks, especially middle class blacks, and that challenge is: What are you doing to create the power ecosystem necessary to eliminate these issues?

THANKS,
DRE

P.S. It’s amazing to me how the republicans can make everything that President Obama do negative. Let’s see how they spin the fact that the economy is turning around, will they give President Obama credit?

What confounds me is, this is what sensible people do when they have disagreements. Sit down and talk about it!

I have heard a Black men (Larry Elder ), criticize President Obama for his attempt to have Gates and Crowley clear the air over a beer at the White House, don’t see the sense in the meeting, and don’t understand the President’s agenda.

President Obama didn’t call the meeting to prove who was wrong or right, but to hopefully have Gates and Crowley come to some middle ground of agreement!

Time for Whites and some Happy Blacks to embrace a worthy Black man as President

“The manipulation of the public image of Obama as a subversive presence who hates the nation rests on racially coded inferences about unreliable blackness as it tinges the face of American politics.” Michael Eric Dyson

Elder is Radio personality, syndicated columnist, and author stated that, If he was Sgt Crowley he would tell President Obama where to put his meeting. Most would say Elder’s ignorant statement only adds fuel to the Race fire!

Elder has called President Obama a menice to this country.He’s the author of “WHAT’S RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT?: Why It’s Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America. Elder has stated that he believes that Blacks are more Racist then Whites. When Elder was asked on Sean Hannity (another Obama critic) about the Don Imus racial remark of a all Black girls college basketball team he said; “This is yet another example of the mainstream media taking somebody who says something malicious, a white guy, and acting as if this is the number-one problem facing black America.” No it’s not the number one problem Elder, but it’s a Racial problem that can’t be ignored. I wonder if you would have that same opinion if Imus had called your daughter or wife a “Nappy Head Whore”?

I don’t know what planet this Negro and others like him are living on, but it ain’t this one!

Elder and others, be they Black or White, who are ignorant enought to believe that Racism is dead are out of touch with reality! Racism is like a snake in the grass. Just because you don’t see it or maybe it hasn’t bit you, doesn’t mean it won’t raise it’s head up bite you!

We have many Happy Negroes who live in Cocoons, who are cowards where Racism is concerned! Some are just ignorant, while others just don’t want to rock the prosperity boat because their in it. They say, Racism to Blacks is just an illusion of the past! How confused they are.

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER said it best, America is a Nation Of Cowards! Many will ask, “What is he talking about?

Professor Michael Eric Dyson, named by Ebony as one of the hundred most influential black Americans, is the author of sixteen books, including Holler if You Hear Me, Is Bill Cosby Right? and I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. He is currently University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Dyson explains ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER best!

“He‘s talking about America speaking honestly about race, tell the truth. Whites and some Blacks in America have to be honest and willing to say, hey, maybe America didn‘t get it right. Maybe white supremacy, social injustice, the owning of slaves, Jim Crow law, and vicious bigotry have not led to the best experiment in democracy. Click to listen to the discussion!’

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/pat-buchanan-cant-engage-racism-discuss

One Love!

The Doctor

You might want to doublecheck some of the premise of your post against this story from TIME.com that says race was NOT mentioned in the neighbor’s phone call to police. Yes, there is a chance she just really realized who was on his porch forcing the door!

Even as a white guy, even I know the police can trump up nonsense charges for anything (I’ve been to traffic court before!). Yes, if you give pushback, prepare for the worst. A free society isn’t totally free.

But in almost every instance our ways are considered ghetto and shameful. I read a comment on a sports issue concerning Michael Vick where one white man stated that he was tired of blacks hating on whites because they are not born white. That is so ignorant!!!!!!!!!!!

We are not trying to learn rhythm to dance…we have it naturally. We are not trying to get a tan…..we have it naturally. We are not trying to steal from our brother to get ahead….we have faith in God to help us. We are not in recession….we know how to survive on little if we have to.

Somebody needs to give them a clue. The Word of God clearly says “the first shall be the last and the last shall be first”.

Please omit my reply that I posted on July 25, 2009, to this blog, since my reply today supersedes my previous reply. Thank you.

http://tinyurl.com/nyo56a

I felt that this incident could have and should have not gotten so out of hand, but I feel the officer in his actions should have left the scene, without arresting the homeowner Mr. Gates.

Officer Crowley, although trained and having trained others in racial profiling, did not recognize Mr. Gates agitation as possible racial profiling. Mr. Gates question “Why, because I am a black man” should have jumpstarted Officer Crowley’s training intellect and assist him in moving forward into the investigation.

