No Racism in America, No siree.

[MikeBjerum]

Since this happened in my back yard, it's been central to every local news event since it started.  As I said, until I read it on the board, I was unaware that Gates was black.

Since, I've been reminded every time this angry, elitist, overbearing wanker sticks his nose in a camera. 

In all the lengthy interviews I've seen (NBC only has snipets and soundbites), the Cop has been far and away the more gracious of the parties involved including the POTUS.  I hope he tells Obama, "thanks but no thanks" to the offer of a beer at the White House.  I know I would never entertain the offer myself, under any circumstances.  The flip-side, when Gates sticks his mug out there and speaks, he sounds like prick.

The cop has said repeatedly that he has no intention of apologizing and may pursue defamation and libel charges against the good Dr..  I sincerely hope he does because it's high time it's publicized that the bigotry is coming from the opposite side of the equation.

This goes back to my first post - The first person to identify race in this was Gates during his rants with the officer, and since it has been Gates, Pres. BHO, Jackson and Sharpton.  The race card is just like "small man syndrome" - over compensation and blaming something else for your own personal short comings.

I can't understand the racial profiling issue at all.  Racial profiling is when an officer approaches someone strictly based on their race.  This officer was responding by a complaint called in.

I fully believe that if we dig deep enough into the good dr's writings and course material we would find that descrimination and racism are major parts of what he builds his teachings around ... poor me, poor us, it's all your fault ...

[tombogan03884]

"Gates’s mental process was the same mental process that a racist uses to decide that someone like Gates is less than human. "

People like Gates ARE less than human, arrogant self righteous assholes deserve anything that happens to them regardless of race

This goes back to my first post - The first person to identify race in this was Gates during his rants with the officer, and since it has been Gates, Pres. BHO, Jackson and Sharpton.  The race card is just like "small man syndrome" - over compensation and blaming something else for your own personal short comings.

I can't understand the racial profiling issue at all.  Racial profiling is when an officer approaches someone strictly based on their race.  This officer was responding by a complaint called in.

I fully believe that if we dig deep enough into the good dr's writings and course material we would find that descrimination and racism are major parts of what he builds his teachings around ... poor me, poor us, it's all your fault ...

You don't have to dig very deep at all to find exactly that. The original story said he held the W.E.B. DuBois chair at Harvard. W.E.B. DuBois was a black power communist organizer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

Du Bois became impressed by the growing strength of Imperial Japan following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War. He saw the victory of Japan over Tsarist Russia as an example of "colored pride." Hikida Yasuichi ran Japan's "Negro Propaganda Operations." After traveling to the United States to speak with students at Howard University, Scripps College, and Tuskegee University, Yasuichi influenced Du Bois's opinions of Imperial Japan. In 1936, Yasuichi and the Japanese ambassador arranged a trip to Japan for Du Bois and a small group of academics.[24] The trip was to include stops in Japan, China, and the Soviet Union. The Soviet stop was canceled after Karl Radek, Du Bois's diplomatic contact, was swept up in Stalin's purges. While on the Chinese leg of the trip, Du Bois commented that the source of Chinese-Japanese enmity was China's "submission to white aggression and Japan's resistance." He asked the Chinese people to welcome the Japanese as liberators. Du Bois joined a large group of African-American academics who cited the Mukden Incident to justify Japan's occupation and annexation of the formerly European-held southern Manchuria.

Communism and activism

Du Bois was one of a number of African-American leaders investigated by the FBI, which claimed in May 1942 that "his writing indicates him to be a socialist".[37] He was chairman of the Peace Information Center at the start of the Korean War, and among the signers of the Stockholm Peace Pledge, which opposed the use of nuclear weapons.

In 1950, at the age of 82, Du Bois ran for U.S. Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket and polled a little over 200,000 votes, about 4 % of the total. Although he lost, Du Bois remained committed to the progressive labor cause. In 1958, he would join with Trotskyists, ex-Communists and independent radicals in proposing the creation of a united left-wing coalition to challenge for seats in elections for the New York State Senate and Assembly.

