Back home and we found one lamb had been killed by a coyote while we were gone. It happened because it slipped through the fence and got out into the larger pastures. The youngest lambs have that ability no matter how we try to find their holes. Otherwise the farm was okay, and I was happy to be home after a great trip.
As I had said, I had no news at all on the trip; so the first I heard about the policeman vs. the Harvard professor vs. Obama vs. the right wing pundits was on the car radio once we got into range of radio stations. Huh? Where did that come from?
From what I heard then and still was still hearing Friday, I don't know if the policeman was nasty to the professor through his tone, or if the professor lost his cool because of past instances he has experienced. You can say all the right words and use a tone that demeans another, and we all know how easy that is to do. On the other hand, we sometimes react badly to something when we are tired, which the professor had to have been since just returning from China.
If you haven't heard about the situation, it involved a Harvard professor arriving at his home and needing to jimmy the locks as he either forgot his keys or they didn't work. A neighbor reported seeing two black men trying to break in and called the police. When the officer arrived, the whole situation quickly descended into a he said-- he said situation.
Evidently the radio Limbaughs went ballistic after President Obama was asked about it in an interview and said he thought the police overreacted and had behaved stupidly in arresting the professor even if he had been having a rant. This was his own home. Yelling is disorderly conduct when it's your own home? In some areas, like Cambridge, it is whatever a police officer wants to say it is-- period. There are tapes of the altercation but evidently not from the beginning. At any rate the 58 year old professor was cuffed, arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, and arrested before charges were eventually dropped.
What you have thought about this probably relates to whether you are a minority, right or left winger. I remember all of the times I have heard where police assumed someone was a crook simply because of their skin color. One immediate example coming to mind was a few years ago in Phoenix when a black legislator was driving to her home in a nice car and in an expensive neighborhood. She was pulled over just because she seemed out of place to the police officer. No crime. No reason for stopping her other than she was black.
How many times do these things happen leading any minority to know that they will be targeted when a white would not?
Would we still have right wingers trying to prove Obama is an illegitimate president, because of questions about his place of birth, if he wasn't black with the name Barack Hussein Obama? There is no proof at all that he was not born in Hawaii. The state of Hawaii viewed his original birth certificate and said it was legitimate, but the conspiracy talk will not let up and why do you suppose that might be?
Facts and logic play no part in settling something like this. Someone like G. Gordon Liddy gets time on a cable news program where he can say he isn't sure that Obama isn't an illegal alien. Would that even occur to Liddy if if Obama was white?
Obama was criticized for speaking up about this professor and the policeman. He said, that although he thinks he chose his words poorly, it is part of his job to get into important issues to our nation. Since he wanted the conversation to be about health care, a worthy topic right now, I bet he's really regretting that this became the topic of the week.
It is important that he is opening a dialogue between the professor and the police officer-- good for us all. Given the reaction from the Republican base, it is obvious race is still a sore point in this country. It is way past time to have real conversations about how we should treat all citizens equally under the law.
Photos will be coming; but as always, they are taking some time to sort and decide which ones will best explain the vacation which as I said, on many levels, was a good one for me. The one above is an evening on Klamath Lake.
26 comments:
Dialogue seems to me to be much better than confrontation ad infinitum. Dr. W.E.B. Dubois said the the great problem of the 20th century was the problem of "the color line". It's still bedevilling us to this day.
I agree Paul and your poem says well what has too often happened Shadow of Diogenes. It can be any state. When we first bought this farm (over 30 years ago now) it was well known that in the nearby town, where my kids were going to go to school, they kept minorities from buying homes. Eventually that stopped but it's not that long ago and the attitudes are still there many places
The Gates incident brings up an important issue but a distraction to the main one before our nation. It is nice to say that because race awareness is a pot simmering continuously on the side burner by the very fact that we see a black president every day. I am really concerned about the summer vacation for legislaters will seriously hurt the momentum towards a change in health care.
I do think this is important because unfairness is one of those things that we notice most when it's us being hit by it. What is a problem is that the media can't seem to walk and chew gum. Why not cover both stories but it never works that way.
Here is a good article on Henry Louis Gates deja vu all over again. It comes from someone who knew Gates from before.
Health care matters and the lies that the right is using to try and put it down is also important. It has amazed me that the Republicans dislike public health care so much and yet don't seem to mind having it themselves... or what about our Veterans? Socialized medicine is okay for who exactly?
