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As you are aware by now, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was taken from his own home by the Cambridge, MA police despite the fact that he had broken no laws when the police received the initial call by a racist and the fact that he broke no laws once the police arrived. Let's not play games and call this an "arrest." That implies that there was some kind of legal basis for what the police did. That is absolute nonsense.
The sickening level of support these racist cops are getting says two terrible things about our society. First, white supremacy is still rampant. If police did something like this to a white, heterosexual, male Harvard professor, there would be universal outrage. Pretending otherwise is as dishonest as it is racist. When many people actually think it's perfectly OK to harass and snatch someone for Being At Home While Black (BAHWB), you know that white supremacy is at batshit crazy levels.
Another aspect of this is the fascist, yes literally fascist, mentality of so many of the defenders of the police. There is a significant segment of the population that believes that police should be able to do anything they want, and that it is always the victims' fault no matter what. This kind of blind support of authority, even putting it above the rule of law, is the mentality of fascists globally.
I think it is sad that President Obama wimped out and said that he made a mistake by even tepidly criticizing the Cambridge Police Department. He should have condemned this outrage and demanded criminal investigations against the police officers involved. How can I even hope that Barack Obama will ever even start supporting the queer community when he is too afraid to strongly speak out against the most blatantly obvious racist misconduct imaginable?
Psycho Woman Throws Knives At Children
13 years ago
Obama let himself be castrated by the cop-worshiping MSM.
I feel embarrassed for him.
of course, Rush came out in favor of the cops.
can you imagine his response if it had been black cops and a white professor?
oh, please.
In my opinion, our police are economic terrorists. The thin blue line between the haves and the policies that keep the have-nots in their place
The pro police-state attitude at play in this case is as troubling as the obvious racism.
sadly none of this is a surprise. how many similar cases have their been in NYC alone - abner louima?
the public and msm will always migrate towards the side of the police no matter what
I have 25 years experience in a maximum security environment. I have been in many situations that required an even temperament to prevent people from getting hurt.
After reading the cops' report, I see this could be a good teaching case for officers to learn about unnecessary escalation of an incident.
The officer certainly could have been more professional about this, to say the least. It was obvious that these were not young thugs attempting a B and E. He could have verified Gates’ story in a less intrusive manner. The gruff “step outside” line could easily have been seen as over-reaching. The situation could have been de-escalated if the cop had a cooler head. After the cop knew Gates lived there, it was the officers’ presence that escalated the situation. They should have left the scene.
Although I don't think Obama should have spoken about this, he was right. The cop STUPIDLY let the situation blow up out of proportion.
Maureen Dowd gets it right in her column today.
"As the daughter of a police detective, I always prefer to side with the police. But this time, I’m struggling... the strong guy with the gun has more control than the weak guy with the cane."