The Gates affair. The day the outrage died.

[hay rick]

Today the media turned off the flames on the Gates affair inferno. I checked CNN, MSN, Fox, Yahoo, the New York Times, and local newspapers. Michael Jackson has returned to his rightful place on page one. The remnants of mainstream media commentary on the Gates incident has moved on to the beer bash and the "I'm with Stupidly" t-shirts.

Today also happens to be the day after a lawyer for Lucia Whalen, the woman who called the police and who also witnessed the arrest, contradicted written statements made by Sergeant Crowley in his police report. The media may love stories featuring impassioned claims of racism and the scorn and strident denials that inevitably greet such claims from the other side, but stories of erroneous and dissembling police reports? Not so much.

From my point of view, the trajectory of the Gates incident coverage was entirely predictable. It was predictable because it was tailored to conform to what might be described as the "Right Wing Bigot Theory of the Universe." My Wikipedia entry on RWBTotU:

"Racial discrimination against blacks is entirely offset by reverse discrimination against whites. Blacks have the same opportunities as whites and whites face the same barriers as blacks. Therefore, claims of racial discrimination by blacks are just irritating attempts to get special treatment. EEO, Affirmative Action, and Welfare are like the trials of Job for white people, who are the real victims here."

The mainstream (my friends call me Liberal) media is committed to propping up this world view and it is reflected in the balance of its reporting on race relations. This orientation explains why a few years back the Duke lacrosse story was all page one and headlines while the Tulia, Texas story was slipped in with the obituaries if it got any mention at all.

It's been interesting seeing Mr. Gates in the spotlight; it's just a shame the facts had to get off message...

[EFerrari]

1. She's having a press conference tomorrow. n/t

[Spazito]

9. Who is having a press conference tomorrow? n/t

[EFerrari]

18. Whalen is having a press conference tomorrow.

[Spazito]

25. Thanks! That should be very interesting! n/t

[babylonsister]

2. It's not over. John Stewart just covered it thoroughly, and don't

forget those beers they'll share.

And watch TDS if you can-hysterical!

[BlooInBloo]

3. It stopped being fun for certain people when the cop lied.

[hay rick]

4. Exactly.

[MUAD_DIB]

5. It is actually still funny.

Just a few days ago on Friday the witness was being attacked as being a racist by the DU knee-jerk crowd.

Now they have another aspect of the case to knee-jerk about.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. Not only DU.

I was wondering why that poor woman was being so defensive and hired an attorney. I googled her name and found some of the most heinous shit you would want to read about anybody. Bloggers were accusing her of, among other things, lynching and cause a race riot. :puke:

[MUAD_DIB]

16. I have been accused of being a police apologist simply because

I suggested that all the facts weren't available yet for all to see. That was Wednesday.

The shrill replies that I received were that ALL the evidence was in to make a descision, and that bla bla bla...


I'm really feel sorry for all the parties involved in this mess. They've all been maligned by the ever so self righteous at DU and in the wider world.


Can't we all get back to the health care issue?

[TheKentuckian]

21. There was more than enough data. Law abiding citizen arrested in own home.

The tone of most of those waiting for more information was not one of "this cop better explain why he took a law abiding resident to jail" or even "I don't have a fucking clue what happened but the truth will come out" but one of "I'm sure Officer Crowley acted appropriately and that will be proven" .

You guy were digging, brainstorming, and all but praying for information that painted Crowley in the best possible light. The so called objectivity certainly had a serious lean. I made no bones, I don't believe the cop and don't give a shit if I did because the problem is abuse of authority.

[EFerrari]

22. You're right. The clincher for me was hearing that freeper Congressman

use the very same "we don't have all the facts yet" argument when Tweety was waving a copy of the president's birth certificate in his face.

[Number23]

24. Damn right. And all of the rofl smilies in the world by the apologists won't change that fact.

You guy were digging, brainstorming, and all but praying for information that painted Crowley in the best possible light.

:thumbsup:

[MUAD_DIB]

27. Until the information changed on Monday...

So I guess that all the information wasn't available yet.

:eyes:


What does "You guy" mean? Again, am I being accused of something that I did not write?

Knee-jerk DUers never fail to amaze/amuse me.

[defendandprotect]

31. From what I read of the threads, agree with you --

[Cha]

56. Well, maybe something

good came out of it by her being forced to give her side of the story in a presser.

I'm sorry she had to go through that.

[Solomon]

6. Oh they got the cops side of the story out allright.

K&R

[EFerrari]

19. On Laura Flanders' show today, a lady named irene Monroe,

who is a black divinity grad and instructor at Harvard, said that Jim Crowley's nickname in the black community is Jim Crow because he was so good at shaking them down.

[BlooInBloo]

23. nuh-UH!

