Skip Is My Hero

Although some have decried Professor Gates as overreacting, I know, from personal experience, that what he did was an act of courage. As black boys our very earliest lesson about race and our place in America is that the police judge us as guilty until proven innocent. This is especially true when we stray from majority black neighborhoods, or, as in my case, and in the case of our President, you were raised in virtually all-white environs.

I'm forty-six-years old and to this day I half-consciously make a point to walk slowly -- innocently -- past the theft detectors of every store I exit (especially if I haven't bought anything). Even though I realize that the teenaged store clerk probably just sees me as a middle-aged shopper, I bring to the experience decades of having been followed around by overweight security guards.

I don't know any black man who either wasn't or doesn't personally know another innocent black man who was abused by the police. My college roommate's brother was pummeled by police officers when he was a student at the University of the Pacific.

And then there's me. I was twenty-six-years-old, had just moved to Santa Monica from New York, both to heal a broken heart and to begin my career in the movie business. I was living in a historic hotel room with a balcony overlooking the Pacific. A college crush was in town and we had a date to meet on the Third Street Promenade.

It was a dreamy night, full of sea air and jasmine, and as I walked the four blocks to the restaurant I contemplated creating a life here in California, who knows, perhaps even with the woman I was about to meet.

A police car passed me slowly then turned at the end of the block.

"He was definitely checking me out," I thought.

A block later that same cop had circled around the block, then zoomed past me and cut me off. As the officer, who looked still to be a teenager, stepped out of the squad car, hand on his gun, my heart went crazy in my chest.

"Good evening. Where are you going?" He asked.

"To the Promenade."

"Could I see some ID?"

I pulled out my wallet and he stared at my license with his weaponized flashlight.

"We're having reports of someone fitting your description attacking old people in the neighborhood."

He gave me back my license and drove off.

A profound sadness enveloped me. Then the anger started boiling. All the things I'd wanted to say to him rushed through me; all the things Professor Gates had said, but that at the time I'd been afraid to: "This is not all right. This is not good police work. If you really thought I was the suspect what did looking at my ID prove? You can't detain somebody because you think they look like somebody who might one day commit a crime. Do not humiliate me in my adopted neighborhood. Calmly walking down the street does not automatically make me a suspect. The color of my skin does not constitute probable cause."

I cursed myself for not getting his badge number or the license on his prowler. I cursed myself for not insisting that that kid cop do his job better.

And of course the date was a bust.

Comments

[TRex86]

If the reconstructed account in Gawker is correct there was no basis for arresting Prof. Gates. So who should have handled this event professionally, a jet-lagged, frail 58 year-old who is being accosted in his home for breaking in his own front door or a trained police sergeant who has already established that the perp-Prof lives there? It doesn't matter what the Prof was saying he can't be guilty of disorderly conduct in his own home. Baiting him out on the porch in order to arrest him shows that the policeman was reacting to an uppity black man who didn't know his place. Crowley should have said, "Good evening" and walked away. His not doing so was unprofessional. He has the power. Is Crowley a racist? Who knows. Did he abuse his authority? What else is new.

[Dap]

Exactly, anyone that lend support to this police officers actions, is on the wrong side of Justice... period.

[wanttruth]

Well said.

[TRex86]

I think everyone should sit down and rewatch the movie "Crash." It gets close to capturing the complexity of law enforcement and racial identity. A few former police officers of my acquaintance have said that they get very cynical and come to see a world full of perps. They don't see the sunny side of life. In addition, they have all that power. Heady stuff.
I recall as a long-haired young resident at LA County Hospital I got stopped after driving a half block from a traffic light by an LAPD version of Doogie Howser. He took one look at my hair and said, "You were going 65 mph in a 35 zone." My gutless old VW van wouldn't do 65 if pushed from an airplane. I guess this was my little taste of profiling. It didn't taste good.

[JimR]

Accosted? Gate refused to identify himself. How was Crowley supposed to know he was the resident at that point?