Incidentally, for those interested in knowing the actual details of the health care bill as currently proposed, it is online: HR 3200. Don't count on someone else to read it and explain it to you. They will but with their slant.
The cost of it really cannot be estimated right now and a lot of it will change after it gets into place as things become clearer what the actual costs and benefits will be. Right now it's hypotheticals which vary depending on which side the interpreter favors.
I am very very familiar with Henry Louis Gates...So when I saw his Mug Shot...I was shocked because I couldn't imagine what HE could have possiblly done. Reading HIS account of what happebed---He had the keys to his house but they would not work...The Door was JAMMED. His regular Limo driver, who had picked him up at the Airport tried to help him get the door opened, etc., etc. Yes, he is a Black man, as well. Gates was able to get into his house through another side or back door and was inside HIS house when the Police arrived having been called by a neighbor who was suspicious that perhaps his house was being robbed. They asked him to step out and he did not, because he didn't see the need. They asked for his ID and he showed it to them...Etc., Etc. The Policeman didn't like GATES' tone! Gates was quite shocked to be treated as if HE was a criminal in his own home. He repeatedly asked for the Policeman's name and Badge number which was not forthcoming. When he DID step out onto his porch, he was then arrested and handcuffed.....The charge was "tumultuous" behavior.
I guess the thing is, the Police can say whatever they want about someone's behavior and then arrest them in certain jurisdictictions. But that there was some underrlying something on the part of this Policeman seems quite clear. Perhaps HE didn't like a Black man asking for HIS information....
That there is some kind of exchange at this point between Obama and The Policeman and Gates is, I think, a good thing, but what is undeniable is this: People of color are treated differently by the police and other people too, in this country
Incidentally, Obama was ASKED what he thoughht about this happening....It is worth reading his entire answer.
I blame the media for making a huge issue out of one word "stupidly". If Obama had said the police acted inappropriately, as I am sure he wishes he had, this would not have been a big news story.
Obama gave an hour long speech on an important issue and did anyone hear news coverage on the issues he covered? No - they obsess again on the sensational.
Hi Rain . . . Welcome back. Sorry about your lamb. Things like that happen. Not your fault.
Re: Race. Let's forget the dreaded right wingers and politics for a moment. Let's also not assume that a policeman doesn't respect the people he serves, black, white or rainbow. Then remember when you and I were young and taught that the policemen and firemen were our friends. If we were lost or in trouble we could go to them for help. Granted, it was a different world then. There are more of us today, and the world is more complicated. There are more people of every color and unfortunately many have a chip on their shoulder.
Rev. Schuller, Pastor of the huge Crystal Cathedral, boarded a plane carrying his suits and vestments in a long bag with hangers. As he went to hang them the attendant told him the 1st class closet for such bags was full and he would have to take them back to the coach section and ask if they had room there. The pompos Rev. Schuller was agast. Insulted to the core. He loudly insisted that someone elses garments be removed from the 1st class cabinet and replaced with his. They argued. Rev. Schuller said to the attendant something like this: "Don't you recognize me? Do you know who I am? I insist you show me respect or I'll sue this airline."
He later apologized.
Professor Gates apparently also has this warped sense of superiority. In his case he seems also to be more sensitive to his racial background than perhaps he should be.
When a POLICEMAN tells Porfessor Gates (or any other black, white or other) person to do something, ie. show identification, stand next to a wall, put your hands on you head, or whatever else - it should be done immediately and without resisting in any way.
Pompous Prof. Gates didn't.
Cop right. Gates wrong.
Dixon
Rain the arrest had nothing to do with race. There was a black sergeant on the porch in the photo of Gates being arrested. It was about an uppity Harvard professor that thought he was better than the police. A white professor would have been arrested for the same thing, but that would have been local news not national news.
Obama said he did not know the facts of the case and should have stopped there, but instead he said that the police acted stupidly. He threw gas on the racial aspect of this case and that was the wrong thing to do.
I don't think police officers are owed more respect than me in my home. You do realize that at any point any of us could have our home broken into by police with guns who say they were told we were drug dealers and sometimes those officers are not wearing uniforms. You know what would happen to me if that occurred? No knocking, just breaking down my door. I'd have my gun out and be the one who ended up dead. It has happened and to whites as well as blacks. It happens when we give law enforcement unlimited power and as they say with the hot water and frog story, you barely know when it's happening as it's gradual. They come for them and eventually they come for you.