In the March 16, 1953, upon the death of Joseph Stalin, Du Bois controversially wrote of him in The National Guardian:

    Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also - and this was the highest proof of his greatness - he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.[38]

While Stalin had fallen into disfavor among most of the American left of that era, and Communism had come to be regarded as "the god that failed" in the eyes of such African-American luminaries as Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright, Du Bois, apparently not believing reports of Stalin's purges and dismissing them as propaganda, persisted in his admiration for Stalin.[39] He was frequently challenged for his support of Stalin, particularly after Khrushchev's 1956 "Cult of Personality" speech which seemed to further evidence Stalin's purges. Having once, after a 1920s visit to Russia, observed that "Russia is the victim of a determined propaganda of lies", he remained persistently skeptical of American media reports regarding the USSR; when challenged as to his beliefs on Stalin in 1956, in one instance he conceded that "[Stalin] was probably too cruel; but... he conquered Hitler."[39]

In regards to Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956, the 88-year old Du Bois defended the USSR, suggesting that the Hungarian Revolution was a plot of "landlords and fascists".[40] For this he has been criticized, by some historians, for allegedly succumbing to dogmatism; while he was "one of the great pioneers of anti-colonialist scholarship", he was "a headstrong idealist: he idealized Stalinism... He saw what he wished and needed to see, and thus he replicated the hard, domineering consciousness he condemned."[40]

[MikeBjerum]

"Gates’s mental process was the same mental process that a racist uses to decide that someone like Gates is less than human. "

People like Gates ARE less than human, arrogant self righteous assholes deserve anything that happens to them regardless of race


You don't have to dig very deep at all to find exactly that. The original story said he held the W.E.B. DuBois chair at Harvard. W.E.B. DuBois was a black power communist organizer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

Du Bois became impressed by the growing strength of Imperial Japan following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War. He saw the victory of Japan over Tsarist Russia as an example of "colored pride." Hikida Yasuichi ran Japan's "Negro Propaganda Operations." After traveling to the United States to speak with students at Howard University, Scripps College, and Tuskegee University, Yasuichi influenced Du Bois's opinions of Imperial Japan. In 1936, Yasuichi and the Japanese ambassador arranged a trip to Japan for Du Bois and a small group of academics.[24] The trip was to include stops in Japan, China, and the Soviet Union. The Soviet stop was canceled after Karl Radek, Du Bois's diplomatic contact, was swept up in Stalin's purges. While on the Chinese leg of the trip, Du Bois commented that the source of Chinese-Japanese enmity was China's "submission to white aggression and Japan's resistance." He asked the Chinese people to welcome the Japanese as liberators. Du Bois joined a large group of African-American academics who cited the Mukden Incident to justify Japan's occupation and annexation of the formerly European-held southern Manchuria.

Communism and activism

Du Bois was one of a number of African-American leaders investigated by the FBI, which claimed in May 1942 that "his writing indicates him to be a socialist".[37] He was chairman of the Peace Information Center at the start of the Korean War, and among the signers of the Stockholm Peace Pledge, which opposed the use of nuclear weapons.

In 1950, at the age of 82, Du Bois ran for U.S. Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket and polled a little over 200,000 votes, about 4 % of the total. Although he lost, Du Bois remained committed to the progressive labor cause. In 1958, he would join with Trotskyists, ex-Communists and independent radicals in proposing the creation of a united left-wing coalition to challenge for seats in elections for the New York State Senate and Assembly.

In the March 16, 1953, upon the death of Joseph Stalin, Du Bois controversially wrote of him in The National Guardian:

    Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also - and this was the highest proof of his greatness - he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.[38]

While Stalin had fallen into disfavor among most of the American left of that era, and Communism had come to be regarded as "the god that failed" in the eyes of such African-American luminaries as Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright, Du Bois, apparently not believing reports of Stalin's purges and dismissing them as propaganda, persisted in his admiration for Stalin.[39] He was frequently challenged for his support of Stalin, particularly after Khrushchev's 1956 "Cult of Personality" speech which seemed to further evidence Stalin's purges. Having once, after a 1920s visit to Russia, observed that "Russia is the victim of a determined propaganda of lies", he remained persistently skeptical of American media reports regarding the USSR; when challenged as to his beliefs on Stalin in 1956, in one instance he conceded that "[Stalin] was probably too cruel; but... he conquered Hitler."[39]