And stop with the "baiting' fiction. How does that work exactly? According to Gates himself, he refused to step onto the front porch when first asked. So I guess your contention is, the officer cleverly asked him a SECOND time, and nothing in Gates' extensive education prepared him for that brilliant gambit? Give me a break.

[TRex86]

Why are you defending a police officer who obviously over-reacted? Gates is a short, handicapped man in his late 50's who is not physically imposing no matter what his mouth was doing. Sgt Crowley is more than a match. Once Crowley knew Gates was in his own home (which he acknowledges he established before arresting the professor) his obligation was to smile and walk away. That's professionalism.

[Dap]

Dear Trey,
It has been awhile since I last dropped in on ya, hope you are well.
When I saw the professor Gates story my first reaction was disbelief, even I, (and I'm bad remembering faces and names) would recognise professor Gates anywhere anytime, how could this cop not know the professor? I also thought what's up professor Gates is one of the good guys, how can this be?

That's my take, this cop is not one of the good guys he's a Pinocchio. Agape, dap

[db08]

Thank you Trey for sharing your experience and perspective.

I just watched a panel on John King's show on CNN. The panel had four guests. Two of the guests and King clearly sided with Crowley. King went as far to say that the message to the 15 year watching near Gates' home would intrepret Gates' behavior as acceptable. Of course there were no 15 year olds reported nearby. But, if there were, what is the other message: you can be arrested not for breaking the law bur for supposedly mouthing off to the police.

What I found disturbing is that King as a journalist (he is not the only one) does not quesition Crowley's version of what happened. He assumed that it makes sense and he assumed that Gates' version is not true or believeable. He assumes that Gates who works with whites and was married to a white woman, has two biracial daugthers would have acted in this manner.

Perhaps this link can add some insight:

http://gawker.com/5321278/no-henry-louis-gates-is-not-a-railer-a-brawler-or-a-common-street-walker

[ocotilla]

Professor Gates understandably perceived his encounter through the prism of his own experience. He saw the event in terms of race. There was that, but mostly it was, IMO,
about power and control. I am an older white woman who does not suffer fools gladly,
and have had similar
experiences with the police. While I agree that the police target minorities unfairly, I also think
the police target people just because they can. Because the badge and gun give rise
to abuse of authority. Just as a black man might be, I am wary around law enforcement, and
go to great lengths to keep their beady eyes off me. Even firemen do not like cops -- or so says
my friend who is a 30 year veteran of the NY Fire Department. He says firemen are welcomed into homes while police are not, for the very reason that firemen are there to help while police are there looking for trouble. It is in their job description. Often, they do a great job. But they should not get upset when people become irate with them. We do not owe them obeisance and it says much about our society that so many people are cowed by them. Things do go easier if you say, Yes Officer, and No Officer a lot. But whatever happened with the old slogan: Question Authority??

[GoodRead]

If McCain had won the election, would he have been asked about Gates' run-in with the Law? Hardly.

The request for comment from Obama from a white "journalist" was proffered only because Obama is black. Is that not racist?

Our President is a black man - Get Over It Already!

[wanttruth]

I hated the loaded question. Lynn Sweet was completely off topic. She was looking for a way to derail the Health Care Reform debate. President Obama would've been criticized if he said, 'no comment' or full answer the question--which he did. I appreciated his candor then and now.

[JimR]

Don't blame her because the president gave a poor answer.

[luckygeorgiabrown]

This is a little too much. I have been pulled over many times myself when I lived in NJ. Soemtimes I deserved to get pulled over other times I did not deserve it. But on each occasion I was co-operative with the police. It didn't keep me from getting tickets but it sure made for an easier experience for both me and the man in blue.

[Dark Sphere]

Pastor James Manning is my hero:

http://www.hunterjunk.com/media.php?name=1835-what-every-white-man-should-know

[luckygeorgiabrown]

Amen!