To me you are assuming the Cambridge incident had nothing to do with race, but you don't know that. Did the police officer react more strongly because someone said it was two black men? Also why is it wrong to say a police officer overreacted and the whole thing was stupid? Police cannot be stupid? they aren't human?
Yes, the police have extremely tough jobs. I think about it a lot that they come in when the rest of us run out, but every so often, there are instances of them abusing someone because they can. Assuming they are always right is as wrong as assuming they are always wrong.
I think people who say there is no racial issue are generally whites who have not had to deal with this. We might find that changing if this country becomes a nation where white is the minority. How would you like it being assumed you were a crook rather than giving it a bit of time to wait and see what was going on? We do not know what tone that police officer used but to me he had no right to treat anyone without dignity-- white or black.
I heard Bill Maher discussing it last night on HBO and he said something that was kind of funny and yet had some truth to it. He said you know things are looking better racially when a rich, important black man feels he can act as irritated as a rich important white man would when his home space has been invaded by what he felt was an unfair assumption that he was a crook.
I hope you guys will read the link I put in and do some more research. I came across another article that said Cambridge has had this kind of thing happen before. Yes, it can to whites also but not so often as to minorities; and if Gates had not been a rich, important man, he'd have been charged and maybe held and for no more reason than yelling at a police officer. I think you need to think about how you'd like to be treated yourself.
Although I have been taught to be polite to police officers also for the obvious reason that it's less hassle, I have heard enough stories from minorities to know that it's not good to let the police officers have unlimited power. I am sure you have also read the stories and maybe have friends where it can be pretty bad very fast and you don't have to have done anything wrong-- which was the situation with Gates. Clearly he was exhausted and maybe tired of being treated as an inferior human (read that link).
And the police officer does sound like a nice person, but I don't know what he sounded like that night. If they all get together to talk this out, it might be better for everyone. It's ironic that both the police officer and the professor had done talks on racial issues facing our country. The irony of life.
oh and Dixon, thanks for the sympathy on the lamb. I always hate it when it happens but it really can't always be stopped although I have stopped more than a few-- one running out of the house and yelling at the coyote because if I had waited to get my gun, the lamb would have been dead.
Last night we heard the coyotes down right near the house. The new pups are growing up and they were yodeling from one end of this valley to the other and one right down by our driveway. Way too close but we put on the spotlight and they generally take off. They don't want any hassle either :)
The state of the economy is a huge problem at the moment for the entire nation and needs to be addressed in some form asao. The race problem in America has been ongoing since the first slave landed on these shores.We (AMericans of all colors) need to do some soul searching about how race impacts our lives and the lives of those with whom we come in contact. I am not taking Skip Gates or Sgt. Crowley's side here, but we have a chance to address the problem of the color line as Dr. W.E.B. Dubois termed it. Take a day and try to put yourself in a person of another races shoes. They have to do it for a lifetime!
I was so upset because I wanted to hear the speech on healthcare, and only got the tail end where he answered the STUPID question. I tried to get the jist of it on other news stations and all you would think he said in the whole hour was the Cambridge police dept acted stupidly, not a WORD on what he proposed for a health care plan! NOT ONE! Our media people need a tongue lashing by us, I want to hear what was said, not what they WANT us to hear, as they stir the pot. GRRRRRRR
"A man's home is his castle". The principle of a man being sovereign in his own home and free from government intrusion goes back hundred of years to the Magna Carta. When the officer responded to the burglary call he was doing his job, but once he learned that Mr. Gates was the resident of the house and no crime had been committed he should have apologized and vacated the premises. Even if a home owner verbally abuses a policeman, the officer must respect a man in his own home. Government authority ends at my front door.
Welcome back! And, the "Song Catcher" is a great movie. peace M
Welcome home, Rain. Sorry to hear about the lamb. I look forward to photos.
It looks like everything has calmed down for everyone at this point. You wrote insightfully on this brou-ha-ha.
First of all--much of the info you wrote is pure speculation. One thing is obvious--Gates had a chip on his shoulder from the beginning according to the police report. Secondly, perhaps we will know exactly what happened when one or both of those involved sue each other, and they will have to release the tapes. No proof has been given that this situation had a thing to do with racial profiling.
A majority of people surveyed recently (and not by a survey initiated by some right wing group)believe the President had no business giving his opinion on the subject without knowing the facts. It seems that one side believes that Gates is some kind of innocent victim, and the other side believes the cops acted according to protocal.