Officer Crowley explained in his report “I was confused by his behavior”. I do not know if Officer Crowley is racist, but his training failed him in this regard or his training was not adequate. Which bring me to the question of should or could white officers teach racial profiling if they never was profiled and discriminated against because of race?

The main reason for Mr. Gates arrest has to do more with our societies low tolerance level for African Americans. We see this in our schools, heath care, criminal justice system and work place environments

Police officers and our judicial system have a different tolerance level for African Americans. I and most blacks know if this were a white male in this situation it would have turned out differently. I truly feel they do not understand this and quite possibly never will until we all address it.

I do not absolve Mr. Gates of his responsibility in this situation also. I respect the work he has done and would hope that this highly intelligent man would have remained a little more respectful to his fellow citizen and let the officer do his job of securing the residence.

I enjoy listening to your comments but you always leave me with the impression that your opinion counts and no one else’s does. That is not meant to be insulting but just that sometimes it would lead to a good discussion if other people are allowed to speak just like you are. I recognise your passion but…. I just wanted to say that re the arrest of Gates and the input of the President whom I support very much, that my heart sank when the President said what he did. Not the word stupidly as the press has taken that out of the intended context but the fact that he offered an opinion per se. I work in 911 Emergency settings and we learn – take nothing for granted as our mantra. I would have been happy to know that officers showed up to make sure my house was not being smashed to pieces and all my personal and professional keep sakes destroyed or taken and would have been only too willing to show my ID regardless of whether they hated blacks or not! My point is that change will not come unless we black people are open minded enough to say let me take this on face value and see where it leads rather than assuming what it is. What really happened between Gates and Crowley we will never really know. Gates with all his qualifications and position in life could be relaying a story in his own interpretation of events and so is Crowley so we will never really know. What i am anxious to hear is the call made to police or 911 to hear how Gates and his driver were described as that might have a lot to do with the mindset of the officer when he arrived. Why can we not hear this.

Last point – If you and I are having an argument and neither of us back down and extend an olive branch, will we ever be able to talk about it and resolve it or will it continue to fester? The point is, even if Gates was right, he too could have backed down, deal with it after the officer left through his lawyer rather than getting arrested. Two wrongs do not make a right and until and unless we take the chip off our shoulders and address these incidents of racism perceived or real in the appropriate manner and forum, nothing, nothing will change. I live in a black community where black officers turn up at homes of other black residents and demand ID because a neighbour called. Can the victim call racism? Not likely – but in those settings he will try to see the situation for what it is and be grateful that his nice home is not turned into a garbage pile.

Thank you

I am an executive of a software company that developed investigative case management software that gained the intense interest of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), NYPD and the Department of Justice (DOJ). After retaining three retired federal agents as contract employees with the company at the request of DHS and many high-level meetings with DHS, DOJ and the NYPD. The FBI raided our business an accused us of running a fraudulent enterprise because we accumulated debt making modifications for DHS and NYPD.

During the raid, the FBI asked racially-charged questions, allowed our white executive to leave without searching him or his property. All the african-americans were searched and coralled into the cafeteria.

We have been trying to tell our story forever, but no one will listen. We have written every member of Congress, President Obama, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Eric Holder, but no one will hear us.

How is it that a company who runs a fraudulent enterprise will hire retired federal agents to work in the business? It is absolutely crazy! Not to mention we were developing software for law enforcement and worked closely with law enforcement in the development of this software.

This is the stuff that most white american’s don’t see but judge African-American’s wrongly for their views. Our company, families and church members are still being harassed by the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office. The local television media is being controlled by the government when they wouldn’t report on this or give us an opportunity to speak but was able to report on a police officer being bitten by a dog. Give me a break!

We engaged in a sizeable protest outside the federal buildings and the media never covered the story. One reporter told a close friend that the FBI made a mistake and they wanted it to go away, but they continue to work underhanded to destroy our business and families.

This is what being BLACK IN AMERICA is all about! This is why Professor Gates and President Obama’s initially reacted the way they did. IT IS OUR EXPERIENCE AND NOBOBY WILL LISTEN.

Roland Martin’s commentary was right on regarding dialogue on the Gates incident. IT IS OUR EXPERIENCE

I liked you during the campaign season because you supported the man I voted for. But now I realize we voted for two different people. I voted for the best, most talented man who has run for President in my lifetime. You voted for the black guy. You’re an ignorant fucking racist fool.

