Obama Says “Racist” Cop Who Arrested His Pal “Acted Stupidly”, Causing Massive Backlash – With Videos, Police Report
Tweet
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Wednesday that police acted “stupidly” in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and that despite racial progress blacks and Hispanics are still singled out unfairly for arrest.
“This still haunts us,” Obama said.
Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn’t know all the facts of the case. Nonetheless, Obama said, anyone would have been angry if treated the way Gates claims police in Cambridge, Mass., treated him. Gates claims he was arrested in his own home after showing ID to police who responded to a report of a possible burglary.
Police say Gates yelled at the officers and initially refused to show his ID. Gates allegedly yelled “this is what happens to a black man in America†and “you don’t know who you’re messing with†before he was arrested, and police said he was uncooperative. ( read the arrest report )
“Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home,” Obama said during a prime-time news conference that otherwise focused on the health care debate.
“What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately,” Obama said. “That’s just a fact.”
The nation’s first black president held himself up as testament to what he called the “incredible progress” minorities have achieved.
Gates’ arrest followed a report of a possible burglary. A neighbor apparently saw Gates force the front door and called in a police report. Police came, and demanded that Gates showed identification. Gates was arrested shortly afterward for disorderly conduct, a charge that was dropped Tuesday.
UPDATE: White House qualifies remark on arrest
The White House says President Barack Obama was not calling a Cambridge, Mass., police officer stupid when he criticized last week’s arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Interview With The Officer:
Bill Cosby’s Reaction:
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on racial profiling.
Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.
“I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy,” Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The course, called “Racial Profiling,” teaches about different cultures that officers could encounter in their community “and how you don’t want to single people out because of their ethnic background or the culture they come from,” Fleming said.
Obama has said the Cambridge officers “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates last week when they responded to his house after a woman reported a suspected break-in.
Crowley, 42, has maintained he did nothing wrong and has refused to apologize, as Gates has demanded.
Crowley responded to Gates’ home near Harvard University last week to investigate a report of a burglary and demanded Gates show him identification. Police say Gates at first refused, flew into a rage and accused the officer of racism.
Gates was charged with disorderly conduct. The charge was dropped Tuesday.
Gates’ supporters maintain his arrest was a case of racial profiling. Officers were called to the home by a woman who said she saw “two black males with backpacks” trying to break in the front door. Gates has said he arrived home from an overseas trip and the door was jammed.
Obama was asked about the arrest of Gates, who is his friend, at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night.
“I think it’s fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry,” Obama said. “No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3—what I think we know separate and apart from this incident—is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact.”
In radio interviews Thursday morning, Crowley maintained he followed procedure.
“I support the president of the United States 110 percent. I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts as he himself stated before he made that comment,” Crowley told WBZ-AM. “I guess a friend of mine would support my position, too.”
Crowley did not immediately respond to messages left Thursday by the AP. The Cambridge police department scheduled a news conference for later Thursday.
Gates has said he was “outraged” by the arrest. He said the white officer walked into his home without his permission and only arrested him as the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant’s name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.
“This isn’t about me; this is about the vulnerability of black men in America,” Gates said.
He said the incident made him realize how vulnerable poor people and minorities are “to capricious forces like a rogue policeman, and this man clearly was a rogue policeman.”
The president said federal officials need to continue working with local law enforcement “to improve policing techniques so that we’re eliminating potential bias.”
Fellow officers, black and white, say Crowley is well-liked and respected on the force. Crowley was a campus police officer at Brandeis University in July 1993 when he administered CPR trying to save the life of former Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis. Lewis, who was black, collapsed and died during an off-season workout.
Gov. Deval Patrick, who is black, said he was troubled and upset over the incident. Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, who also is black, has said she spoke with Gates and apologized on behalf of the city, and a statement from the city called the July 16 incident “regrettable and unfortunate.”
The mayor refused Thursday to comment on the president’s remarks.
Police supporters charge that Gates, director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, was responsible for his own arrest by overreacting.
Black students and professors at Harvard have complained for years about racial profiling by Cambridge and campus police. Harvard commissioned an independent committee last year to examine the university’s race relations after campus police confronted a young black man who was using tools to remove a bike lock. The man worked at Harvard and owned the bike.
(AP)
CLEVELAND – The White House tried Thursday to calm a hubbub over President Barack Obama’s comments about a white police officer’s arrest of a black scholar near Boston, saying Obama was not calling the officer “stupid.”
Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama felt that when it was clear that Harvard scholar Louis Gates Jr. was not a burglary suspect last week, “at that point, cooler heads on all sides should have prevailed.”
At a Wednesday news conference, Obama had said that the Cambridge, Mass., police “acted stupidly” by citing Gates on a resisting arrest charge, which was quickly dropped. He had not faulted the actions of Gates, who he said is a friend.
“Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid,” Gibbs told reporters as Obama landed in Cleveland for two health care events Thursday. He said Obama felt that “at a certain point the situation got far out of hand” at Gates’ home last week.
A neighbor had reported a possible burglary when Gates and a friend were seen trying to force open his front door, which was jammed. By the time police arrived, Gates was inside and showed proof of his residency. But he did not obey the officer’s order to step outside, and after words were exchanged, he was arrested.
Obama answered a question about the Gates incident at his Wednesday news conference, although he noted he did not know all the details. Gibbs said the president did not regret his Wednesday remarks, but wanted to clarify that he was not calling the arresting officer stupid.
Gibbs said Obama has not spoken with Gates since the incident.
(AP)
 |
|