Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested, Now Who Owes Whom an Apology?

YES I do.

Your statement suggests that being angry, resenting being interrogated, complaining about treatment and wanting a badge number are WRONG and it's the police are RIGHT.

I am a 36-year old black male who has never been arrested, but I've been stopped, frisked, my car has been search and that's happened when I was mum, and that has happened when I complained.

So much for keep your mouth shut and nothing will happen to you.

So, what laws have you broken to have so many run ins with the law that you'd know that at least if a white man keeps his mouth shut, he gets a pass?

petersolveson don't youy think this authority thing is highly overrated. As a Zimbabwean I have been violated left, right and centre by authorities and have became so defiant. Infact there are time when defiance is all you have. The police are public servants and should treat people/citizens with respect.

letjusticerolldown, my apologies: I tried to reply to you yesterday, but I don't see my post anywhere, nor do I see your response. I don't know what happened. If you want to talk, send me an email: creminiv@gmail.com

I do not agree with you, Mr. Green gave both sides of the story as well as written documentation for you to come to your own conclusion. The truth of the matter is we do not know which story is true, but most Blacks no matter what their position in soceity is will one day be ifaced with the same opposit, look at the Opera Whinphey situation last year. If you have never been in a situation the only thing you can say is which side you believe. Once the Professor proved he was the owner of the house, that should have been the end of it. The Professor is a well published man and made the mistake of believing he was easily recognizable, he was surprised to find out he was just other old Black Man. For a man that has spent his entire life tring to prove you can over come adversity it must have been a shock.

This respect tp authority business is overrated. Officers of the law should also learn to respect citizens. In any case they are supposed to serve us. Public servants hey.

Well said. I just wandered through the DC justice system with an Adult son who was set up by a Cop and Security Guard for an Assault charge because he was obnoxiously Drunk. they won but got nothing for their efforts.
From my experience in this case and as a Security Guard myself, if the DA dropped the Disorderly Conduct charge the Police officers were on extremely shaky ground. A Disorderly charge is too easy to win in most cases.
Further, as I recall the Supreme Court has said that a Police Officer is legally compelled to provide identification when a citizen requests it.

This respect tp authority business is overrated. Officers of the law should also learn to respect citizens. In any case they are supposed to serve us. Public servants hey.

Being distasteful or disrespectful for that matter is not illegal. Alos i can't help but wonder what makes YOU so sure that the black man is wrong. Let me set it out for all you nay-sayers. Your neighbor calls the police on you because she sees you trying to jimmy your way into your own home. You have to ask two questions: 1) "What kind of neighbor does not even know the race of their neighbors?" (that is just sad and pathetic display of urban or suburban isolation) 2) Why did she immediately think he was a burglar? Would she have called the cops if he was white?
Also some of you obviously did not read everything about it because he provided his ID demonstrating that he lived there and then the officer arrested him!! he wasn't yelling and telling off the officer without provocation and just cause. By the way as long as you don't curse (at least in Texas) you are not breaking the law by yelling at or disrespecting cops. Cops have too much power. An a disturbed, possibly racist, cop makes me even more scared.

The problem is that you assume that Gates is telling the truth and the officer is not. Those that think he owes the officer an apology think the officer is telling the truth and Gates is not. The truth is that only they know and probably their own perception of the truth is skewed by their own experience and bias. My problem with your article is that you immediately assume the police officer is lying about what happened. I can tell you that a very similar incident happened in the small town where I live to a pastor in town. The officer and the pastor viewed the incident very differently. I think they both told the truth as they saw it. But so many today automatically see it as racism on the officer's part. Or at least they would have had the pastor been black and not white.

Here's another perspective from the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

petersolveson don't youy think this authority thing is highly overrated. As a Zimbabwean I have been violated left, right and centre by authorities and have became so defiant. Infact there are time when defiance is all you have. The police are public servants and should treat people/citizens with respect.

This respect tp authority business is overrated. Officers of the law should also learn to respect citizens. In any case they are supposed to serve us. Public servants hey.

Thanks for the balance . It always helps .

I appreciate the Post writer's lesson "Don't mess with cops". His account of his alarm system setting off a false alarm, while at home, alerting the alarm company of the false alarm, the police still coming, showing proof of identity and explanation to the police all make sense. But then the police conduct a full search of the property--inside and outside to assure them there are no intruders breaking into the house--makes no sense. It seems like a story with facts stretched to make a point.

