It's okay for white men to be biased, but not for minority group members to be biased.

[Straybow]

No, if I had to break into my own home, and somebody on the street saw me and called the police, and they asked me to show identification to establish that it was, indeed, my house, I'd say, "Yes, officer, here's my ID. And there are some pictures of me with my family on the piano and credenza, if you have any lingering doubt."

And then I'd thank the police for responding so quickly, for had it been a real burglar in my house his presence would be even more appreciated.

Bottom line, the guy is an arsehole for playing the race card when asked for ID, and so is Obama for not recognizing it. (Where various posters rate in that regard they may assess for themselves based on those examples.)

[MrFun]

Cause racism no longer exists in America, right Straybow?

[SlowwHand]

Straybow made a valid point that deserves more than a flippant response.
Do you, or do you not, want police asking questions?

[Lonestar]

Cause racism no longer exists in America, right Straybow?

What the hell does that have to do with the price of beer?

[MrFun]

Well okay, maybe it's time for me to eat my words.

By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer Denise Lavoie, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 10 mins ago
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Supporters say the white policeman who arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home is a principled police officer and family man who is being unfairly described as racist.

Friends and fellow officers — black and white — say Sgt. James Crowley, who was hand-picked by a black police commissioner to teach recruits about avoiding racial profiling, is calm and reliable.

"If people are looking for a guy who's abusive or arrogant, they got the wrong guy," said Andy Meyer of Natick, Mass., who has vacationed with Crowley, coached youth sports with him and is his teammate on a men's softball team. "This is not a racist, rogue cop."

Gates accused the 11-year department veteran of being an unyielding, race-baiting authoritarian after Crowley arrested and charged him with disorderly conduct last week.

Crowley confronted Gates in his home after a woman passing by summoned police for a possible burglary. The sergeant said he arrested Gates after the scholar repeatedly accused him of racism and made derogatory remarks about his mother, allegations the professor challenges. Gates has labeled Crowley a "rogue cop," demanded an apology and said he may sue the police department.

President Barack Obama elevated the dispute when he said Wednesday that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" during the encounter. Obama stepped back on Thursday, telling ABC News, "From what I can tell, the sergeant who was involved is an outstanding police officer, but my suspicion is probably that it would have been better if cooler heads had prevailed."

Crowley told a radio station Thursday that Obama went too far.

"I support the president of the United States 110 percent," he told WBZ-AM. "I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts, as he himself stated before he made that comment."

Obama noted that he and Gates are friends, and the sergeant said: "I guess a friend of mine would support my position, too."

Crowley didn't immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas, in his first public comments on the arrest, said Thursday that Crowley was a decorated officer who followed procedure. The department is putting together an independent panel to review the arrest, but Haas said he did not think the whole story had been told.

"Sgt. Crowley is a stellar member of this department. I rely on his judgment every day," Haas said. "... I think he basically did the best in the situation that was presented to him."

But Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, once the top civil rights official in the Clinton administration and now, like Obama, the first black to hold his job, labeled the arrest "every black man's nightmare."

The governor told reporters: "You ought to be able to raise your voice in your own house without risk of arrest."

Those who know the 42-year-old Crowley say he is committed to everyday interests like playing softball and coaching his children's youth teams.

"I would give him my daughter to coach in a blink of an eye, and I can't say any stronger opinion than that," said Dan Keefe, a town parks official who knows Crowley from his work coaching youth swim, softball, basketball and baseball teams.

Crowley grew up in Cambridge's Fresh Pond neighborhood and attended the city's racially diverse public schools. Two of his brothers also work for the police department and a third is a Middlesex County deputy sheriff.

For five of the past six years, Crowley has volunteered alongside a black colleague in teaching 60 cadets per year about how to avoid targeting suspects merely because of their race, and how to respond to an array of scenarios they might encounter on the beat. Thomas Fleming, director of the Lowell Police Academy, said Crowley was asked by former Cambridge police Commissioner Ronnie Watson, who is black, to be an instructor.

"I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy," Fleming said.

Police Officer's Defense

[Sava]

this thread is stupid

[ColdWizard]

Cambridge police are stupid for responding to reported break-ins.

[Sava]

They should have tased him.

And if the citizenry had any balls, they'd riot circa LA 92.

My position: they are all pussies. The cops, the people, and this professor douche. Everybody needs to fight the power!
RAWR

[ColdWizard]

Don't forget that the person who called it in. She should be tased too.

[SlowwHand]

Tase the person that installed the telephone!

[ColdWizard]

For simplicity's sake, everyone should buy a taser and tase themselves once per hour. White people tase themselves twice every even hour for being racist. Everyone else tase themselves twice every odd hour for being racist.

[ColdWizard]

Well okay, maybe it's time for me to eat my words.

But will Obama eat his?

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A multiracial group of police officers on Friday stood with the white officer who arrested a prominent black Harvard scholar and asked President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick to apologize for comments the union leaders called insulting.

Obama said Wednesday that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" during the disorderly conduct arrest of his friend, Henry Louis Gates Jr., in his own home near Harvard University. Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare."

Dennis O'Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, said Obama's remarks were "misdirected" and the Cambridge police "deeply resent the implication" that race was a factor in the arrest.

"President Obama said the actions of the CPD were stupid and linked the event to the history of racial profiling in America," O'Connor said. "The facts of the case suggested that the president used the right adjective but directed it to the wrong party."

Officers responded to Gates' home on July 16 after a woman called 911 and said she saw two black men with backpacks trying to force open the front door. The woman, Lucia Whalen, has not responded to repeated attempts for comment.

Gates has said he returned from an overseas trip, found the door jammed, and that he and his driver attempted to force it open. Gates went through the back door and was inside the house on the phone with the property's management company when police arrived.

Police said he flew into a verbal rage after Sgt. James Crowley, who is white, asked him to show identification to prove he should be in the home. Police say Gates accused Crowley of racial bias, refused to calm down and was arrested. The charge was dropped Tuesday, but Gates has demanded an apology, calling his arrest a case of racial profiling.

Gates, 58, maintains he turned over identification when asked to do so by the police. He said Crowley arrested him after the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.

Crowley has refused to apologize, saying he followed protocol.

[chequita guevara]

Gates provided the officer with his id, proving he lived there. Then the police called the university to confirm.

Of course the police say they didn't do anything wrong. Have the police EVER said they did something wrong?

[Sava]

For simplicity's sake, everyone should buy a taser and tase themselves once per hour. White people tase themselves twice every even hour for being racist. Everyone else tase themselves twice every odd hour for being racist.

I'd prefer if everyone just had a chip implanted in their body that delivered a shock on my command.

[Guynemer]

All hail Emperor Sava.