Quote:
Originally Posted by loquitur
See, it might not have started as a race things but possibly became one. I don't have a problem with a cop inquiring when it looks like someone is breaking into a house - race shouldn't have anything to do with that. But once Gates showed it was his house, the cop should have tipped his hat, said "good day, sir," and been on his way. But that cop clearly has some ego issues, as lots of cops do. These are people who are given some power and some of them like to use it every now and again just to make themselves feel better, so if someone disses them, they get to use their power. That happens no matter what the race of the citizen is. But it's certainly possible - heck, more than just possible - that this cop has race issues, too - that he'd take much less guff from a black guy than from a white guy, and especially an uppity black guy with a fancy Harvard ID. That strikes me as a plausible explanation of why the cop acted the way he did once Gates showed it was his home.
But of course, this is speculation. We don't know what was in the cop's head or in Gates's head.
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Cop ego driven? Possible. Race driven? Also possible.
Here is another theory...asshole driven. The cops show up to a reported B&E. There is a bit of stress there to begin with because they don't know for sure what is going on and if what was reported is really what was going on then there is the possibility of a very bad response when they get there. Instead, they find a home owner who is immediately offended at being questioned, uncooperative and apparently determined to make this incident about race regardless of what is going on.
Had the professor reacted better this whole thing would have been different. All he needed to do was open the door and produce some ID. My guess is that the officer would have then said thanks and gone about his business.
But could the good professor, a supposedly educated man, do that? Apparently not. He had to be an asshole to an already stressed guy and drag out what could have been a quick encounter. Once that happened, my guess is the cop may have wanted to mess with him a bit and pushed the interview a bit far. Was the cop right to do it? Absolutely not. But the professor needs to own up to his part in this farce and realize that cops are people with tough jobs. Bating them in a bad situation is not a good idea. Even the best of men have bad days.