Just for a little background info, re: Gates & Cambridge cops --- I lived there many years ago. Cambridge, Massachusetts is a medium-to-large-size city. There's Harvard University but also many working-class neighborhoods and even some public housing project areas. The police have until recently been 99% Irish-Americans.

From what I've read of the whole Gates mess, I cannot understand why Prof. Gates mouthed off at the cops --- of course they are suspicious about a black man in the professorial neighborhoods around Harvard, as it is statistically unlikely (which is horrid, but nonetheless true), and of course white Cambridge cops seem somewhat hostile to a wealthy, educated man associated with the much-despised Harvard.

The working-class Irish have held a monopoly on police departments in Boston, New York, and Chicago for over 100 years (again, horrid, but real), and Cambridge has had "town vs. gown" issues for, let's see, about 300 years or so! Class conflict, race conflict, political conflict...

Prof. Gates is no doubt fully aware of all of this, and in my opinion should not have said what he said.

At the same time, the white cop was fully aware of the context of the situation, too, and (and this is the key point, i.m.o.) is a professional trained to cope effectively with chaos and to diffuse tense situations. There is no excuse whatsoever for his having "snapped" at mere words from a resident -- the way he reacted to Prof. Gates' remarks was appalling.

Cops seem to be "snapping" left and right, in the US, lately, with regard to racial profiling and violence in general.

First entering the house was done on probable cause. A call came in and when he arrived a door had been forced open, that much Gates admitted himself. Any police officer worth his salt would enter a house on suspicion of a break in. The officer then asked Gates to come outside, which Gates refused to do. Up to this point NO PROOF of ownership had been provided. This cop didn't know Gates from Adam, and I personally would not want police to leave my house until they were 110% sure the person they were speaking to was in fact the owner.



So now you know the state of mind of the professor? You would be upset if a police officer questioned your right to be in your house even if he/she were responding to a call about a possible break in? That's a bit much, it's their job to investigate these things. You can get as upset as you want but again I personally would want to make sure they knew who they were speaking to, and that they belonged.

Consider this. Two guys force themselves into your house and a neighbor calls the police. Upon arrival the police ring the bell and the criminal answers and says everything is ok inside. I would guess you would want him to leave right? Lets say he decided not to leave until he verified with the owner that all was ok and you say "Sure officer everything is fine". You say this not because things are great but because the criminal's partner has a gun to your kid's head and any other answer will cause their death. Is it still ok for him to leave?

You see that officer followed procedure that has been established for both the officer's safety and the citizen's safety. He asked for identification and was told NO. He then asked if anyone else was in the house and was yelled at. But you can go on believeing it was just another racist cop going about racist business. Did you even know that Officer Crowley, the evil racist he is, tried desperatly to save a black man by the name of Reggie Lewis by giving him mouth to mouth. I personally don't think I'd be able to give anyone mouth to mouth without getting sick.




Um no he asked Gates to come outside several times. The report actually states the reason for this. Gates was screaming so loud Crowley could not hear a thing with the echos in the house.


You're right the charges were bogus, and I believe I've already said so. But as I said before faced with some guy yelling at me talking about my mama, I too would probably have brought him in just out of spite. My reason? Simple I didn't want to make a spectacle in front of the entire neighborhood. As for the President backing Gates, well did you notice how quickly he backed down and said that they both acted stupidly.




Are you serious? This is why this country is so screwed up. Listen I've witnessed "real" police brutality. I've seen my black and hispanic friends beaten for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did protest the police department, and I did picket and complain because of the treatment my friends and I recieved. This was not that case. This officer's only mistake was the arrest, not the initial investigation. If this country doesn't learn to start dealing with "issues" rather than playing the race card everytime then Malcolm and King died for nothing.



If you're even trying to insinuate that I'm a racist you've really shown true ignorance. So let me educate you. I was born in the Bronx to parents of Puerto Rican decent. My only non black or latin friend was a guy in high school. In fact until high school I didn't have any friends that weren't black or latin. I've been pulled over several times for simply being too latin (loud music, little flag). I've made friends with people only to find out that the guy's father was the head of the KKK in my new FL city, and I couldn't associate with him for fear of my life. I've been there and done that so no I'm not a racist and anything you've possibly read into my posts are done from a chip on your shoulder.