:rofl:

[defendandprotect]

33. "Jim Crow" . . .

usually the communities know what's going on --

and is it simple irony that puts someone like him in charge of the

"racial profiling" classes -- ???

Don't think so!

[EFerrari]

42. I think Crowley is going to wind up applying at BlackWater

because he's never going to live this down.

[defendandprotect]

60. Really hope you're right . . .

[fascisthunter]

48. wow... great point!

[hfojvt]

7. you need to explain more how the meida is propping up that world view

a world view which hardly anybody shares. Were they supposed to stay on the Gates story? It's more important than the story about the young black man who was arrested last night in the KC area?

[hay rick]

15. They stayed on the Gates story too long.

The coverage was disproportionate to the significance of the event. It was pushed because (take your pick) Gates had a chip the size of a small mansion on his shoulder; the Muslim President said all cops are stupid; Sergeant Crowley gave Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth.

OK, none of those points explains the level of interest that was shown in this story. So was that interest- random?

I mentioned the Duke lacrosse case as a relatively trivial event that received inordinate attention because it supported a narrative of reverse discrimination. Link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Duke_University_lacrosse_case

(I'm doing all wikipedia tonight)

I contrasted the enthusiastic coverage of the "reverse discrimination case" with the media's inattention to the far more outrageous injustice of the racial discrimination evident in the Tulia case. Duck, it's another wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulia,_Texas

A good current example of the media bias in reporting bias on racial issues is the relative lack of attention given to black incarceration rates.

Now, what's the story about the black kid in KC?

[hfojvt]

20. it's hard to tell if you are explaining your own theories

or the theories of somebody else. Do you feel the Gates case was covered too much or too little? And why? It generated its own heat on DU, so clearly there was some interest in it and it involved a famous TV person.

Comparing Tulia to Duke is kinda silly. Duke is a famous school and the story involves sports and sex. For some of the coverage it looked like the Duke players were guilty. Normal, umknown people from an unknown town do not get as much coverage as semi-famous people from a well-known school. I doubt if the coverage of that had anything to do with reverse racism, any more than the coverage of the Kobe Bryant story did.

I had no TV for most of the 1990s, so I cannot be sure, but how much coverage did Wenatchee get?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenatchee_sex_ring

I did not hear about it until I ordered the book "Witch Hunt" in the late 1990s.

[defendandprotect]

34. Black incarceration rates are -- and all prisoner numbers -- are atrocious -- !!!

When is there even an article about that to post . . . once a year???

Reverse Racism is a crock!

[hay rick]

44. Last article that I saw...March.

It was an article in Salon by Glenn Greenwald. Link here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/28/webb/index.html

DU discussion on the article here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5352120

The article was more about US incarceration vs. the rest of the world, but it did mention the extraordinary incarceration figures for blacks. Excerpt:

"African-Americans are about 12% of our population; contrary to a lot of thought and rhetoric, their drug use rate in terms of frequent drug use rate is about the same as all other elements of our society, about 14%. But they end up being 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted, and 74% of those sentenced to prison by the numbers that have been provided by us. . . ."

[defendandprotect]

57. Just scanned the thread/article quickly . . . but

yes, it isn't primarily about the number of African-Americans we have locked up.

Two horrendous subjects -- in fact, three --

The total number
The number of African-Americans -- and I think Hispanics are also high
PLUS the fact that some figure close to 500,000 a year are released from prison

Obviously we need to be discussing these subjects more and making changes!!

Thanks!!

PS: I didn't see a post by me there so presume I missed it --

[EFerrari]

43. This story is iconographic in ways I haven't figured out even after all these days.

Gates is a national figure. Cambridge is one of the most important seats of learning in this country. It stopped being "local" or even about a rich black guy as soon as those cuffs went on.

I don't think the coverage was disproportionate to the significance but rather, that we haven't teased out the significance of the event yet. It struck more than one deep chord for us.

[hay rick]

53. The story may be interesting, but it's hardly significant.

The coverage is predicated on the media's judgment that this is something that will engage attention rather than cause a viewer to change the channel or the reader to move on to something else.

Gates is a distinguished professional who was accused by the cops of going 'yo mama' when the chips were down. I don't believe that. I know that racial profiling is rife among the police, but I also don't think that is what really happened in this case. I think Gates got in Crowley's face and that's what led to the arrest. I think Crowley would probably have arrested a white person who acted the same way. All pure speculation on my part, I admit. Of course, after arresting the white person, the police report would have looked a whole lot different- that's where Crowley really screwed up.

The fact that Gates knew Obama was serendipitous. Obama's statement that the police "acted stupidly" was blown up all out of proportion. In my conspiratorial little mind, the fact that the media is currently trying to sabotage health care reform on behalf of insurance companies and drug companies led them to fasten onto the remark as a means of damaging Obama's popularity and clout. The media immediately handed the mike to PBA/FOP spokesmen and right wing professional victims who miscast his statement as meaning "cops are stupid." Sadly for them, the discredited police report soon made these particular cops look foolish indeed.

