President Obama Tries To Quell Turmoil Around The Gates Arrest
Posted by Media Outrage on July 24th, 2009
President Obama is proving he has a heart and that he might even be a bit “weak” when it comes to adversity. Sgt. James Crowley, the white officer that “stupidly” arrested African American scholar, Henry Louis Gates, attacked President Obama in the press, saying he was disappointed in the President’s choice of words.
Crowley himself has refused to apologize to Gates for arresting him without cause. Now in a sad turn of events our President has kind of retracted his words towards the “racist” Cambridge Police Dept. We do understand that Obama is just trying to quell the situation so the nation can focus on other issues, but hell to the naw! Lmao. Peep game…
Via AP:
WASHINGTON – Trying to tamp down a national uproar over race, President Barack Obama acknowledged Friday he had used unfortunate words in declaring that Cambridge, Mass., police “acted stupidly” in arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. “I could’ve calibrated those words differently,” he said.
He stopped short of a public apology. But the president telephoned both Gates and the white officer who had arrested him, hoping to end the rancorous back-and-forth over what had transpired and what Obama had said about it. Trying to lighten the situation, he said he had invited the Harvard Professor and police St. James Crowley for “a beer here in the White House.”
Hours earlier, a multiracial group of police officers had stood with Crowley in Massachusetts and said the president should apologize.
It was a measure of the nation’s keen sensitivities on matters of race that the fallout from a disorderly conduct charge in Massachusetts — and the remarks of America’s first black president about it — had mushroomed to such an extent that he felt compelled to make a special appearance at the White House to try to put the matter to rest. The blowup had knocked Obama offstride just as he was trying to marshal public pressure to get Congress to push through health care overhaul legislation — and as polls showed growing doubts about his performance.
“This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up,” Obama said of the racial controversy. “I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could’ve calibrated those words differently.”
The president did not back down from his contention that police had overreacted by arresting Gates for disorderly conduct after coming to his home to investigate a possible break-in. He added, though, that he thought Gates, too, had overreacted to the police who questioned him. The charge has been dropped.
Obama stirred up a hornet’s nest when he said at a prime-time news conference this week that the officer, who is white, had “acted stupidly” by arresting Gates, a friend of the president’s. Looking back, Obama said he didn’t regret stepping into the controversy and hoped the matter would end up being a “teachable moment” for the nation.
“The fact that this has garnered so much attention, I think, is testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America,” Obama said.
Obama wryly took note of the distraction from his legislative efforts.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nobody’s been paying much attention to health care,” the president said.
Obama, who has come under intense criticism from police organizations, said he had called Crowley to clear the air, and said the conversation confirmed his belief that the sergeant is an “outstanding police officer and a good man.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs refused to say whether Obama had apologized to Crowley.
Asked repeatedly about that, Gibbs said: “If the president doesn’t want to characterize it in a conversation that he hates having with you all, I’m not going to get ahead of him.”
Obama was lighter in tone in his public remarks about his phone conversation with Crowley.
He said the police officer “wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn.”
“I informed him that I can’t get the press off my lawn,” Obama joked.
In his conversation with Gates, aides said, Obama and the professor had spoken about the president’s statement to the press and his conversation with Crowley.
Before Obama’s appearance Friday, fellow police officers in Massachusetts said that Obama and the state’s governor, Deval Patrick, should apologize for comments on the arrest. Patrick had said Gates’ arrest was “every black man’s nightmare.”
Dennis O’Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, said Obama’s remarks were “misdirected” and the Cambridge police “deeply resent the implication” that race was a factor in the arrest.
Sgt. Leon Lashley, a black officer who was at Gates’ home with Crowley at the time of the arrest, said he supported his fellow officer’s action “100 percent.”
The incident began when Gates returned home from an overseas trip, found his door jammed, and tried to force it open. Gates went through the back door and was inside the house when police arrived. Police say he flew into a rage when Crowley asked him to show identification to prove he should be in the home. Police say Gates accused Crowley of racial bias, refused to calm down and was arrested.
