Video of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Bashing Duke University, North Carolina, Clarence Thomas, and Newt Gingrich - 1996
Here is video that has surfaced of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. speaking in 1996 at a gathering where he praised Affirmative Action as giving him the opportunity to compete on a "level playing field."
In his remarks, he bashes "racist white institutions," and calls U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a "hypocrite." He also hammers Duke University where he taught for one year, saying he didn't "even like the plane to fly over North Carolina." He characterized his time at Duke University as "one terrible year." He essentially said Newt Gingrich and the "Contract for America" in the 1990's was aimed at destroying the advancement of women and African-Americans.
This is the same Henry Gates who was arrested by a Cambridge, Massachusetts police officer last week for allegedly becoming disorderly after repeatedly calling the officer a "racist," even following the officer outside to continue yelling at him.
Somehow, after listening to Professor Gates in this video, I can imagine him saying to the officer, "You don't know who you are messing with," as reported by the officer in the arrest report.
10 comments:
We don't even need to listen to some YouTube tape to envision Prof. Gates calling Sgt. Crowley a racist multiple times. We can hear Prof. Gates yelling at Sgt. Crowley outside his house. We can hear Prof. Gates telling Sgt. Crowley "You don't know who you're messing with."
What we cannot hear is: where is the criminal offense? Are you subject to arrest for saying a police officer is a racist? Is it illegal to yell at a police officer? Does everyone who says "You don't know who you're messing with" get handcuffs slapped on them and hauled downtown?
If I yelled at a police officer and followed him to yell at him, and refused to stop, Yes, I think he would have every right to take me in. Evalynn
In what Bizarro World do you live, that yelling at a police officer is a crime? Yelling at a police officer (if, in fact, it even happened -- and even THAT'S questionable given the tapes released today) might be unkind, stupid even, but not criminal. And when cops arrest people NOT for crimes, but because they have to show people who's the boss, then that merely encourages disrespect for cops, which is a shame. Sgt. Crowley's actions wind up hurting police officers much more than it helps.
Diogenes needs to get a life. Oh, I guess that's impossible because "The Man" is keeping him down." Sick of it.
Who said anything about "The Man" keeping anybody down? This isn't a case where minorities are complaining that "The Man" is keeping them from achieving. This is a case where a police officer clearly abused his legal authority, quite possibly for racist reasons. And he's teaching racial profiling to his fellow officers? How to DO it, or how to AVOID doing it?
But it's good to see that, even after their paragon of virtue, Sgt. Crowley, is shown to have feet of clay, that rightwingnuts can't bring themselves to admit the sergeant screwed up -- they just move on to another attack of "liberals" without missing a beat!
Although the full definition varies by states, following anyone around, yelling at them, after a police officer asks you to stop, is a good example of disorderly conduct.
Try going outside, picking a random person and start following them around and yelling at them. See how long it takes before you get arrested.
Diogenes - apologist for all those who think that those who put themselves in harm's way to serve others and protect the peace are worthy of our scorn 'because they have to show people who's the boss.' What a moron - and of course, the first to scream bloody murder when they need an officer and one doesn't materialize instantly. Absolutely no class. But libtards have to always be whining about something or they aren't happy.
So moron - you don't think yelling at a cop could easily become something more threatening to the cop or others that had gathered around to see Gates' meltdown? The idiot had already started yelling, for no good reason, btw, had not yet positively ID'd himself, so why would Ofc. Crowley put the entire area at risk by relaxing his guard at that point? Gates heightened the tension level of the situation and this is somehow Crowley's fault when he takes the step he is required to do to defuse it? By removing the ability of the person making the threatening behavior to continue that behavior, he solves the problem, since the race-baiter Gates evidently wasn't going to control himself. Race being his livelihood, maybe he just reverted to his 'classroom mode' without thinking. Pathetic.
You know, Anonymous, that before you say something, you ought to check your facts. READ CROWLEY'S REPORT. By the time he baited Gates into coming onto the porch (so he sould be the Big (White) Man With A Badge, Crowley had already determined that Gates was the lawful inhabitant of that home. That's not Gates says in it, that is CROWLEY saying it. Up until that point, I am solidly in Crowley's corner. He does have a very difficult and dangerous job to do. But, once Crowley determined that Gates was the lawful resident, it was Crowley's job to defuse the situation by leaving. Yeah, there probably are situations where yelling at a cop COULD lead to something more, but this was not likely one: six or seven people somewhere out front and three or four police officers, by that point? Crowley should have walked away to defuse the situation, because he had no legal grounds to cuff anybody under those circumstances. There was no crime committed. If Crowley cannot handle a 5'5" almost 60 yr old guy with a limp and a cane any better than this, he shouldn't be a police officer. What the hell would he do if he faced a real threat? Start shotgunning potential suspects until Crowley was the last man standing?
Cops are public servants. They have to eat crap every now and then; it's part of the job description. They arrest people who commit crimes. They don't arrest people who say "your momma!" and they don't falsify their official police incident reports.
Crowley screwed up this time. Not a big deal; it happens. Might not have been his best day. Certainly wasn't Gates' finest moment. But this knee-jerk "the cop is always right" nonsense does a big disservice to police officers.
Great job on holding his feet to the fire.
Level playing field? Negative. Slanted one in favor of incompetents and those with chips on their shoulders.
Same test, same testing materials. Study.
Glad to see the Connecticut fire fighters finally get justice!
Who writes the tests, Chief?
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