Skip, You Mouthed Off

[babylonsister]

Skip, You Mouthed Off

by Mansfield Frazier


Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. forgot what black parents have always told their children: Don’t display anger at the police. But anyone, black or white, who mouths off to an officer will end up in handcuffs, says Mansfield Frazier.


A few years ago the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP handed out cards to young African-American men with instructions on how they should react when a police officer pulls them over—it really isn’t a matter of “if,” just “when” for black urban youth: “Keep your hands in plain sight on the steering wheel; don’t reach for your wallet without telling the officer what you are doing and getting his permission first; don’t mouth off.” The cards were an effort to ensure that black youth survived such encounters in one piece.

Gates had made his point and his statement; his continued aggravation, and the venting of it, was sure to end with him being handcuffed—and I believe race played no role in that outcome.

Back in the day, our parents gave us similar advice to survive such encounters: “Take low.” If a police officer is dogging you out, simply suck it up and accept it. Don’t display anger; don’t “buck,” as the old folks used to say; don’t look them in the eye and stand up for your rights. In other words, don’t do anything that will cause you to wind up as a statistic on a police blotter.

The goal was clear: Live to tell the tale. Not everyone who has a brush with the law—especially persons of color—is around to talk about it.

Well, things have changed a bit in America since I received that advice from my mother back in the ’50s, but as Dr. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. recently discovered, not all that much.

While I doubt that the Harvard professor was ever in jeopardy of getting a cap busted off in his ass, one thing young inner-city blacks learn at an early age is that the police have guns, they are licensed and trained to use them, and are rarely, if ever, held accountable for their actions. The problem is, when all you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail.

Professor Gates is now stating that the police report the Cambridge police officer filed in his disorderly conduct arrest last week—the charges have since been dropped—is largely fiction.

Welcome to the real world, Professor Gates. You didn’t really think the officer you are accusing of rousting you was going to write a fair and balanced report of the incident—one that you could use in a lawsuit against the City of Cambridge—now, did you? As a member of the Harvard faculty, you are aware, I’m sure, that history belongs to those who write it. The shading of the truth by officers of the law is allegedly so endemic that noted law professor (and one of the co-founders of the Sentencing Project) Barry Scheck coined a term for it: “testilying.”

more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-23/skip-you-mouthed-off/full/

[MineralMan]

1. Yassuh, boss. Yassuh.

Feh!

[Hello_Kitty]

2. He thoroughly contradicts himself

He starts off describing the reality of unequal police treatment toward blacks:

Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. forgot what black parents have always told their children: Don’t display anger at the police. But anyone, black or white, who mouths off to an officer will end up in handcuffs, says Mansfield Frazier.


A few years ago the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP handed out cards to young African-American men with instructions on how they should react when a police officer pulls them over—it really isn’t a matter of “if,” just “when” for black urban youth: “Keep your hands in plain sight on the steering wheel; don’t reach for your wallet without telling the officer what you are doing and getting his permission first; don’t mouth off.” The cards were an effort to ensure that black youth survived such encounters in one piece.

And then claims race had nothing to do with the arrest:

Gates had made his point and his statement; his continued aggravation, and the venting of it, was sure to end with him being handcuffed—and I believe race played no role in that outcome.

[MineralMan]

4. Of course race had something to do with it.

Cuffing someone and taking them down for booking rarely gets the cop in trouble, so that's what they do if a black man mouths off at them. It's an "I'll show you to know your place," moment, and there are no repercussions for the cop...in most cases.

This cop didn't realize that he was dealing with someone capable of generating national press attention. Bad cop...no donuts!

[MineralMan]

3. What a contrast with what the freeperish folks say they'd

do if a cop came to their house. They're all bravado and noise. In reality, though, like the keyboard warriors they are, they'd crap their pants and say "yassuh."

My father gave me the same advice as in that article. Get past whatever incident has gotten you in a "conversation" with a police officer. Cooperate and comply and go on your way. If you bluster and raise a commotion, you may get a ride in the back of the cop car. It's a choice.

In the Gates situation, however, once he identified himself as the resident, the cop should have said, "Thank you, sir, and have a good day." Then, he should have gone on his way. That didn't happen. That it didn't is a lesson to us all.

[babylonsister]

5. I agree with you, and think this author does, too. Seems to me he's

just throwing out a cold cup of reality, which is very sad to me in this day and age.

Maybe Prof. Gates will teach this lesson that is needed so badly.

[MineralMan]

6. I wish the lesson would be learned,

but I'm not optomistic about it. The thing is that cops arrest and book lots of black men, who are later released with no charges. They never get reprimanded for it, so they do it freely and without thinking about it.

The individual cops know that nothing will happen to them for cuffing a black man and arresting him, then hauling him down to the jail. They'll be released in the morning, since the DA won't prosecute any such case, and the cops know that, too. A few bruises along the way? Well, those won't get reported, either.

It's their way of punishing "contempt of cop," which isn't a crime. Still, the individual cop can get a guy put in jail overnight at will and without reprimand.

It's just that once in a while, as in the Gates incident, it isn't that simple. This cop made an error and is getting bad publicity for it. He'll get a minor reprimand, but that's all. It'll be a "Be more careful, dummy" sort of reprimand, meaning that he should think about who he's cuffing before dragging the next black man off to the pokey for a night.

They're less likely to do this to a white man, because they might be "someone." They just can't imagine a black man who is "someone."

[Raschel]

9. All of these decades of cops getting away with doing anything they want to minorities has

brought us to where we are now. They've moved on to the entire population, Black or White, they do whatever they want. It continues to get worse.

[MineralMan]

10. And yet...we still see the cops not really enforcing

things like DUI laws uniformly. I'd sure like to see more effort expended in getting drunks off the road. That would actually save lives...a goal worth pursuing.

[kegler14]

7. While I think Gates got arrested partly because he's black,

I'm white and I sure as hell wouldn't mouth off at a cop.

[MineralMan]

8. That's your choice, really. I don't do it, either, but

contempt of cop is not a crime in any jurisdiction. As long as you keep your hands to yourself, you should be able to tell a cop he is an idiot without repercussions. The reality is that a well-dressed white guy can generally get away with telling a cop of. A black man, on the other hand, generally cannot.

That's the reality in virtually every medium to large city in the USA. Contempt of cop while black will get you an overnight stay in the local jail. You won't be charged, because the DA knows that it's a waste of money, but the arrest will remain on your record and you'll be jailed until they boot you out the next morning.

If you're white, probably not, unless you're drunk, on drugs, or look like you live in a trailer park. In that case, you're virtually black to the cop.

In general, cops don't like the people they encounter on anything other than a simple traffic stop. If they come to where you are on any sort of complaint, they assume you've done something illegal and you're well-advised to shut up and say "yassuh," whether you're black, white, tan, or purple. They don't like you before they get there, and it doesn't make any sense to make them like you less.