Gates, 58, maintains he turned over identification when asked to do so. He says Crowley arrested him after the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant’s name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.
Obama’s take on the situation: “My sense is you’ve got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in a way that it should have been resolved.”
Democratic activists around the country were hopeful the president’s latest remarks would put the issue to rest.
“Let’s concentrate on the business at hand — fixing the economy and health care for everybody,” said Florida state Rep. Luis Garcia, a vice chair of the state Democratic Party.
In Michigan, 19-year-old Mitchell Rivard, the president of the Michigan State University College Democrats, expressed hope the controversy would indeed be a learning experience for the country.
“I think it’s going to make people talk about race relations around the United States and in their home towns,” Rivard said. “This will be something that people are going to talk about across the nation in terms of how we can have better race relations.”
Mediaoutrage- We sure would like to see a national uproar in other corrupt racist police departments like the NYPD, Philly PD, and LAPD just to start, because police brutallity has been out of control for too long. These pigs get away with too much if you ask us.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Aw damn! Where’s some video so we can see exactly how this shit went down?!
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July 24th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I’m sorry, but speaking as the niece of 4 police officers, if I am called to check on a robbery and the first thing you claim is that it is racism because you are black and refuse to show your I.D.(according to the media), then yes I’m going to arrest you because 1) you haven’t proven you are the resident and 2) by screaming on the porch you are becoming a public disturbance. So this needs to blow over, Gates was in the wrong. You can’t play the race card for everything.
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July 24th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Thank you Quiet_gurl85! I’ve been saying that all along.
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I still don’t feel it was justified! IMO
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Obama should of shut up in the first place..we have al sharpton and Jesse Jackson for that….basically, it was a clash of egos..The proffesor VS. The police officer. THEY ARE BOTH WRONG, they’re was no racial discrimantion against the Proffesor.
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
@Lio The officer wasn’t wrong. He did his JOB.
Now if the officer was black would we be talking about this? No. If someone broke into his home and simply said “I live here, this is racial profiling” and the officers left, would he then be suing them? Yes. So damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I feel it was wrong and racial profiling. They knew who that man was. He’s been on Oprah and plenty of other national media outlets. You know who Henry Louis Gates is. They were wrong for arresting him at his home when they knew it was his home. I read that he did show them ID. They were mad because he caused a fuss on “his” property. He has the right to voice his opinion on his property. See that’s that slavery “massa” mentality that most white cops have, where you better not dare talk back to them.
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July 25th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Say what you mean,mean what you say and F*ck the rest Mr President. They were both wrong, him for showing the harvard id instead of something with his name and address on it (ie) drivers licenses. the officer for allowing it to take him to an unprofessional level. and i don’t feel like posting caps where they belong.
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July 25th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Only one who was profiling in this case was the neighbor who called the police. I can’t understand why the neighbor did not recognize his neighbor(Gates)… furthermore when black people live on a block with predominately white people everybody knows where the black people live because they are constantly watching the house for one reason to call the police. So I have to wonder about the neighbors motives in calling the police…..just a trouble maker if you ask me.
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July 25th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Obama put his own foot in his mouth by speaking on this issue without knowing the FACTS..The Officer was doing his job..end of story!! Lol@knowing him because he’s been on Oprah..get the fck outta here with that BS..The officer doesn’t owe anyone an apology..if anyone should apologize is that egotistical, disobedient prick Gates!
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July 25th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
What laws did Gates break again? From what I’ve read he didn’t break any laws. Why would they drop the charges only AFTER the media started reporting the story? Anyone who’s ever been to Mass. knows it’s racist as hell up there. @ Random, so you can be arrested for being “disobedient” on your own property when you’re not breaking the law? That doesn’t make sense at all. I swear white people are trying to reverse that time clock everyday. The shit was racist as hell.