And the "Don't mess with cops" message makes as much sense as "Don't mess with street thugs with guns." Sure it makes sense--but it provides no basis on which to guide a conversation about the kind of policing we do and do not want or condone.

There is not public interest in convincing Dr. Gates to raise or lower his voice when addressing a police officer. There is legitimate and necessary interest in the manner in which police officers carry out their job.

I do govern my actions around police officers based on the fact there are bad officers that can do bad things and it is best not to mess with them; but only to an extent. I do the same with angry drivers on the roadway. But just as their badge and gun causes me to provide special deference--it also means I go out of my way to keep my eye on them and offer them special accountability.

The writer of the Post piece offers an interesting contrast in his response to the police order to come out of his house. He complied. Dr. Gates saw the same demand as exposing himself. If he remained in his home he felt it offered protection.

petersolveson don't youy think this authority thing is highly overrated. As a Zimbabwean I have been violated left, right and centre by authorities and have became so defiant. Infact there are time when defiance is all you have. The police are public servants and should treat people/citizens with respect.

What was the similar situation?

The problem is that you assume that Gates is telling the truth and the officer is not. Those that think he owes the officer an apology think the officer is telling the truth and Gates is not. The truth is that only they know and probably their own perception of the truth is skewed by their own experience and bias. My problem with your article is that you immediately assume the police officer is lying about what happened. I can tell you that a very similar incident happened in the small town where I live to a pastor in town. The officer and the pastor viewed the incident very differently. I think they both told the truth as they saw it. But so many today automatically see it as racism on the officer's part. Or at least they would have had the pastor been black and not white.

My question would be: would Dr. Gates have been arrested had he been Caucasian? I have serious doubts that he would have been.

What about the officer's account, in your thinking, justifies an arrest and criminal charge?

I don't know what really happened, and I doubt that anyone on this website knows what really happened. The most likely scenario is that this was not "the finest hour" for Boston's police department, nor for Dr. Gates. As paradoxtor notes, different people perceive things differently.

Having practiced law for over three decades, and much of that being criminal defense work, I am well acquainted with police misconduct, civilian misconduct, and the syndrome of escalation of misconduct by both.

My guess is that neither gentleman showed much empathy for the other: Dr. Gates did not appreciate the officer's concerns and fears (after all, were it a thief, it could have been a violent confrontation), and the officer did not appreciate how Dr. Gates or any other innocent party would be affronted and confused.

Just as I think empathy is a good criterion for Supreme Court Justices, I think it is appropriate for bloggers here- and it should be applied universally.

Only a bunch of so-called "Christian conservatives" could possibly interpret this event as anything other than police harrassment of an "uppity Black American." I would not have believed the reaction to this if I had not become familiar with the mindset of those who call themselves Christians on this web site.

I appreciate the Post writer's lesson "Don't mess with cops". His account of his alarm system setting off a false alarm, while at home, alerting the alarm company of the false alarm, the police still coming, showing proof of identity and explanation to the police all make sense. But then the police conduct a full search of the property--inside and outside to assure them there are no intruders breaking into the house--makes no sense. It seems like a story with facts stretched to make a point.

And the "Don't mess with cops" message makes as much sense as "Don't mess with street thugs with guns." Sure it makes sense--but it provides no basis on which to guide a conversation about the kind of policing we do and do not want or condone.

There is not public interest in convincing Dr. Gates to raise or lower his voice when addressing a police officer. There is legitimate and necessary interest in the manner in which police officers carry out their job.

I do govern my actions around police officers based on the fact there are bad officers that can do bad things and it is best not to mess with them; but only to an extent. I do the same with angry drivers on the roadway. But just as their badge and gun causes me to provide special deference--it also means I go out of my way to keep my eye on them and offer them special accountability.

The writer of the Post piece offers an interesting contrast in his response to the police order to come out of his house. He complied. Dr. Gates saw the same demand as exposing himself. If he remained in his home he felt it offered protection.

I appreciate your perspective. It is always best to consider what we bring to the table in regards to our own experience and bias to make sure that we do not jump to conclusions or label others based on our skewed perception of reality. There is no doubt, however, that both parties could have behaved a little differently but since they did not, we have to ask why they did not.

What was the disorderly conduct you reference?