A few days later, Obama's initial judgment that the police "acted stupidly" is about as good as it's going to get for the Cambridge police.

[EFerrari]

54. Okay. That Gates knew Obama is not serendipitous.

Gates has gotten the highest honors our country gives men of letters. It would be strange if a man as urbane as Obama didn't know him, let alone a black man as urbane as Obama.

But on the whole, I agree that the media wanted to run away from healthcare.

This is the part I fucking love: In running in this particular direction, they've stirred up a real national debate that their right wing paymasters fear almost as much.

lol

[defendandprotect]

58. I thought this was of huge significance .. . however. . ..

I don't watch TV coverage/news but I can imagine what went on --

I generally had the idea they were spinning it to attack Obama and

making the cop the good guy -- and Gates the "racist" -- !!!

As someone else pointed out here, evidently Crowley is known as "Jim Crow"

in the black community for the frequency with which he rips them off.

It also seems from what I'm hearing here -- and with DU behavior -- now that

it is the "racism" of the cop that's more likely, the interest wanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


PS: I'm also hoping that Gates will stick with this and maybe even get government

involved in ways of improving all of this cause it's pretty disgusting for minorities

even in a city like Boston/academia where "enlightenment" might come to mind!!!

[Pirate Smile]

8. I've been on vacation and just saw The Daily Show - have they sucked this bad on this

story since it happened? I was actually surprised. They actually bought the Cop's report hook, line and sinker down to the "your mama" crap - and this is AFTER the 911 caller's tapes came out.

I expected better from Jon. My mistake.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

10. Yes, they have. I have to disagree with Jon on this I don't know why he's being so

deliberately obtuse on this. He doesn't understand how it's a teaching moment? Really? But then, it's a comedy show. So meh.

Colbert has been a little better, but he hasn't spent the time on it.

[Pirate Smile]

14. It seems to be all about Obama needing to apologize to the Cop and making fun of Gates.

Talk about shallow. I did see a little from an earlier show last week (I think) and I believe it was generally from the same POV. It seems quite off for Jon. I don't get it. I would have expected him to be going after or mocking both sides. There is certainly plenty of material there but to only view it from the offended cop POV just seems weird.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

13. Did you see Colbert on it?

[Pirate Smile]

No, but I have it taped so I'll check it out tomorrow. Too tired tonight. I was getting sleepy kids

down.

[Pirate Smile]

17. Whoops. My second dupe of the night. I could blame it on the cat pushing and pulling on

me to make herself a perfect bed.

[defendandprotect]

35. Really . . . I didn't see it yet . . .

not good --

[MichiganVote]

12. Are you kidding? After the meeting on Thurs. at the WH the media will be having video orgasms again.

[xultar]

26. Seriously? The only reason there was outrage is because there was a WH angle.

This shit happens every fucking day to black folk and no one says a fucking word.

Now all of a sudden it's be outraged 24/7.

Where was the outrage when this shit happened to my dad or my brother, or any other black man.

Please.

I don't want the media covering it. I want it handled in the courts. The media is good for stirring people up but not for solving the dayum problem.

Boston Police have been bullying people for decades. The media hasn't helped and faux outrage hasn't helped.
Lawsuits and court action will get this shit solved.

[ShamelessHussy]

29. Well, it was national news before Obama was asked about it... that's why it made it to his level

and i am glad it did, and i was sooooooooooooooo psyched when I heard Obama's first response to the issue (on many levels)

and I am certainly glad to see it continue to play out in the M$M... this is a critical issue, imho.

BTW: Love your attitude/posts, always have :toast:

[Hannah Bell]

28. "The news"(tm) = manufactured product. 95% fluff, press releases,spin & covert ops in

pursuance of various hidden agendas.

[defendandprotect]

30. Guess they're not calling for an APOLOGY from Cambridge Police + Crowley, eh...?????

[BlooInBloo]

59. You must be new to America. Welcome.

[defendandprotect]

61. Still crazy after all these years --

Still crazy after all these years
Still crazy after all these years

Loved the reply --

:evilgrin:

[dysfunctional press]

32. a guy brought it up on ed schultz today...ed cut him off to go to a break...

and told him to 'hang on'...but once the break was over- ed moved on to something else with not another word from the guy who brought up crowley's lies in the police report.

