My Two Cents on Gates

I just posted a tweet saying I don't view the Gates matter through a racial lens, I view it through a Harvard lens. I want to explain, and I'll try to do it briefly.

First, I've had my share of run-ins with cops. When I was young, I liked drugs and street politics, and that meant lots of confrontations with NY cops. Never got arrested because I was lucky and because I was fully submissive when stopped by cops. They scared the shit out of me. I knew they had lethal force, and they must teach them how to be terrifying, because they are. Very.

Later, as a college student, I'd occasionally get drunk (in New Orleans, everyone does it) and once even got picked up and put in jail for a night to sober up. No record, but I'll never forget it.

Hitch-hiking in Calif, I got stopped by police in Tracy, and was fined exactly the amount I had in my pocket. I paid it, and wondered where the money went, but I didn't make a stink. I just left and never went back.

I once had two cop cars come to my house in Woodside, and I had to prove that I lived there. I did. Kept my mouth shut except to say "Here" as I handed over my driver's license. I owned the place. Didn't matter. Until they left they owned my ass.

A couple of years ago driving from Calif to Denver, I got stopped in Winnemucca. I was speeding. Really speeding. Stupidly speeding. I accepted my ticket graciously. Drove slowly the rest of the way and got stopped in every major town in Nevada. Never expressed any irritation. Just begged for them to let me leave the state. Promised never to return.

I say all this to point out that I have some experience with cops, and I'm white, and I would never in a million years think of yelling at a cop. Never have, and if I ever do, I expect to be arrested.

Now Gates says he didn't yell at the cop. I don't believe him. Too many other people who were there say he did. I'm pretty sure when you're yelling at a cop who's doing his job he's supposed to arrest you for disorderly conduct. I think that's more or less what disorderly conduct is.

I also think yelling at a cop is stupid. He's got a gun. If it's so much worse being black with cops (and I believe it is) you'd think blacks would be 100 times more careful about it than a white guy.

Now, the second part of the story...

In addition to being hassled by cops, sometimes deservedly and other times not, I also spent 1.5 years at Harvard as a research fellow. I was not at the level of Gates, but I had an office in Harvard Yard and a very nice ID card that got me into all kinds of great places. Being in Harvard gives you an Ivy League feeling, you're one of the Special people. It's very nice.

IMHO what we're seeing here is not black outrage, but Harvard outrage. As a piece in Salon pointed out today, if he were anyone else, white or black, no one would have cared, and he probably wouldn't have been so vocal in his rage. What he's saying over and over is "Hey I'm a tenured Harvard professor. I just got back from China where I was on a PBS show. I'm a big dude. You don't treat me this way."

But I'd like to say to the Harvard prof what the Salon guy said to him. Shut up Prof Gates. You're just like the rest of us. When a cop gives you an order, you do what he says. If you have a beef with it, that comes later. And let your lawyer speak for you, and be sure you're right.

Comments

[HSmith]

There is no crime described in Crowley's official version of the way Gates behaved. Crowley says explicitly that he arrested Gates for yelling. Nothing else, not a single threatening movement, just yelling. On the steps of his own home. Yelling is not a crime. Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts. Not a single shouted word or action that Crowley has attributed to Gates amounts to disorderly conduct. That is why the charges had to be dropped.
(Read TIME's report: "Gates' Disorderly Conduct: The Police's Judgment Call")

[luckynewman13]

yelling at a cop is not "disorderly conduct"--not anywhere--certainly not on your own property. This is America, why is this so hard for people to understand?

[Americanium]

Personally, I do not like policemen and if I had a choice I'd rather not be anywhere near them. So I pray not to have any reason to call on them for help at no time.

Police are obnoxious jerks who throw there weight around to intimidate people, regardless if you are a law abiding citizen or criminal. It seems as if the police are trained to treat everyone as criminal until they can prove otherwise.

Some people don't like that and I am one. I suspect Prof Gates is too. So for my safety I try my very best to stay as far from the peace officers as possible.

[sej100]

Sadly in all your statements there is a thread of a bit too much abuse of office.

Its fine for an officer with honest probable cause to ask questions and use authority. However, the second the officer knows that the crime he was investigating was NOT a crime HE needs to back off.
People who are innocent should NOT be in fear, should not be threatened.

Sure the guy was upset and said things he should not have. But the officer should have been trained to understand HUMAN BEHAVIOR and also show some understanding and knowledge of when to back off and leave the guy alone.

[fringilla]

Because Gates is a Harvard professor and more knowledgeable than you, he knows that you cannot be arrested for disorderly conduct in your own home. He knew he has the legal right to say whatever he wants in his own home. He also knew that, unlike you, he has been an upstanding, law abiding gentleman--a man completely innocent of any crimes--and he should not have been arrested. You were running around breaking the law left and right and in fact should have been hauled off to jail many times. The fact that you are white and were more often than not let off says it all!!

