Obama calls arrest of Harvard scholar unnecessary

[Peacetrain]

Obama calls arrest of Harvard scholar unnecessary

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* Barack Obama

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is standing by his assertion that police did not need to arrest a Harvard scholar who was trying to get into his own home.

Obama said in an interview with ABC that he has "extraordinary respect" for the challenges and hardships that law enforcement officers face every day in their line of work. But at the same time he said he didn't think it was necessary to arrest Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Obama said "cooler heads should have prevailed" in the incident. But he did not retract his initial statement that he thought police had "acted stupidly" and said such incidents "get elevated in ways that probably don't make much sense."

[uponit7771]

1. FACT NOT IN DISPUTE: Gates showed his ID and verified he lived in home and STILL got arrested!!

That is EXACTLY what I would've said knowing the history of racial profiling

[DarthDem]

2. Another Fact . . .

. . . not in dispute is that he verbally berated a uniformed police officer and called him a racist despite being asked several times to calm down. White, black, red, purple - - you don't do that to armed law enforcement officers. You just don't. Good lord, this debate is so misplaced. Let's all act like Gates during our next traffic stop and see how things turn out.

[mkultra]

4. heres another fact

Speaking rudely to an officer is not against the law. Your good ole boy premise of "ya just don't do that" is tantamount to acceptance of institutionalized oppression.

[DarthDem]

6. Sir . . .

I'm not a good ole boy. I'm a 38-YO ultraliberal white male who decries racism everywhere and despises the South because of what they did to this country.

However, this incident is NOT a poster child for racial intolerance. It just isn't.

BTW, berating an officer is, in fact, against the law. It's called "disorderly conduct." I guessed that you weren't speaking from any particular knowledge base, but now I'm sure. I mean no disrespect, but please, you should probably be better-informed.

[mkultra]

7. thank you sir but no thanks

The fact is that approaching an officer and berating him is disorderly conduct(interpreted as a threat) while simply verbally berating an officer after his duties with you have concluded is not.

I don't really know if this incidence was racially motivated or not but i tend to lean in that direction. Even if it wasn't, the fact remains that once the subject was identified, the investigation was concluded. The officers presence after that point was due to his personal intentions.

When officers arrest citizens for "contempt of cop" they are actually abusing their power. Accepting this abuse is naive and has, for some, become so accepted that it has been enshrined in the anal of "you just don't do that" logic. This type of thinking is fine for things that cannot be changed, like pissing on electric fences, but does not apply to the correction of an immoral wrong.

[jehovas_waitress]

13. And apparently he doesn't know that EVERYONE that gets arrested gets handcuffed. S.O.P. N/T

[asphalt.jungle]

9. nonsense

Yeah you're ultra liberal and then saying you despise the South like it ups your ultra liberal cred. Well this kinda racist bullshit with cops tend to happen in states that have a lot of so called ultra liberals: Mass, NY, NJ, Calif, etc. It's not just the South you need to despise.

No one needs to kiss a police officer's ass in his own home after he's proven that it's his house. He didn't just break in and decide to hang pictures of him and his family on the wall and have a fake ID on the ready. The cop was doing his job perfectly up until the ID was shown.

[Fire1]

17. While you're at it, take some history lessons. The 'south'

had plenty of assistance from the NORTH!!!

[DarthDem]

27. So?

I said I despise the South. What's your point - - that I should be directing my anger at the North too? Uh, mkay. And nice 'tude.

[Captain Hilts]

21. There is some town vs. gown going on here. nt

[NatBurner]

5. but this wasn't a traffic stop

out on a public road is one thing, but in my own house?

if i wanna run around naked singing NWA songs, then dammit...

[mkultra]

8. This is the most important point that gets neglected

It also shows why the officer tricked him into coming out on the porch so he could arrest him.

[quiller4]

10. You have no obligation to be polite. Crowley over-reacted

and as soon as he verified that Gates was the resident he should have left the scene. Cops are trained to diffuse scenes but Crowley needlessly accelerated this one.

[lindisfarne]

31. +1. As soon as the cop realized Gates was in his own home, he needed to apologize, answer any quest

questions immediately, & then leave. The cop did not have a search warrant and was a guest on Gates's property at that point.

[Captain Hilts]

12. True. Gates should not have done so. nt

[mkultra]

15. why is that?

[Captain Hilts]

16. Because it's a good way to get arrested. The system sucks, but cops have a LOT of leeway

on this.

No, it's not fair. But, right now, it's the way it is.

Let's hope this incident changes that.

When cops hassle you, you can't bite back no matter how justified. Sucks.

[Fire1]

19. A dangerous combination. Redneck with power and a gun. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

20. Right. And you don't know what kind of shits they've had to deal with that day. nt

[Fire1]

22. Riiiiiiiight. n/t

[mkultra]

23. Rosa parks should have taken your advice

:silly:

[Captain Hilts]

26. What a bad analogy and an insult to Parks. nt

[mkultra]

28. Well, i agree that tolerating bigotry is an insult to all who stood against it

This goes for all types of bigotry.

[fishwax]

24. actually, that is in dispute

he verbally berated a uniformed police officer and called him a racist despite being asked several times to calm down.

[Cha]

29. That's the fucking egomaniac's

version. Do I believe him? NO.

[orwell]

3. Why were the charges dropped...

...almost immediately?

I guess cooler heads prevailed...

[Captain Hilts]

11. Because it was unnecessary. It's that simple. nt

[HughMoran]

14. Hear! Hear! I'm stand with you President Obama

Fuck the authoritarian storm troopers.

[Vinca]

18. Of course it was unnecessary. Otherwise, the charge would not have been dropped ASAP.

[Fire1]

25. That fucker was on a ego trip and anybody with half a brain can

see that and NOT know all the facts.:grr:

[Cha]

30. The more I read ..the

more that becomes indisputably clear.