CNN has aired still photographs of Gates wearing his police-issued “jewelry” and, through Rick Sanchez, CNN has also provided information from the police report that was filed by Sergeant Crowley on July 16, 2009, but I have also read the police report filed four days later by a second officer, Carlos Figueroa, on July 20, 2009, who is also employed by the Cambridge Police Department (Badge #509), and who was the second CPD officer to enter Gates’ home after Sergeant Crowley the afternoon of Gates’ arrest.

According to the police report filed by Sergeant Crowley, he had already had Gates’ “Harvard University identification in hand,” and had already “radioed [his] findings to ECC” when Officer Figueroa then entered the Gates home. However, in the police report filed by Officer Figueroa, he claimed that he heard Sergeant Crowley “[asking for the gentleman's information at] which [Gates] stated ‘NO I WILL NOT!’” when, according to the police report of Sergeant Crowley, the sergeant was alone and Officer Figueroa had not yet arrived when the professor had handed over to Sergeant Crowley his driver’s license and his Harvard ID! Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

It is also unclear how it was that Officer Figueroa was able to “[step] out to gather the information from the reporting person” (Lucia Whalen), leaving Sergeant Crowley to calm an irate Gates, who reportedly, according to the Crowley police report, was yelling at Sergeant Crowley at this time to give him his name and badge number, when, according to the Crowley police report, this didn’t occur until after Officer Figueroa had already left the Gates home when Sergeant Crowley was alone! Again, the chicken-egg paradox is here indicating that these police reports are manufactured for corroboration as to what Officer Figueroa observed and when is missing and it also seems more than a bit implausible that Figueroa would have left Crowley alone to calm down the irate professor in order to conduct an interview with a witness (Whalen).

Regardless of what President Obama or Governor Patrick may have opined about this case in both admitting not having in their possession all of the facts, what these two men opined about the arrest of Gates resonates with any reasonable person, whose objectivity is not clouded by racial overtones that needed to be raised by Gates over how Sergeant Crowley conducted himself when responding to a “911″ call made by one of Gates’ neighbors (Whalan), who thought perhaps the two men she saw at Gates’ door on that afternoon were burglars and who evidently wanted to do what she reasonable could to thwart a possible crime that might have been taking place at her neighbor’s home.

However, one of the things that CNN has not seen fit (for whatever reason) to report in connection with the Gates arrest is the fact that the very first thing that the officer, Sergeant Crowley, said to Gates when standing at Gates’ front door — who, by the way, was alone at the time when he arrives at Gates’ home — was “Would you step outside?” or words to this effect. Rather than focusing on the president’s description of the arresting officer (Crowley) as having “acted stupidly,” which means something altogether different than if President Obama had said that the arresting officer was a “stupid” individual or was a “fool” (many of us have acted foolishly in the past, but it would be inaccurate to regard those that say foolish things or take”stupid” actions as “fools” or as “stupid”), the focus should be on what led to the Gates arrest so that the lesson about what law enforcement should not do when dealing with the public when going about its duties as police officers.

Now just think about this for a moment: One of your children is at home alone and someone dressed as a police officer, someone that your child doesn’t know, comes to your front door and asks your child to “step outside,” which means that he or she would have to open the door to a stranger that is wearing a police uniform. Why should your child open the door and “step outside” for this stranger? Perhaps if this hypothetical police officer should inform your child that there is a fire in the house next door and he or she is there to evacuate folks living the homes adjourning the fire, maybe your child would open the door to the police officer. And maybe not if your child becomes suspicious and wants to see some identification first before opening the door, who knows? Now I’m an adult and I wouldn’t do this and neither would my wife open the door to anyone, including a police officer or a firefighter unless and until the stranger properly identified himself or herself.

Likewise, Professor Gates didn’t want to open his door, at least not without there being a good reason for his doing so, for just as Sergeant Crowley had never met Gates before July 16, 2009, Gates had never met Sergeant Crowley before either, and whether or not Gates noticed that the officer was wearing a service revolver, police officers are used armed, so “Would you step outside” should understandably have caused him some alarm, even as anyone else in this situation would have had cause for alarm.

Gates didn’t open the door and told Sergeant Crowley that he had no intention of ‘stepping outside’ and it was fortunate that Gates happened to have been talking to someone on the phone when the officer came to his door, for if anyone onerous would have occurred, at least there would have been someone associated with the University that would have been able to relate what she had heard transpiring at the Gates home should anything awry has taken place.