[db08]

You cannot be serious. Black people are destroying white people and themselves? All black people have a chip on their collective shoulders and are not "bettering" themselves? Where does he get those statistics?

Professor Gates has more than "bettered" himself. Far more than Manning. Yet, he is still arrested in his own home for allegedly "mouthing" off. We readily believe the police officer's version without questioning or seeking Gates'. It is easy to say how we might handle a situation but we were not there.

For another perspective, see this analysis:

http://gawker.com/5321278/no-henry-louis-gates-is-not-a-railer-a-brawler-or-a-common-street-walker

[Dark Sphere]

I didn't say it, Pastor Manning said it. I don't need your perspective, I get it from the MSM day in and day out.

[demfriend]

I am a white woman of advanced age and I can tell you that the policeman who is very white has gone one numerous shows to defend himself appalls me. What is he or his force thinking in the obvious smear job on the professor? If this is not what it is why has the man not shut up? In the city where I live there would not be a cop parading on shows to make a name for himself or to defend himself. Ain't done here. That the man has sounded like he didn't like the tone of a older man who happened to be black who walks with a cane is so upsetting to me as anyone who would see a person attempting to get into their own home after being locked out would assist them not arrest them for their tone. I would be cranky and angry at myself for getting in the situation. But another issue is also too big to ignore here when we elect a black man and the idiots and GOP make him out to be someone not American because he was born in Hawaii?

[LARRYB28]

the person who needs to shut up is the president.if he didnt make an uninformed smear on the entire cambridge police force this story would die the natural death of a new media cycle,instead he forced the polce officer to defend himself

[wanttruth]

You're wrong. President Obama didn't start any of this mess. All he did was answer a reporter's question honestly. If you can't deal with his answer. That's your right. Freedom of Speech lives!

[lordjin]

Look, for all of you citicizing Gates for having an attitude at the police officer, let me present this to you. If you were in Gates's position, would you respond happily to some cop trying to question you about nothing in your own home?

And to all of you who say the cop was right and that race had nothing to do with it:

Profiling of black people by the police is an old game. In fact I read an interesting piece here at HP not long ago concerning the alarming number of undercover or off-duty black police officers who were gunned down by white uniformed cops who mistakened them for perps---because a black man with gun in hand is reason enough to shoot and ask questions later.

besides that, all of you who are criticizing Gates are showing a lack of senistivity and education. I don't claim to be a scholar on slavery, the civil war, and the civil rights movement. But knowing just a little bit about the horrorific crimes historically perpetrated agains blacks in the US is enough to know that there is much, much more there than just an old, cranky black guy making noise for no reason. In the broader light of the history of his people, the American experience of his people, I say let the guy make noise.

[luckygeorgiabrown]

"the cop was right and that race had nothing to do with it:"


And we now know this statement to be fact!

[nk007]

No I don't know that statement to be a fact because I wasn't there and I presume neither were you. If race was not a fact then what was the real fact why Professor Gates was hand-cuffed and arrested? Did Gates commit any crime for being in his home? Would the cop have arrested a prominent white professor in his home just because that professor showed no deference to the cop, or even used abusive language? Suppose he did call the police man a racist, as is alleged, did that justify the arrest? If that is the case then I think Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich and others aught to be arrested for repeatedly calling a sitting judge a racist.

[CCverve]

Here's the facts:

NO sustainable CHARGES were filed against Mr. GATES.
So what then was the District Attorneys view?

[JimR]

I would recognize that someone might misinterpret the situation after I broke into the front door. I'd cooperate with the police right away, and I would be grateful that someone cared enough about the neighborhood to report suspicious behavior.

Racial profiling is a very real, very troubling problem. But this was not racial profiling.

[db08]

There is no evidence that he broke the door open. Furthermore, he did cooperate. He showed his ID. Gates said he was grateful. The cop know who he was. The cop should have left but he did not like Gates' attitude. He arrested him.