In regards to Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956, the 88-year old Du Bois defended the USSR, suggesting that the Hungarian Revolution was a plot of "landlords and fascists".[40] For this he has been criticized, by some historians, for allegedly succumbing to dogmatism; while he was "one of the great pioneers of anti-colonialist scholarship", he was "a headstrong idealist: he idealized Stalinism... He saw what he wished and needed to see, and thus he replicated the hard, domineering consciousness he condemned."[40]

Damn ... I hate being a lucky guesser 

[onrecess]

On the other hand (At least read the last lines, why is the cop regretful and the police dept calling it regretable and unfortunate incident if they are RIGHT??? (From Gawker.com, whatever that is, oh, and a comment from there on this article: Now which one is the public servant with the gun who's supposed to be trained -- and for God's sake, training others -- to handle such a situation without escalating it? And why should I simply accept that people with guns and badges are allowed to be petty tyrants because they have "issues"? And who can I hire to protect me from the people who are supposed to be protecting me? )
Begin article:
Since Barack Obama weighed in on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, we thought it was worthwhile to do a close reading of the law and the arrest report to see just how stupid the Cambridge Police Department was.

This account is based on the police report, a statement from Gates' lawyer, interviews by Gates given after the arrest, and a radio interview that the arresting officer gave this morning.

The Call

At around 12:45 p.m., Lucia Whalen called 911 to report two African American men wearing backpacks attempting to break into a house on Ware St. in Cambridge. Whalen works at Harvard Magazine, the offices of which are located a few doors down from Gates' home. She told Sgt. Crowley when he arrived that "her suspicions were aroused when she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry." The man wedging his shoulder into the door was Gates' driver, and the other African American man with him was Gates. The men had just returned from Logan Airport, where Gates had landed after a trip to China. He found the lock broken on his front door—apparently as a result of an attempted break-in while he was away—and his driver was helping him get the door open so he could get his luggage in. Up to this point, both Gates and Obama say the whole thing is kosher: "I'm glad that this lady called 911," Gates has said. In recounting the story last night, Obama said, "There was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place — so far, so good, right?"

The Confrontation

Sgt. James Crowley arrived at Gates' house shortly after the call. He was alone. He walked up onto the porch, saw Gates standing in the foyer through a glass pane in the door, and asked him to step out onto the porch. According to the accounts of both men, Gates refused. Is that illegal? Massachusetts law makes it a crime to disobey the order of a police officer if you're operating a motor vehicle, but we couldn't find a similar statute that would have required Gates to obey Crowley's request. Even if there is one, Gates was never charged with violating it.

According to both men, Crowley—still standing on the porch—told him Gates was there to investigate a break-in. According to Crowley, Gates interrupted him, saying, "Why, because I am a black man in America?" At this point, according to Crowley, Gates didn't strike him as "someone who would break into a house." Still, he found "the way [Gates] responded to [his] routing inquiries peculiar" and accused him in the police report of "yelling" and "exclaiming."

Crowley's ID

According to Crowley, Gates "demanded to know who I was." Gates phrased the request differently: He says he asked for Crowley's "name and badge number." The distinction is important: Crowley claims that he complied with Gates' request by identifying himself as "Sgt. Crowley," while Gates says "he did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates's request for this information." It's clear from the accounts of both men that Crowley did not provide Gates with a complete answer to his question—Crowley doesn't say that he told Gates his badge number or first name, nor did he turn over the identification card bearing that information that police officers in Massachusetts are required to carry and, by law, "shall be exhibited upon lawful request for purposes of identification." (Crowley said he was prepared to furnish the card, but that Gates turned away from the door and walked to his kitchen before he could hand it over.)

Badge numbers are assigned for a reason, and Massachusetts requires its cops to carry ID cards for a reason: Cops can lie about their names, making it difficult or impossible for citizens to file complaints about their behavior after they've departed a scene. If every police officer was assumed to be honest and forthright in all instances, those laws wouldn't be on the books. What's more, there are a lot of people in the Boston area named Crowley, and a lot of them are police officers. Gates asked Crowley to comply with Massachusetts law by furnishing his full name and badge number, and all Crowley told him was that he was a sergeant and that his last name was Crowley. In other words, he did not comply with Gates' request.