Are their racists in America? Yes there are, bu as Obama himself said "He was black before he was President". We will never be able to come together as a nation unless we stop with the excuses and start handling issues on a case by case basis rather than pulling the blanket race card.

for one i did not call you racist, i sad it reveals alot, and it does, that its ok to speak this way about a victim, an old handicapped man, a respected educated professor.

i am appauled by the fact that pdm seriously thinks its ok to call someone a jackass.

pdm ALL curse words have original meanings. every last one of them.

jackass is a curse word, its insulting and offensive. i know if i said it infront of my mother id be promptly slapped in the mouth even at a ripe 29 yrs of age.

you have spoke against using WTF and LMAO and even the word crap and even edited my post with the word crud in it.

but jackass is ok?

i have nothing against believer, this is not personal, i dont even know them at all, vaguely remember them being a part of the forum. my offense is at the use of a curse word, and even if you do not see it is a curse word certainly it is name calling, and not helpful in such a topic, or any topic for that matter.

i cant even beleive i am having to go this far into explaining this.

believer: ill be honest i didnt read all your reply, i dont have time right now, but i will say this, i am the first person to be sick and tired of the race card being played, trust me on that one. However, there is a serious racial undertone to ALOT of what goes on in this country. We have come a long long way as a country, but we have a long long way to go. having a black president does not mean we are no longer a racist society LOL that is tokenism at its finest. "oh i cant be racist i have black friends" HAHA

maybe mr gates was upset and firing off and yelling, but given the situation i feel he had a right to do so. the fact is that the office no longer had ANY business being on the property once he saw the id card. he had no right to questions him, no right to remain, no right to speak and no right to arrest him. the longer this officer stayed and continued the conversation the more tense the situation got and that is exactly what he wanted.

ive had many and seen many encounters with police officers like this, they push buttons, they keep doing it, just waiting for the situation to get out of control so they can make an arrest, get a collar. make themselves look good. power is dangerous.

I have dealt with cops who had no idea i am arab muslim and were more than accomodating and more than kind, and others who knew i am and were very rude, downright offensive and even abusive.

Cops take things way to far most of the time, this is proven again and again. and this case is just one more example, and that is why charges were dropped, because the arrest had no merit. so you can argue that it did all you want but the fact is that mr gates is now suing the police dept and i hope he wins.

'wtx' is the use of an abbreciation in place of an obscenity ~ which is against the rules.
So is 'lmxo', but I used to let that pass, until you told me that I shouldn't.


There are many words, which have two meanings. Do I ban all examples of them, simply because one happens to be 'bad language'?

The word you are referring to can mean a donkey. In England ~ except where the Americanism has been borrowed ~ that is how it is used. However, I have noticed that, in America, 'jackass' is used, so as not to swear. If this can be used in a Disney children's film, then I doubt that it is an obscenity ~ and it's not. It is an animal.

Just have a look at these Bible extracts, which illustrate that this word does not have to be treated as an obscenity wherever it is met.







Well, certainly that needs to be considered. I shall check that the post is clear, that it is given as an opinion, and not as a fact.


To consider someone's behaviour foolish is nothing to do with racism.

As for considering Gates a fool ~ who knows?

Was he foolish enough to antagonise the police, or were the police truly racist and intent on arresting him regardless?

Many people give opinions on here. Yes, they have to be careful how they are worded, but I am not going to censor every negative thought that is expressed.

Anyway, we have spent enough time on asides, let's get on with the conversation at hand.

i did not say at any point that his initial investigation was bogus, he got a call of a possible break in, he answered that call, perfectly ok.

his wrong was when he stayed and tried to continue a conversation.

the official police report states that he called for back up from harvard univ. police AFTER seeing the id card and verifying mr gates had a right to be there.

why would he do dthat ? why would he not just leave? he had no further business there.

yes mr gates was angry but that anger would soon subside if the officer would have just left the property.

pdm the bible is clearly referring to a donkey. it is a proper use of the word.

clearly calling a human being an ass is not proper use of the term and is a curse word.

defend it all you want to, deny your defense all you want to but its a curse word, i dont know of anyone who would say otherwise.

at the very least it is name calling, opinion or not, and isnt all name calling an opinion?

just as an example, if i called someone else on this forum an ass or a jackass, that would be ok?

If you were using the first word as an obscenity, then it would be deleted ~ and it is against the rules to insult a fellow member.

I have deleted Believer's use of the word.

I assumed, and he agreed, that he did not mean it as an obscenity, but with the meaning of foolish ~ jackass.
But I removed it, anyway.

'Jackass' is used in a Disney film!
And it is not what I replaced the offending word with, anyway.

But remember ~ if we are talking about words meaning 'foolish', it was President Obama who first, reportedly, used the word 'stupid' in this case:
Obama: "...the Cambridge police acted stupidly ..."

Now journalists have already asked:
'Who's more stupid: The police, Prof. Gates, or Obama?'

http://www.examiner.com/x-2752-LA-Obama-Administration-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Whos-more-stupid-The-police-Prof-Gates-or-Obama'

The question, opinion, whatever, is already in the public arena.

And the 'offensive' word has been removed.

So that's the end of the matter.

wtx
lmao
xxxx and damn

are also words used in disney movies

Srsly?

indeed. just watch the disney channel lol