So far, is Skip’s behavior such that anyone viewing the matter objectively would find Skip’s behavior incomprehensible or bizarre? I don’t think so, but this is only my objective viewpoint, and I must allow you and other adults to be as objective about this as I believe I am being as I move on in this narrative.

Next, Sergeant Crowley’s went on to explain to Skip that one of his neighbors had dialed “911″ to report a potential burglary in progress at his home, to which Gates replied to the officer that there had been no burglary, that he was certainly not a burglar, but a Harvard professor, and that this was his home.

Sergeant Crowley next asks Skip if he is able to prove his identity, and at that point Gates evidently felt comfortable enough to open the door to his home to permit the officer to enter, and Sergeant Crowley follows Skip to the kitchen where he extracted from his wallet both his driver’s license and his Harvard identification proving that he was a professor at Harvard, and handed them to the officer for his inspection. For reasons that are unclear, the police report filed by Sergeant Crowley doesn’t mention Gates’ handing his driver’s license to him.

Sergeant Crowley now knows that there are no exigent circumstances present that would reasonably make him think a burglary had occurred, although this is what the officer told Gates he was there to investigate, but Sergeant Crowley goes on to ask him if there was anyone else in the house, which to Gates seemed a strange question and caused him to immediately become fearful of what this officer’s intentions now were, since Skip had already proved who he was, that he was not a burglar, but had actually lived at this address, and so was expecting the officer to leave his home now that his burglary investigation had concluded.

Gates refuses to answer Sergeant Crowley’s question and asks the officer to leave his home, but the officer does not leave and instead is quite persistent about Skip answering his question, at which point Gates asks for the officer’s name and badge number, and asks to see the officer’s identification because Skip is not comfortable with his being repeatedly interrogated by Sergeant Crowley and is now considering the filing of a report against the officer to his superiors due to the uneasy feeling he now felt over the way he was now being treated by Sergeant Crowley, his refusal to leave his home and his persistence in interrogating Gates further as if Gates had not proved who he was and still suspected Gates of being a criminal, a burglar.

Skip felt the officer had for whatever reason now profiled him as being a black man that had unlawfully entered this home, and feared that this encounter was about to turn into a dangerous situation where he might become the next African American to fall victim to another police shooting; he didn’t know, but he was now afraid of Sergeant Crowley’s motives for pursuing the investigation of a burglary that never occurred, since, after several requests to leave Gates’ home, the sergeant had refused to do so.

There’s more to this story, but my point here is that CNN must do better and report all of the facts, and not just the ones that are favorable to one side, since there are always at least two sides to every issue.

This isn’t about the president or the governor of Massachusetts, or even about support of an officer by police unions. This is about race relations in America and the very real fear that African-Americans have been confronted by white police officers, who may or may not be predisposed to dealing with minorities in the same that they do whites in America, and also about a fear that most African-Americans have of white police officers that might ask impertinent questions of them and be completely oblivious to the apprehension and anxiety the questions they ask or the requests they make (like ‘open your door and step outside”) cause them, which could well have led to the premature deaths of minorities in disproportionate numbers in police-related shootings in the US thought to have been totally unprovoked.

“You guys” at CNN would do the public a very good service by speaking to the Harvard woman to whom Skip was speaking during the entire time that Sergeant Crowley was at Gates’ home, and obtain a copy of the transmissions between Sergeant Crowley (and other officers) and the ECC, which should shed light on what actually and factually occurred at the Gates home on July 16, 2009.

I think the president’s idea as to his hosting a beer-drinking “sit down” at the White House between Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates to be interesting, but for this incident to become a “teachable moment,” the president should, while waiting until all of the facts become known, give a speech to the nation (1) about the impropriety of asking someone, especially minorities, to open their door and step outside without their having first provided to the citizen a reason for making such a request, and (2) about law enforcement officers not intimidating citizens because they have taken offense over a citizen’s not unreasonable desire to know with whom they are speaking, so that officers show a willingness, when asked by a citizen to identify themselves, to do so (where practicable) in recognition of the fact that there does exist in this country a genuine fear that minorities have of police officers, especially of white police officers, again due to the disproportionate number of minorities being killed in officer-involved shootings.

You play the race card and continue to make it the go-to defense, regardless of your wrong-doing. You get equal punishment and preference yet you seem to elevate yourself above others because of “past wrong-doings” and that, in short, is how you create inequality. Good job moving past race relations. You’re making it worse. Just, shut, up.