Inside the Home

According to Gates, while still on the porch, Crowley asked Gates to provide ID to prove he lived there, and Gates turned to retrieve his Massachusetts driver license and Harvard ID from his wallet in his kitchen. Crowley then followed him into the house. According to Crowley's account, it's unclear how Crowley came to enter the home: At one point he is on the porch, and then Gates turns to pick up a cordless phone, at which point Crowley radioed his dispatcher to say he was "in the residence with someone who appeared to be a resident but very uncooperative." It's not clear who Gates was calling on the cordless phone, but according to Crowley, Gates was asking asking for "the chief" and said he was dealing with a "racist police officer." He was apparently trying to go over Crowley's head and make a complaint. During the entire time he was in Gates' house, according to Crowley, Gates was agitated and angry, telling him "you don't know who you are messing with."

Gates' ID

Crowley was convinced very early on that Gates was not a burglar. Shortly after he entered the house, his report says, he "was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence." But he asked Gates for ID to prove that it was indeed his house. According to Crowley, Gates initially refused, "demanding that I show him identification." Note that Gates didn't ask for Crowley's name—he asked for the identification that Crowley was required by law to furnish. Crowley did not furnish it. Eventually, Gates did give Crowley ID—Crowley says it was a Harvard ID, Gates says it was a Harvard ID and a Massachusetts driver license that bore the address of the house they were in. In any case, Crowley became convinced that Gates was who he said he was.

Leaving the House

As soon as Gates provided a Harvard ID, Crowley says he "radioed and requested the presence of Harvard University Police." Why? What reason would he have to call more police officers to Gates' house after he'd received definitive proof that no crime had been committed and the 911 call was caused by a misunderstanding? Crowley doesn't say. But bewilderingly, he says that after requesting the presence of Harvard police, he prepared to leave. But Gates continued to demand his name, and Crowley says that as he tried to answer, Gates yelled over his "spoken words" with accusations of racism. Gates says that a bronchial infection he picked up in China prevented him from yelling. (A photo of Gates immediately after the arrest, however, appears to show him with his mouth open wide, in mid-shout.) When Gate's asked again for Crowley's name—remember, at this point according to Crowley's account, all Gates still doesn't know Crowley's first name or badge number—Crowley told Gates that if he wanted to continue talking, they would have to do it outside of Gates' home. Crowley's explanation for this is that the "acoustics" in Gates' kitchen and foyer, where the men were arguing, made it difficult for him to communicate over his radio.

It would seem that Gates should have just let Crowley leave and be done with it. Another way of looking at it, however, is that Crowley told Gates, essentially: I will tell you my name if you come outside with me. If Gates was contemplating filing a complaint with the Cambridge Police Department about Crowley's behavior, and if he anticipated being told "there are three Sgt. Crowleys—which one was it?", then the reasonable course of action would be to follow Crowley outside.

The Arrest

When the men stepped out onto Gates' porch, according to Crowley, there were "several Cambridge and Harvard University police officers assembled on the sidewalk," as well as Lucia Whalen and "at least seven unidentified passersby." Crowley claims that the crowd was "looking in the direction of Gates," the implication being that his shouting and insults were causing a scene. Of course, the presence of several police cars and officer might also tend to attract passersby. And given the fact that these particular passersby were already there prior to Gates' exiting his house, that would be a reasonable assumption.

As Crowley left the porch, Gates continued to yell at him. Even though Crowley had implied that he would provide Gates with his name once they left the house, he did not. Gates' "outburst," Crowley says, caused the assembled police officers to appear "surprised and alarmed." This would appear to be an attempt on Crowley's part to establish evidence of disorderly conduct—"people were alarmed!" Crowley warned Gates at least twice that he was at risk of being arrested for disorderly conduct—upon the second warning, he wielded his handcuffs to demonstrate that he was serious. Then he stepped up onto the porch and placed Gates under arrest. Initially, Gates resisted him, protesting that he would fall without the use of his cane. Crowley "properly applied" the cuffs, loosened them at Gates' request, and hauled him to jail.