[JimR]

A couple of years ago, after moving into a new place, I accidentally locked myself out of my own home. I had to break in by busting the glass in the back door. No one called the police, but if they had, I would have understood. How are they supposed to know I lived there and had locked myself out? If the police had come, I would have gladly cooperated, calmly explained the situation and provided identification. I would have been grateful that neighbors cared enough about the security of my home.

So no, I don't understand Gates attitude, or his obnoxious and disgusting behavior.

As for as your weak racial profiling claim, the woman who made the call to police didn't say that 2 black men were breaking in. She couldn't see their faces and didn't know they were black. Oh, and she is Portugese, with olive-colored skin.

[lunadove]

We perceive events in our life through our own world view.
Both my husband and I are white, and we have both had times in our lives that we were not treated fairly by law enforcement.
My husband was carjacked while making a deposit for the store he managed, and the police insisted that he lied about the whole ordeal and kept the money. This was terrible for my husband to go through, and he was of course, innocent.
However, if my husband was black, how could that have been perceived?
We weren't there beween Gates and the Officer, and to pretend we know for sure who to blame is not helpful, but it is seeing the situation from our own worldview.
I can say they both experienced this through they eyes of their own unique world view, that gets passed down from generation to generation without being truly healed and tempered.
We actually create what we believe by seeing the world through our belief system, while feeling validated if something we expected occurs, then we can say, oh, it is because the world is good, bad, scary, hard, angry, unsafe, loving, or whatever it is we believe and choose to see.
(Except for when things are truly unbalanced and abusive. There are people who are very abused and unable to help themselves. There is a difference, and confusing the two makes it harder to reach those in need.)
What is your worldview?

[MamaBird62]

Thanks for sharing your story Trey. It's part of the honest and open conversation we need to have about the state of race relations in the US.

White commentators and some police officers are surprised that the President would comment on this "local issue," and use such strong language in condemning the actions of the police officer involved.

He has a perspective that they do not have, and it would make so much more sense if they would listen and try to understand that perspective, instead of reacting so defensively.

[cobobs]

It is a national issue. Police gang up nationally to fight the rest of us, and they were already doing that in this case, against President Obama, before he punctured their bubble, but the conversation must continue.

[brandnewstuff]

I agree

[larmarch5]

I wonder if our President endured similar treatment while he was growing up. I wonder if he experienced treatment similar to Dr. Gates during his time at Harvard. The Cambridge PD just announced a demand for apology from Obama. They may end up wishing they had not done that. Look for lots of stories like yours to surface. Of course there have been many horror stories about neighboring Boston police abuse and blatant racism.

[lordjin]

"I wonder if our President endured similar treatment while he was growing up."

There's no wondering about that, friend. If you're black and have lived for any length of time in any major metroplitan US city or any US city for that matter, you've had an unfair encounter with the police. Latinos as well.

[faith2hope]

I'm sure he did which is how he ended up in Chicago,no longer being called Barry but Barak. I also think this is how he formed a relationship with Jeremiah Wright because this is the first black man that told him what it is really like to be a black man in America.

[texterdexter]

IF (1) it's the middle of the day, (2) a guy pushing 60 (3) answers the front door and (4) produces ID (which BTW he is not legally required to do) it is STUPID to call another squad car full of bulls and arrest him on his front porch.

Permit me to script this: "Hello, my name is ----------, I'm responding to a call about a forced entry. Is everything OK here? (Allow response). Do you mind if I see some ID just for the record? Thanks, sorry to have bothered you. Have a nice day." NOW LEAVE.

[trebutts]

AGREED!

[Endora]

There would not have been any problems if Dr. Gates had responded according to your script. Unfortunately, he went ballistic.

[juhar]

According to Prof. Gates when first asked for his ID at his door he did not have it on his possession. He had to go to another room to get it and he was became alarmed at the conduct of the officer to enter his home without his permission and the officer feeling entitled to do so and not be questioned.