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July 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I never seen him on Oprah but know who he is just as I’m very sure that those racist police officers knew exactly who he was.
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
@BroadStreetBully The issue was he refused to show his license to prove he was the resident AFTER a NEIGHBOR (BTW good point Marie) called police to say someone was breaking in. They can’t just take someone’s word that they live there because of their race. After he finally did show it and the police were leaving the property he started making a scene on his front porch. So yes that’s public disturbance, not being disobedient, so yes he was arrested. And police departments drop charges when they don’t want the media attention (so much for that one).
If I was being a loud, drunk fool on my porch and neighbors called for noise complaint and the cops gave me a warning and I started screaming at them as they were leaving. You know what they would do? Arrest me and rightfully so. (not that this has happened before lol)
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
@ Queit Gurl & Random- Taken from the article on MO:
Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home near campus after a woman reported seeing “two black males with backpacks on the porch,” with one “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.”
By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.
“Why, because I’m a black man in America?” Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.
Gates — the director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research — initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.
“Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him,” the officer wrote.
Gates said he turned over his driver’s license and Harvard ID — both with his photos — and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He said he then followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was handcuffed in front of other officers, Gates said in a statement released by his attorney, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, on a Web site Gates oversees, TheRoot.com
He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he “exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior.” He was released later that day on his own recognizance. An arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.
So he did show them his ID both of them. And his friend says the man is sick and has an infection that affects his breathing so there would be no way he would be screaming. Nah it’s RACIST as hell on all accounts. Yo I live in Philly and these cops are ignant as shit. They’ll lock you up or shoot you without cause and this city is predominantly BLACK. So you can’t tell me that them fucking pigs up in racist ass Harvard aren’t just waiting to turn that bitch into 1678. Nah not buying it. He showed the ID on his property. He asked for the badge number that Police officers MUST give you and they refused. And then that racist cop refused to issue and APOLOGY to Gates? Man get the fuck outta here with that Jim Crow shit. Obama should have given that racist fag the finger.
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Yo check it I’m allowed to say what I want on my porch. Let the Popo come by here and tell me to keep it down and they will gets the middle finger politely. See I’ve had too many bad experiences with “racist” cops to chalk that up as Gates causing a ruckus on his own property. He accused them of being racist and followed them onto the porch but shit it’s his crib! Nah that’s that JIM CROW shit. thats why whenever I turn on the news here in Philly and see a cop got smoked and shot the fuck up I understand cause they damn sure are trigger happy out this muthafuka. I hate pigs
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
See the reason why it’s a good thing that the MEDIA is finally covering this type of profiling is because the shit happens EVERYDAY to black people and nothing is done. How many young African Americans have been shot to death by racist white cops in different cities? Too many to even begin to count. Is anything ever done about it? Hell no. The racist pigs are put on PAID SUSPENSION and then when the incident blows over, brought back on the force. What kind of shit is that?
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
@Broadstreet…what PROOF did the OFFICER have that it was indeed “his property”? Care to explain?…When asked for ID..Gates refused to show PROPER ID..instead he shows his employment ID..please spare me the Racial bullcrap..I mean if our very own President managed to make an ass of himself by speaking on the issue without getting the actual facts straight..then I really don’t expect much from an avg schlepp like yourself =)
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Oh and RACISM is most EFFECTIVE when you have other BLACKS defending the culprits. Smh. That’s that HOUSE NEGROE SYNDROME. Damn and we in what year? 2009. SMH.
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Random you might want to re-read the article. He showed his Harvard ID and then showed his DRIVERS License which would have your residence on it ASS WIPE! So again what the fuck are you talking about? Obama didn’t get it wrong he called it exactly how it is. The shit is racist but you being WHITE I wouldn’t expect you to call a spade a spade. Most of YOU defend that kind of shit anyway so no surprise there you CLOSET RACIST.