The Crime

Gates was charged with violating Chapter 272, Section 53 of Massachusetts' state code, which reads in full:

Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female, common railers and brawlers, persons who with offensive and disorderly acts or language accost or annoy persons of the opposite sex, lewd, wanton and lascivious persons in speech or behavior, idle and disorderly persons, disturbers of the peace, keepers of noisy and disorderly houses, and persons guilty of indecent exposure may be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Gates is clearly not a street walker, railer, or brawler. His language may have "accosted or annoyed" someone of the opposite sex—the only female whose presence at the scene was documented is Lucia Whalen, but we don't know how annoyed she was by Gates' comments. Gates was clearly not "idle," though he could be potentially be classified as "disorderly" or "disturbing the peace." The latter charge is dependent on Gates' being outside his house—presuming that his yelling wasn't audible on the street when he was inside—which would have been the case had Crowley not refused to fully identify himself to Gates unless Gates followed him outside. Whether one can be a "disorderly person" in one's own home isn't clear. But we suspect that if one could, then Crowley would simply have arrested Gates in his home. There's no evidence from Crowley's report that Gates' behavior escalated after they exited the house. In fact, the most offensive-sounding statement from Gates in Crowley's report—"ya, I'll speak with your mama outside"—was uttered while they were still in Gates' home. The emphasis on the bystanders in Crowley's report and the fact that Gates' "tumultuous behavior" was taking place "in view of the public" implies that, in Crowley's mind, Gates' behavior was legal inside his home and criminal on his porch. In which case Crowley's apparent insistence that he would only fully identify himself to Gates outside his house, because the "acoustics" were bad, sounds more and more like a trap to us.

What is clear is that the city of Cambridge has called the arrest "regrettable and unfortunate," and said that dropping the charges was "in the interests of justice." Crowley himself now says that he "regrets that I put the police department and the city in the position where they have to defend something like this." So if Crowley wasn't stupid, then what, exactly, does he regret?
End article, and any chance the cop was in the right. Read that last paragraph again! Zing! Gonna leave a mark! That cop has that red stinging mark from the "that's thinkin with your dipstick" guy.

[Pathfinder]

Well, at least you cited your source, onrecess. It's a freakin' NYC gossip site! Are you seriously a teacher? What would you do if a student handed in a paper citing a gossip web site as a source? And do you think a NYC gossip site might actually have a bias, being in NYC? The whole article is a slam against the cop, a focus on his "mistakes".

I was hoping that leaving the Forum for a while to watch the Shuttle launch would calm everyone down a bit from your previous postings. Sadly, you have returned with another inane post.

Personally, I think you need to find another line of work. Mainly because anyone as simplistic and gullible as you should not be around children.

[Sponsor]

[twyacht]

The Black Officer that was there agreed to the arrest and Gates "strange" behavior.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-harvard-scholar-arresting-officer,0,4731766.story



CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.

Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."

Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley "100 percent."

Gates has said he was the victim of racial profiling.


It wasn't even Gates's house, ITS HARVARDS HOUSE. Just another elitist academic, "above the petty interaction with LEO's"

I'm a Black Harvard Professor, you common constables can't just come and make demands....

Obama is backing off his "stupidly" remark, and will throw Gates under the buss just like Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, etc,..

[tombogan03884]

 Onrecess, I am not surprised by 2 things that are brutally obvious in your post,
1) You STILL have not read the Police report for yourself.
2) Your knee jerk defense of a burglary suspect just because he was black. You are to young to have owned slaves, you have no need to roll in "liberal white guilt", for that matter Gates is to young to have been a slave, therefore has no right to play upon that misguided guilt.
I would also add  that if BO is going to preface his comments with I don't have the facts, his best course would be to STFU.

Might be good advice for you as well until you read the police report for your self.

[tombogan03884]

Damn ... I hate being a lucky guesser  

I forgot to quote the parts that talk about his support for Eugenics and selective breeding programs for blacks .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois#On_scientific_racism_and_eugenics

In 1932, Du Bois contributed an essay on birth control to Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Review. In the article, he accepted the conventional eugenic wisdom that “the more intelligent class” exercised birth control, which meant that “the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that part of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly.” He intoned that African Americans “must learn that among human races and groups, as among vegetables, quality and not mere quantity really counts.