The officer asked Dr. Gates to exit the home for safety reasons. In the officer’s mind, there could have been another person on the property.

I believe that both parties escalated a situation that did not need to be escalated.

You seem to come at this issue with a Bias against the Police. You stated what the white Police officer should have done. How about Gates, I haven’t heard you say once he should have handled it better. If he wouldn’t have said he wouldn’t come outside, say it was only because he was a black man,etc, this incident wouldn’t have happened. Also that he got on the phone to call the Police Chief because Sgt Crowley didn’t know who he was messing with right? Or that he made numerous deragorty comments to Crowley, when there are no reports that any of those comments were made in return.

Lets also clarify several of your statements. You said Gates was the homeowner several times, but Harvard owns the house. Or that why shouldn’t a neighbor have recognized such an important person. Doesn’t seem strange that someone, unknown to her, is forcing entry. Also that the Police were looking for a suspect and should just leave. The Police report isn’t the absolute truth, so in your view the Police aren’t truthful. The Hispanic officer wrote the report not Crowley.

Professor Watkins at least displayed objectivety, which you don’t seem to have in this case. He stated several reasons why the Police needed to see what was going on. Just because you think they should leave and tried to, with Gates following them yelling.

You said apparently the officer was offended, how can you infer that when you don’t know his state of mind at that time. Oh thats right you don’t believe Police reports.

You expect other people to look at both sides, but you are blind to any other point of view but yours!

HOWEVER…I’m a little disheartened by the fact that Gates hadn’t thought about racial profiling before. It’s not a new issue. We’ve been dealing with it for quite some time. I think for him, it was more a matter of who he was as opposed to what color he was.

Was the incident racial? Surely. As you so aptly pointed out, Gates’ neighbor should’ve recognized him. I don’t think he just moved to the neighborhood yesterday, so the woman should’ve known what he looked like.

I think what Gates said in various interviews is more telling than anything. He speaks of having biracial parents and of being married to a white woman. This man, for all intents and purposes, almost acts like he thought he was above the common brother who gets stopped all the time.

Basically, while I think he’s right to be outraged, I think his pride is more wounded than anything else.

What I witness on Lou Dobbs ‘s show tonight regarding President Obama’s birth certificate, was probably a duplicate reaction that Sgt. Crowley had when Prof. Gates stood up for his rights. The conversation between Roland Martin( a Black man) and (Lou Dobbs) a White man, mirrored exactly how White men react to a Black man who speaks with authority. (Lou Dobbs) reacting to Roland Martin’s statements as being disrespectful to himself and the Congressman was uncalled for. At no time was Roland disrespectful. Roland Martin stood his ground about the live birth certificate as being a legal document. What I saw was probably the same reaction from Sgt. Crowley when Prof. Gates defended his rights and questioned the officer’s persistent inquiries over and over again after verifying his residency.

CHILL man! It’s one thing to get your point across, but it’s another to show yourself getting too emotional. You’re a great contributor on CNN, but I have to admit, you’re making me a little nervous when you don’t allow others to complete their point of views when they disagree with you. You are becoming so borderline of being an objective journalist, to being someone viewed as out of control. Please! I love you too much to see you you bleeped for an unintentional ‘bad word’ because you’re emotionally losing control. Pleeeeeeeze make your points without all the emotion!

Honesty speaking, I was appalled but not shocked when I can the email, the phone call, and the text concerning Dr. Gates. I too have been profiled and mistreated by police. As a young professional representative for the former DaimlerChrysler in PA, I was pulled over and held for twenty minutes roadside by a PA highway patrol for no apparent reason. I had recently left the Philadelphia airport and was headed to my office in Malvern up 426 when I was stopped. After checking my credentials, the trooper said have a nice day. I then said excuse me officer, but why was I stopped. He then said very sternly this time, “I said have a nice day”, and went back to his car without addressing my question. Thirty minutes passed and I received a phone call from my new office. They were concerned that I may get stopped because they had neglected to change the tag on my new corporate vehicle and the manufacturing tag currently displayed was expired!

It’s a funny thing though, the trooper never mentioned my expired tag; he was too concerned about the young Black man driving the new decked out Chrysler 300M with Manufacturer plates to be bothered with my actually breaking the law. My crime was “Driving While Black”; for so many of us, our crime is simply living while “black”.

I look forward to seeing and hearing more about Professor Gates’ work on racial profiling in the criminal justic system.