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
@BroadStreetBully And this is the problem. You expect whites to see you as an individual, but chalk all cops and whites to be the same? Double standard much? As far as house negro, shut the fuck up. My mom’s the Vice President of NAACP in a town that still has an active KKK chapter and I’m their secretary (traveling 2 hours each week to be there) so don’t give me that crap. And before you even try to say some ridiculous mess about living in the suburbs at one point, I grew up in Newark and stay there every weekend now. And I saw the AP updates BEFORE the story was written and BEFORE the names were put on the story. Newspaper editors get these updates as the story is developing, something the public NEVER sees. And sweetheart, he showed his Harvard ID first THEN after realizing they were not letting that fly gave him his driver’s license. What was the point of following them on the porch? Did he have the right? Hell yeh. Did he walk them out of the home quietly? (Yes the police officers were inside the home and I don’t care who says what no one knows what went inside besides Gates, the officers and the 2 college kids who were with him) I highly doubt it he wanted to see them out safely. So yes the cops are going to arrest you for disorderly conduct for causing a scene.
Now I’ll agree on one fact, Philly is fucked up, but that’s not all responsible to the cops in Philly. Check what you said, you hate pigs, you’ll give them the middle finger politely. And politely that cop will lock your ass up, whether he/she is black or white. It’s not a power trip that cops are on, but to expect them to allow you to disrespect them and the law one day and try to enforce it another is crazy. My aunts and uncles are all cops in New York. One as a corrections officer in Manhattan, one as a cop in BK, and two in the Bronx. I hear the shit they go through and the disrespect they get from people of their own race. Point. Blank. And period. Gates was wrong. Obama tap danced around that apology because he KNOWS he stuck his foot in his mouth and spoke too soon.
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Now let’s get back to more taxing issues like our economy, health care issues, Iran, soldiers still posted overseas, N. Korea launching missiles, global warming.
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July 25th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
@ BSB,I agree there are instances of racism everyday,however go back to the line where he “FIRST” showed only his Harvard ID. It was not enough to prove his residency, I can imagine he was very upset he was even asked for any identifying information,however it was not enough to prove it was his residence. He than gave them his drivers license alone with his Harvard Id. Something he did not do in the first exchange. I agree the officers was required to give his name and badge number when requested by a citizen. He did not because they both were already heated and angry. We were not there and for me IMO they both were wrong. I do not agree Mr. Gates is owed an apology,he could have cooperated better than he did. As for his neighbor maybe she is use to seeing him in suits and not backpack and tennis shoes. She also without knowing his door was stuck though if he was the owner of this home, he would not be forcing his way inside.
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July 25th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
He DID show his License and his Harvard id!!! That’s what makes this case suscicious and also the Cambridge police did issue an apology and are launching an Investigation.
My thing is not so much as race but why would you find a 58 year old Harvard professor with a cane as a disturbance?!?!? How much of a VAGINA is Officer Crowley that you couldnt just admit you were wrong and just leave? Why would you wait for a man to leave his home and then arrest him for a Disturbing the Peace when there was no one outside?
You see it may look like race to me, but it also a male testosterone thing with them being Police officers. Thats why the case was dropped because there was no real merit and the superiors of Crowley knew he was wrong. So the bosses (Obama and Cambridge Police) said enough so that both men didnt have to.
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July 25th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Here in Chicago we read everyday about police officers being overtly racist toward someone they have detained, if it were not for cams and people willing to come forward,they would go unchecked. I myself am not a hugh fan of police officers,but I don’t disrespect them because of bad apples in the bunch,hell in that case there are racist military personnel servicing overseas displaying activity against their fellow comrades, because of the color of their skin. I could not believe they would take that crap overseas when all of their lives should depend on each other. I know this because I now have to cousins servicing in Iraq,one on his second tour. They told us things that upset me beyond belief. Friendly fire my ass on some cases.
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July 25th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Yeah I Said It is right under Mass State Law if a Citizen asks an officer for a Badge number they are required to give it.