[Bob Helweil]

Probably good advice to remain civil, especially when responding to the police. However, disorderly conduct is not raising our voice in your own home--It involves a breach of the peace. The word "alarm" in the report was intended to cover this. I belive the reaction of the "public" (if there were a public), would more likely have been embarrassment. Maureen Dowd in today's NYT has it right. But just last night at dinner with friends (9 of them including my wife), I was alone in my position. We are, I still believe, moving in the right direction. My generation still doesn't get it (I am 85+). Unfortunately, I will not be around when we become "post racial."

[FearlessFreep]

A writer who concludes "Shut up, Professor Gates" is not in a good position to advocate civility.

[HSmith]

There is no crime described in Crowley's official version of the way Gates behaved. Crowley says explicitly that he arrested Gates for yelling. Nothing else, not a single threatening movement, just yelling. On the steps of his own home. Yelling is not a crime. Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts. Not a single shouted word or action that Crowley has attributed to Gates amounts to disorderly conduct. That is why the charges had to be dropped.
(Read TIME's report: "Gates' Disorderly Conduct: The Police's Judgment Call")

[HSmith]

Has anyone from your dinner party ever been hauled out of their own home and jailed for being rude at the table? Just debating the fact of whether my grandma should be arrested, cuffed and jailed, because she said something in her home that a police officer didn't take a liking to. People are debating that in the U.S.A.....­....amazin­g!!!!

[S1m0n]

There's something seriously wrong with a nation in which so many people report being too scared to exercise some of their civil rights, for fear that member of the police will take exception and retaliate with violence or by abusing their powers of arrest.

[Poboy]

Sounds more like an occupation army, doesn't it, instead of a free society of freedom of speech where the law is the king?

[FearlessFreep]

Dave Winer isn't helping the problem when he concludes, "When a cop gives an order, do as he says." He isn't even saying Crowley was in the right; he's saying Crowley didn't HAVE to be right! Cops are above the law.

[silverball]

...once when i was picked-up on the nj state thruway (heading west to chicago from nyc) by a state cop...i had just read a book about my rights...this was probably 1973 and i was living in ma and nh growing my hair long and just "experiencing" life...so i "knew" i had "rights"...he asked if he could search my backpack..i knew he "had" no legal right....so i asked him, "am i under arrest"...he just look deep into my eyes and said...."we can do this here...or in the barracks"....as if i really had a choice......he ended up giving me a ride to the end of his area, but i knew who was in charge...no matter how "right" i was....it's always, "yes, sir" and "no, sir"....having served in the military, you learn to understand a lot about the built in power (fair or not) into the system....it's often ONLY about egos and "rank" (perceived or otherwise).....and NOT right or wrong....

[devadasi]

I have to agree with you here. Gates is a snob. It's funny to think that he really believed that the cops watched his PBS special. Yes I Iove and watch PBS regularly, but I'm aware that most Americans don't. Gates is far out of touch with real America.

[luckynewman13]

I didn't know being a snob was illegal

[Saidas]

Just because a cop can arrest you for mouthing off to him doesn't mean he should. I seriously doubt the prof. started mouthing the cop as soon as he was asked for his ID. He's a smart guy and could understand how it would look for someone trying to break into a house no matter what the color.

I'm sure the trouble started when after proving that he lived there, the cop didn't just say, "thanks, and have a good evening". but started harassing him to which the prof. reacted in an unwise manner. Cops go through training and how to stop problems like this before they get out of hand.

Both were at fault, but I seriously doubt the prof. threatened the officer so the rest could and should have been ignored and not have ended in an arrest. It was a choice the officer could have made, but not the only one.

[LenEdgerly]

You hit the nail on the crimson head, Dave. Part of the story, too, may be the long-standing friction between town and gown here in Cambridge. It reached a violent crescendo one morning in April, 1969, when the Cambridge, and I think Somerville, police were summoned in buses to remove SDS occupiers from University Hall. I was a naive freshman who grew up in the suburbs, watching in shock. I don't know what it's like to be African-American. But as a Harvard alum, I can imagine a certain prideful prickliness affecting the encounter between Gates and the officer. I'd give anything to see how Obama handles the beer drinking get-together at the White House. A teachable moment, indeed.

[Pablo Manriquez - Huffpost Blogger]

There are only two things I've ever said to an on-duty cop:
1. "I do not consent to any searches."
2. "I have nothing to say."
...but I've never raised my voice to one, because you're right: "When a cop gives you an order, you do what he says." Or he can and probably will Take. You. Down.

[HSmith]

Just debating the fact of whether my grandma should be arrested, cuffed and jailed, because she said something in her home that a police officer didn't take a liking to. People are debating that in the U.S.A.....­....amazin­g!!!!