Good.
Now I’ll play devil’s advocate.
While not directly attributing racism, O certainly suggests the possibility by insinuating a type of connection between this incident and general instances of LE profiling.
O admitted personal bias.
He admitted he didn’t have nearly all the facts.
He attacked (criticized) the officer involved - later admitting that was erroneous.
Will you still defend his original statements above after those admissions - even after he himself admitted the blunder?
#2:
If Gates gets an apology from Crowley over this beer (that will likely cost me a couple hundred thousand dollars in tax money) do you think Crowley deserves one from Obama and/or Gates as well?
Please explain why or why not.
Similarities:
O admitted personal bias. Police receive call of burglary in process and show up at house expecting to find a burglar. That’s their bias.
O admitted he didn’t have nearly all the facts. Police don’t know for sure who Gates is burglar or other.
O attacked (criticized) the officer involved. Gates is arrested & charged – later dropped.
I believe we are the sum of our experiences. if we are consistently confronted with racism, ...we will immediately weigh things in light of racism... real or perceived. If I'm poked with a stick every day of my life, ...if you confront me with a stick, ...I may have more of a gut level reaction that someone who has never seen a stick.
1) Gates was inside his own home, ...and is confronted by police
...inside his own home.All Gates knows at this point is that a police officer shows up in his home (the abode which is supposed to be his castle where he can shut the door and dismiss all the garbage, and discard all the baggage on the outside) and here is a cop accusing him of possibly breaking into the home. Where the fvck does it end, ...certainly not at the threshold of his door.
There will no doubt be, and understandably so, ... a tremendous amount of agitation on Gates' part.
Obama was right to insinuate a connection between this and general instances of LE profiling because there is one. It was evident in Gates reaction. I'm disappointed that an expert in racial profiling was not able to recognize that, and take it into consideration when weighing Gates' response to him. I'm also disappointed that he chose to basically let his ego & testosterone get in the way of a reasoned response to Gates. he should have apologized for the inconvenience caused him, and LEFT! instead, he said "Fvck it, I'm taking you in". it was stupid and unavoidable. Yes, he had authority to do that, ...but it was stupid and insensitive. Just as stupid as if Gates was in his house drinking a can of beer, ...and the police officer called him outside, only to arrest him for being in public with an open container. The whole thing was sparked by the police attending the residence in the first place. upon discovering they were inconveniencing an innocent man, apologize for the inconvenience and walk away.
I know policing is hard work. I know Gates should have been appreciative that neighbours were looking out for him. i know he should have thanked the officer for coming out, but that only happens in a perfect world. policing can often be a thankless job. If you want to be treated like a hero every where you go... he should have been a Marvel character. They are the only ones given a heros welcome every where they go.
I heard the original 911 call, ...and the media has distorted this thing beyond reason. Crowley DID NOT get a call that 2 black men had broken into a residence. The caller said there were two men who were shouldering a door to get inside a house, ...the caller also identified one of the men as hispanic., ...and even went so far as to suggest that there is a possibility that they may indeed live there.
I don't think Crowley deserves an apology from Obama. It's unfortunate that there is a firestorm breweing, but I don't think he deserves an apology. I think Obama was bang on. I think the police are very hurt and feel insulted because they believe that Obama's comments on the matter somehow validate Gates' accusations of racism, ...but I do not believe they do. I think Obama's comments were outspoken and blunt, ...but sometimes you have to be blunt. The decision to arrest Gates imo
was just plain stupid given the context of how the situation unfolded. Once it was ascertained he was in his own home, LEAVE! Obama has nothing to apologize for... the media on the otherhand... they owe the entire public an apology due to the factual errors they keep reporting, and the way they are blowing this up.
However, as I said before, ...this is a looking like another slam dunk for Obama, because coming out on the other side of this... people will finally, hopefully, start to have a real dialogue that addresses the perception gap and shorten the divide so prevalent in your country.