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July 25th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
@ DT the first time he was asked for Id he did not show his license, he showed only the Harvard id. You think because he had a cane he can’t cause a disturbance? Come on my friend. The officer was leaving Mr Gates followed him outside to continue trying to get his information and at the same time voicing his displeasure at being asked for ID at all.
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July 25th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Hey Quiet_Gurl all that NAACP sounds nice but you still sound like a FUCKING UNCLE TOM HOUSE NEGRO! I don’t give a fuck if you marched with Dr. King or were holding Malcolm’s hand the night he got shot, you stil sound like RANDOM’ RACIST ass sister. And you black? Damn smh.
See racism occurs so much in this damn country that we’ve become immune to it. Fuck that! I call a spade a spade. So many racist pigs out here it don’t make no got damn sense. Oh and Quiet_Gurl I seen my cousin get shot by some racist cops in Philly. They didn’t kill him but damn sure tried. They all got off! He wasn’t breaking the law in anyway.
That Sgt owes Gates an apology or he just needs to SHUT THE FUCK UP!
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July 25th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Like the double standard has always made me laugh. People get popped everyday in the city and their murders go UNSOLVED. Let a PIG get killed and they bring in the NATIONAL GUARD to find them cats. Fuck that, treat human life equally. Pigs aint no better than regular civilians. I know some cops, so therefore I know how corrupt they are in Philly. Some real sheisty ma fukas.
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July 25th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
People, including myself really need for the Healthcare reform to pass. I hope people will not be too distracted with the Gates case to not make sure Healthcare reform passes. Time to walk and chew gum, again.
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July 25th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
BSB, I feel you on the double standard between cops and civilians. You hear about someone getting gunned down every night in philly and the response is “another senseless murder, oh well on to sports high lights.” It’s crazy! They caught one boy in Miami after he killed a philly cop. I mean they would go to the Gaza Strip to find a cop killer! Mean while, cats could get popped in front of the precinct and they would just chalk it up as another senseless murder. If they would only attack all the murders with the same tenacity it might make dudes think twice before they start acting like O’Dawg from Menace.
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July 25th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Ok so Terrance you from the area I see. Exactly! You talking about chubby dude that smoked the cop at the Dunkin Donuts right? Yea they found homie down in Miami in a chapel, but they can’t find who smoked Braheem right on South Street. I know cops have a dangerous job to do but I’ve been harrassed by so many of them that they have left a bad taste in my mouth on some real shit. You familiar with Philly so you know where Old City is at. Was down there last year with some homies and got into an argument with some Italian boys in one of them pizza joints. My homie gave the dude a $20 and dude behind the counter owed him some change but because some drama popped off between some chicks he never gave my mans his change. So after everything kinda cooled down and 5-0 rolled up in there my mans asked him for his change and dude tried act like he didn’tremember and flead him. So my mans was like give me my damn change and the cops grabbed my man and threw him out the store. They was ready to lock us up for wanting to get our change. I just wanted to lump one of them PIGS up on spot but then I wouldn’t be typing this shit lol cause you would have read “4 black men hit with 700 bullets in shoot-out with the cops, and oh by the way this was a drug deal gone bad” I hage PIGS
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July 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Nah, they would’ve split yo $h:t to the grissle right in front of everybody. I’ve seen cops beat cats out their shoes in Old City, no exaggeration. Then they would’ve took yall back to the station and had more fun. I don’t condone killing cops, but I too hate the double standard. It gives the impression that civilian lives aren’t as important or valuable as police officer’s lives.
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July 25th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Hahaha. Nah NOT GONE HAPPEN. Ain’t no cop knucklin’ up with me or my niggas without pulling for a gun. Before I changed my ways after serving a little time, I was putting niggas to sleep left and right for talking sideways and don’t no cop wanna tustle wit a nigga 6’3 260. They’d much rather even the odds by reaching for that weapon. cause if I ever catch any of them cops that did me dirty on a dark street at night with no help and they in regular clothes? Night Night
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