Of course this was not racial profiling because the officer was responding to a complaint at Prof. Gates' home and the description of the alleged burglar was black. It was racial stereotyping and bad manner based on pigmentation.

The problem became the lack of respect and common courtesy that it shovelled down black throats as if we have to take it and white arrogance that has evolved from white privilege. And the nerve of Prof. Gates not to take it and to know his constitutional rights and the duty of the police not to be an intrusive abusive government power intruding into the santity of his protected domain.

[cobobs]

Did policeman follow same script. What was his attitude?

[prnandhomeless]

first, let me preface my comments by saying that we don't know the full story of what went down that night, only the he said, he said deal (until the audio comes out).

isn't there a strong possibility that this has nothing to do with racism? i'm a white guy that just moved into a new house in los angeles, and my front door key wasn't working. i saw my neighbor across the way staring at me struggling with the front door for a few minutes, so instead of trying to look suspicious, I turned and waved hello like nothing was wrong - because nothing was.

now, if my neighbor was like Professor Gates' neighbor, he could've called the cops on me and some scenario might have happened. maybe the officer would have over reacted at what would be my clear indignation at being told i didn't live in my own house.

i think it's unfair for people to play the race card as soon as someone treats them unfairly. i think racism is a huge problem in this country, but maybe this is just a case of the neighbor and the officer both being a**holes. again, i don't know the specifics, but maybe, just maybe we're jumping the gun on this conclusion before we have all the facts.

[YankeeCanuck]

It may be a case, as you say, of ill-advised behavior on both sides. But the officers have not endured a lifetime of racial discrimination. Yes, things are far different than they were even in the 1960s--but that history of discrimination and its predecessor of slavery and state-condoned atrocity has not been erased.
Unlike Professor Gates, police officers have an obligation to remain calm and professional, no matter what the person they encounter says. It's only words, after all, in a situation like that. Their job, as often stated, is to serve and protect.
A white person with identification inside that house expressing indignation? No problem.
A black man? This ups the ante for the police no matter how you look at it. The police have a responsibility and should be detached and professional enough while in uniform to behave with restraint and reason.

[prnandhomeless]

maybe it's not the officer's problem reacting to an angry man in a suspected burglary, but our problem as a society for automatically assuming the officer only reacted that way because the man was black.

there's a thin line between racism and blaming everything on race. your assumption that Gates being a black man " ups the ante for the police" is not an official police department position, but your personal view on this - and that's presuming racism on behalf of the police.

frankly, the assumption that it was automatically race and not just d**chebaggery on behalf of the cop speaks volumes to how we really view race in this country.

and you're wholly correct that there is a terrible history of discrimination, very recently in fact, but if we can't move on from the past, we'll never be able to move forward.

[Kerry Tilson]

It seems odd to me that Prof Gate's actions are excused because he reacted to this situation by viewing it through the prism of racism and racial profiling, and the officer therefore is assumed to have acted "stupidly" by reacting the way he did because he must of racially profiled Prof. Gates. Why can't the officers reaction have come because of the prism he viewed it through of the countless losses of life and limb by officers across the country responding to very similar calls and the need for caution it demands. This cannot be a case of racial profiling as the officer was already aware via the 911 call as to the race of the suspects.
As for the presidents remarks I find it more troubling that he thinks most of us would have gotten angry also. Sorry Mr. President I would have thanked the officer for risking his life protecting my property even though is was not needed. By the way Prof Gates should also send a Thank you card to his concerned neighbor.

[KDM10]

Mr. Gates showed his behind. He got in trouble. They dropped the charges, because it wasn't worth persuing. We have a right to speek freely in this country we do not have a right to zero repercussions for our words.

[nk007]

You know, only a white person who has not experience what black people (especially black males) go through routinely in their encounters with the police would accuse them of "playing a race card."

[cobobs]

Did 'Gates just move into the neighborhood?