If wondering why the President hasn't released, and has in fact, blocked all access to his original birth certificate, college records, medical records, student aid and scholarship records, and all other documents other Presidents willingly produce does not make a person some kind of right wing nut job. I would say the people who just believe anything they are told have a bigger problem.
In addition, I didn't see much protest from those who are now appalled that anyone would question Obama's citizenship are the same people who questioned John McCain's citizenship because of his Panama Canal birth.
But, it's your blog and you can be as partisan as you like. I read your blog because I do like some of your insights, however, some of your political commentary is as clueless as those right wing radio pundits you seem to despise.
Gorda
As Tom Lehrer says, "I feel that if we cannot communicate, the least we can do is shut up!"
BTW: My husband, a white man, (with me by his side) was once stopped by a police officer, a white man, for driving a car that such a young man would not ordinarily drive (could not ordinarily afford). (Obviously, this was back in the late 1950s!) No one got huffy, no one insisted upon his rights, and it ended shortly.
Our daughter's fiance, a white man, was apprehended and jailed by a police officer, ethnicity unknown, for acting suspiciously and having a "hit" come back as being a wanted man. Once it was shown to be a case of unfortunate timing plus there being another man by the same name in the vicinity, he was released. No one got huffy, no one insisted upon his rights, and the incident was ended within 24 hours.
Not everything is about race. Investigation of unusual circumstances/happenings is a valuable tool in keeping us all safe.
Cop Car
I read a really interesting analysis on this but didn't get the link. It's worth people's time to do some looking around as there are some thoughts that help to expand communication. Anyway the analysis was that the police officer and professor were both afraid that day. The professor as soon as he saw the policeman on his porch and the police officer when he knew there might be a break-in and he wanted to be able to go home to his wife and kids.
Now if a police officer starts out afraid, which maybe many do, the whole way the operate might be different and keep in mind when you have examples of whites being stopped that there are many times where a black being stopped means he ends up dead. I understand the fear a police officer must feel but I guess they have to look at whether they can get past that and still primarily look to do their job-- which is also to protect the citizens-- all of them because we are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Putting aside this exact case which we don't know all of the details as was mentioned above, and looking at it in general, the police officer would not have been teaching on racial profiling if it didn't happen, would he? He obviously knew it did.
The question that has to be asked is whether when you are black, you end up treated differently when you get a random stop or happen to jimmy your own locks. Is there any justification to treat minorities differently in that situation? If that had been Henry Kissinger that day, with a German accent and furious at being accosted in his own home, would it have ended differently?
And thanks for sticking with me, Gorda. I appreciate all who lean right and still read and comment here because it's good to give both sides of something and I do have my own slant to things. Despite my being what I call a left leaning independent, I make up my mind after thinking about something and it takes a lot to make me change it. Farm Boss does call that stubbornness but it can also be called loyalty :)
I don't intend to write about this again (although you never know), have a lot of posts scheduled with photos of Klamath Lake basin but I thought this thought from Sullivan pretty well said what I was thinking now: Gates Gate.
Oh and on the birth certificate, Obama has shown one. The state of Hawaii has certified the original was there. The question of McCain was brought up because the law was not changed retroactively to make babies born on foreign bases considered natural born. It was as nuts with him as it was with Obama to worry about where someone born to an American citizen was physically born. The original intent was to make sure our leadership wasn't taken over by the British, I guess. Now I don't know it's purpose and have long thought it should be changed to enough years as I thought Swartzenhegger should have had a right to run for president if he so wished. He is clearly a loyal American and yet he's blocked. That old point in the Constitution makes no sense to me.
Another good analysis that I read this morning: A lot said and unsaid about race
You always take on the tough subjects, rain. I am more like Mary Lou's thinking on this, I wanted to hear about health care. I don't think this incident should be front and center on our news. It's a sideshow. But the news people don't really want to talk about what's important to everyone in our country: health care. That's not to diminish the race issues, but this one incident is being elevated above all else, and it's a pity.
Sorry to hear about your little lamb.
Just to keep this going a little further on the point of wanting to hear about healthcare. If Bush was giving a press conference on healthcare all of the questions would have been about Iraq. Obama did not get any Iraq or Afghanistan questions and he got one question about Gates which he should have refused to answer.
Keep track of this story. It's not over yet. The Discrepancy. It's really not about just race but also police power and our rights as citizens. What are they?
For anyone who finds this article and the comments from a search, this article by Bob Herbert is an important addition: Anger has its place.
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