OK, I was ready to hold my tongue on this one, but Mr. Obama just pissed me off in supporting Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The police officer investigating a report of \”a black man breaking into a house\” went to the house and found a black man inside. Said black man, when asked for ID, spouts off with \”Why, because I\’m a black man and you\’re a white police officer?\” The correct thing to do would have been to politely produce ID and explain how you\’d had difficulty getting the door open. Calling the cop a racist and mouthing off isn\’t very likely to start off a good encounter. Assuming Crowley was a racist simply because he was white is racist in and of itself. Sergeant Crowley came out to protect Gates\’s property, for Pete\’s sake, and had a half-way reasonable chance of getting shot at. Had the report been for a white man breaking in, or someone wearing a hockey mask breaking in, and Crowley found a white man or goalie inside, chances are pretty good the cop\’d ask for ID there, too! I\’m pretty sure I\’d have Tasered his ass and then asked for ID while he was still twitching.
To continue to call Crowley a racist, and to continue to mouth off is, in my estimation, a damn fine way to get your ass dragged down to the station, I don\’t care whether you\’re black, white, green or plaid.
To have the President then come on TV and remark that the Cambridge PD (the entire department?!) acted \”stupidly\” is just insulting to the Cambridge PD and to my intelligence. Watching the early news in Boston that day made it pretty clear who was acting \”stupidly\”. It was the oh-so-learned Professor Gates.
So how about showing a little respect for the Sergeant Crowley? And for that matter the rest of the Cambridge PD – and the rest of the police no matter where? You don\’t see Gates humping around a Kevlar jacket and twenty pounds of other gear all day, nor do you see Gates risking his life every day to protect the citizenry of Cambridge. No – but that cop is out there five days a week, in the heat, in the snow and the rain, standing between Gates and that part of \”society\” that is intent on taking his property and/or life.
I do think an apology is in order. Professor Gates needs to apologize to Sergeant Crowley. And he needs to introduce himself to a few of the neighbors. The 911 call that started the whole incident came from a neighbor – who apparently didn\’t know who Gates was.
And Mr. President, stay out of it.
As a post-script, President Obama called Sergeant Crowley and \”expressed regret\” for jumping to conclusions about what had happened at Professor Gates\’s house… ( http://tinyurl.com/n2brt9 )
Thank you, Mr. President for being a stand-up guy.