[Fatman]

I forgot to quote the parts that talk about his support for Eugenics and selective breeding programs for blacks .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois#On_scientific_racism_and_eugenics

In 1932, Du Bois contributed an essay on birth control to Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Review. In the article, he accepted the conventional eugenic wisdom that “the more intelligent class” exercised birth control, which meant that “the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that part of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly.” He intoned that African Americans “must learn that among human races and groups, as among vegetables, quality and not mere quantity really counts.

Unless you're in the US. Then 'quantity' allows you to take over the government to validate and entitle the 'least intelligent and fit'. Seems the 'unfit' have temporarily become the 'fittest', as they have developed a way to side step the traditional Darwinian definition and provide for themselves until the government teat runs dry.

[onrecess]

For the slightest open minded, read this:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1912778,00.html?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

Like the prior article, this explains why Obama said the arrest was stupid, as did the officer and the police dept (yes, Gracie, that IS what it means when the officer says he wishes his dept didn't have to defend his action and the dept calls the incident unfortunate and regretable). It was obviously false arrest as you cannot be arresed for SAYING a thing insulting to the police or not showing enough respect to LEOs. Please don't bother to say a smart person would realize that in our great country you SHOULD bow to petty tyrants. Where are the defenders of the constitution and our guiding principals? I guess that only applies to TRTBA and the 2nd A, huh?
Quote:

Here is what the absurdist, typically stilted police language of Sergeant James Crowley's official report on his arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates really means:



Gates: You're not the boss of me!
Crowley: I am the boss of you.
Gates: You are not the boss of me!
Crowley: I'll show you. You're under arrest.

There is no crime described in Crowley's official version of the way Gates behaved. Crowley says explicitly that he arrested Gates for yelling. Nothing else, not a single threatening movement, just yelling. On the steps of his own home. Yelling is not a crime. Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts. Not a single shouted word or action that Crowley has attributed to Gates amounts to disorderly conduct. That is why the charges had to be dropped.
(Read TIME's report: "Gates' Disorderly Conduct: The Police's Judgment Call")

In classically phony police talk, Crowley refers to "[Gates'] continued tumultuous behavior." When cops write that way, you know they have nothing. What is tumultuous behavior? Here's what it isn't: he brandished a knife in a threatening manner, he punched and kicked, he clenched his fist in a threatening manner, he threw a wrench or, in the Gates house, maybe a book. If the subject does any of those things, cops always write it out with precision. When they've got nothing, they use phrases that mean nothing. Phrases like tumultuous behavior.

Unless you confess to a crime,or threaten to commit a crime, there is nothing you can say to a cop that makes it legal for him to arrest you. You can tell him he is stupid, you can tell him he is ugly, you can call him racist, you can say anything you might feel like saying about his mother. He has taken an oath to listen to all of that and ignore it. That is the real teachable moment here — cops are paid to be professionals, but even the best of them are human and can make stupid mistakes.

We have an uncomfortable choice with Sergeant Crowley. Either he doesn't know what disorderly conduct is or Crowley simply decided to show Gates who's boss the only way he knew how at the time — by whipping out his handcuffs and abusing his power to arrest. Police make the latter choice in this country every day, knowing that the charges are going to have to be dropped.
(See TIME's 10 Questions for Henry Louis Gates Jr.)

We all know that happens. That's why so much of the commentary about this case is obsessed with exactly who said what to whom in the Gates home that day. Most white, and some black, TV talking heads obviously believe that Gates was stupid if he actually exercised his constitutional right to say anything he felt like saying to a cop. Because they know it is not terribly difficult to provoke American police to violate their oaths and the law and arrest people for no legal reason.

The president was right when he called the arrest stupid. It doesn't mean Crowley is stupid. It means that, in that moment, he made a stupid choice. Barack Obama has made some stupid choices on occasion too. We all do. Everyone who is defending Crowley's arrest, including his union, needs to re-read his report. There is a crime described in there. In fact, Sergeant Crowley's report is a written confession of the crime of false arrest.

Lawrence O'Donnell, Jr. is an MSNBC Political Analyst and the author of Deadly Force: The True Story of How a Badge Can Become a License to Kill.
PS: Note the officer and now the union wants this to go away as they realize the cop will soon lose his job, the dept will be disgraced, and the police in general will have their rep further known as petty tyrants and bullies acting illegally. note: No, I don't believe ALL cops are such, but this one clearly is.