[1corona4u]

36. In response to #18---I think this whole thing has just been

fucking ridiculous. It's a sad day in this country when you can't even describe the ACTUAL appearance of 2 people, who were suspected of breaking into a house. Now, the old lady got it wrong, but there was no reason NOT to describe them as '2 black men with back packs'. WTF?? If they would have been white, pink, purple, or orange, it doesn't matter!!!! That's what they LOOK LIKE. That's the way they would have to be described. Cops on all the cops shows, like 48 hours, fully describe suspects. As do the BLACK witnesses usually on the scene. This double standard shit has to stop. How the fuck should we describe people now, because no one has sent me the god damn 2009 PC hand book!!!

I really HATE what this society is becoming. I really think we are headed for a meltdown too.

[noiretextatique]

37. you don't seemed to be well-informed

the witness the police officer claims he talked says she did not talk to him. the police officer claimed the witness said "two black men with backpacks," but the witness says she never talked to the officer.
the only double standard here is that you feel free to voice such a strong opinion without knowing the facts of the case. :wtf: is that about?

[1corona4u]

38. No, I just read the story on Yahoo....

the thing that outrages me is that according to the story, people were all bent out of shape because she allegedly said '2 black men with backpacks'. I had no idea that people were chastising the caller for allegedly saying that. I think it's just ridiculous that if you're trying to describe someone- of ANY color, you're not allowed to say what COLOR they are. Seriously, is this society so fucking paranoid and uptight that there is a perceived slight in that??

Unreal. I think people-society, just need to chill the fuck out.

[noiretextatique]

40. do you get that the officer probably lied?

and his lie created all the outrage? i agree that's it's fucked up, but obviously he knew what he was doing.

[EFerrari]

41. He made up a whole converstion in his report. She never said black.

Maybe you should go back and read again.

He lied.

[Fumesucker]

39. The witness never saw the race of the two men and never described it..

The 911 operator asked about race and the witness told her that one of the men might have been Hispanic..

The witness also never mentioned backpacks.

Crowley pulled all that out of his ass to put on the police report since the witness never described the incident at all to Crowley.

[1corona4u]

45. Ok, I get that, but what I am outraged over is...

the people who threatened her, the bloggers who chastised her, etc. Even if she didn't say it. I get that the cop lied about it. The point I am making is; people were ready to bodily harm her, because of what they THOUGHT she said. I don't see what is so wrong with describing someone based on what they actually look like. How is that racism?? How is it wrong to describe someone by their COLOR??

If someone robbed you at gun point, and the cops show up, and ask you what the robber looked like, what the fuck are you suppose to say?? 'He was tall, skinny, brown hair', then what?? That could apply to most of the races in this country. If you say 'dark skinned' then it could be an Iranian, a Latino, an Italian, a well tanned white man, etc.

I think we are just becoming too uptight in this country. Pretty soon, we won't be able to say anything because it won't be PC.

I don't expect anyone to agree with me, but as I said, people just need to chill out. Sometimes people aren't trying to be racist at all, just trying to be factually accurate. (and no, I am not talking about the cop)

As for the cops motive, I don't know, and I am not going to spend my time trying to figure it out. It's his problem now.

[EFerrari]

47. Gates publicly thanks her for calling in a possible burglary.

But, when you consider that her comments as written up (fabricated) by Crowley really did make no sense, then the public reaction does.

Why wouldn't she know her neighbor and so on.

She was set up by that police report and the public correctly identified a racist report -- it just wasn't hers, but Crowley's.

[Fumesucker]

49. You were pretty quick to jump on people based on an erroneous assumption..

Perhaps you might want to look at your own behavior in this matter before castigating others for theirs.

How would you describe Obama? He's not really "black" because his mother was half white.

And the fact of the matter is that eyewitness accounts are among the least reliable evidence around, even though people give those accounts more credibility than a lot of usually more accurate evidence. People are simply not good at remembering and accurately relating what they have seen.

[1corona4u]

50. I would describe Obama as black if

I was trying to describe him. I'd say 'tall good looking black man'. There was much discussion last year on this board about people who were half white and half black and according to black people on this board, that would be seen as a black person. I mean, we can say we have our first black president, but we can't say a suspect was black?? That's what I mean by the double standard.

The bloggers who started threatening her deserve to be castigated.

[EFerrari]

55. Um, you shouldn't say a suspect is black unless you see that?

There's no double standard here unless you think it's cool to identify suspects as black in police reports when your witnesses haven't done that.

[MADem]

46. The outrage isn't dead yet.

Mayor Menino has his foot up a racist Boston cop's ass right now.

I think the outrage is just getting fired up, and ready to go.

Hopefully we'll be able to get over our collective "cowardice" (as AG Holder notes) and have that national "conversation" about race, for real.

[Orsino]

51. Certain facts overtook the right-wing media's ability to use the story.

When their innocent, put-upon cop's story partially contradicted itself, Gates' usefulness expired. Unless they can find and exploit a hole in Gates' version, this flap is dead.

[BlooInBloo]

52. Right wing... scads of DUers.... whatever.